During the week of July 20 - 24, 1998, I attended a teacher workshop at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD. The conference titled - Connecting Kids to the Sun-Earth Connection was sponsored by the International Solar Terrestrial Physics Program and was designed to introduce the participants to the topic of space weather. ( Above - A display at GSFC Visitors Center showing the "Father of Modern Rocketry" - Dr. Robert Goddard ) Click on each picture below to view the full size image.
Inside
NASCOM (NASA Communications Center) where communication with all
manned and unmanned spacecraft is coordinated. Notice the Weather
Channel displayed on the center monitor. Knowledge of current weather
conditions is very important to NASA scientists for optimal
communication with orbiting spacecraft.
A full
scale mock-up of both the space shuttle and the Hubble Space
Telescope. These are used by the astronauts when training for repair
and maintenance missions to HST. The Hubble Space Telescope is about
the size of a school bus.
A Goddard
engineer pulls back the plastic curtain of a "clean room" to reveal a
satellite being prepared for deployment into space. Filtered air
passes into the room and exits through openings in and under the
plastic curtains. In the microgravity environment of space, any
foreign debris floating inside the satellite could pose a potential
threat to its proper operation.
Dr. Mario
Acuna, ISTP Project Scientist, leads a tour through the inside of the
space shuttle. While in orbit, astronauts can look through the
windows above the control panel to view inside the payload bay. From
this viewing position they can also operate the large robot arm.
Ready to
grab a satellite! Satellites can be deployed into space by the
shuttle, snared and returned to Earth, or captured and repaired while
still in space.
Standing in
front of the space shuttle and the Hubble Space Telescope. Notice the
large solar arrays which gather sunlight to power the orbiting
telescope. HST is one of many planned orbiting observatories designed
to help us learn more about our place in the universe.
Special thanks to Michael Carlowicz and Dr. Nicola Fox at ISTP for planning and organizing the Connecting Kids to the Earth-Sun Connection Workshop. Thanks also to all of the excellent presenters and to Geoff Haines-Stiles and Erna Akuginow of Passport to Knowledge for making my participation possible. Coming Spring '99 - Live From the Sun.
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