Diary of a Space School

Diary of a Space School

Can I please recommend that you check out the Space Center University page on facebook. The pictures taken use a much better camera! Also check out Carluke High Schools Twitter feed with a link to their 400+ photos.
https://www.facebook.com/SCHSpaceSchool/

https://twitter.com/CHS_NASA2016

So that the posts can be read in chronological order I will make the diary just one post and write in blocks, (if I can get it to work)

Here is a very brief overview of what we did on each day, so that Space Cadets can write something for the Holywood Trust, who kindly sponsored us for this trip.

Monday 17th October

  • Introduction
  • Tram Tour – Mission Control, Space Vehicle Mockup Facility, Saturn V shed,
  • Snake Rescue(Fred)
  • Rocket construction
  • Heat Shield & Testing
  • Evening: Pizza, Swimming & Films

Tuesday 18th October

  • Rocket Launch
  • Habitat Design & Construction
  • Habitat Presentation
  • Evening: Main Event Billiards

Wednesday 19th October

  • Talk by Emmanuel Urquieta, MD. 30 day HERA mission Mars simulation (for 715 mission). 4 crew, 3 men 1 woman
  • Cryogenic Marshmallow Construction and Testing
  • Mars Rover Construction
  • Evening: Kemah Boardwalk

Thursday 20th October

  • Neutral Buoyancy Lab Visit
  • Mars Rover testing
  • Williams Pool Robotic Sphero Challenge (Thunder, torrential rain, Air display rehearsals)
  • Evening: Golden Corrall Meal, Galleria Mall shopping

Friday 21st October

  • Independence Plaza (Shuttle & 747)
  • Brunch followed by Q&A session with Brian Duffy (4x shuttle astronaut)
  • Starship Gallery video and tour.
  • Graduation Ceremony
  • Free Time around Museum
  • Swimming
  • Evening: Main Event, Bowling.
  • More swimming

Saturday 22nd October

  • Late breakfast, packing & Checkout
  • Main Event/hanging around
  • Buses to airport.


Day 1 Travel

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SUNRISE FULL OF EXPECTATIONS

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I think that’s a smile!
First Team Photo, just count how many times the person hiding at the back misses being in the photo.
First Team Photo, just count how many times the person hiding at the back misses being in the photo.

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Some people have been sharing their knowledge, others dancing in the aisles. Everyone is looking forward to an amazing trip

Well we proposed to leave at 3 am after meeting at 2:30, but everyone was keen to get going and the coach, mainly empty, with students at the back, Mrs Physics in the middle and Mr Physics at the front, set off just after 2:40 am. Three people left in a car which they’d arranged previously. The trip was quick and jolly and we were dropped off in the cold at about 4 am. The car passengers were already on the caffeine with double espressos all round. They were swinging from the girders when we met. The bright orange “Blast Off” T-shirts of Carluke High school were soon visible. Check in was uneventful, except the seats were as scattered as possible. Miss MaxHigh in the front row and Moffat Academy bringing up the very rear. There was lots of counting and the journey was very mundane, apart from seeing the sunrise and Mrs Physics realising she was in a non-inertial reference frame when she fell asleep and poured hot water all in her lap. Never mind D&G were told to prepare, so the spare pair of trousers came out of the bag at change over. Despite the fastest boarding I’ve seen we still had a long wait for our slot and we didn’t make up the time. It was quite a rush between flights and we were just long enough to lose Dory, who wandered off alone, just like he was told not too. Again on the flight we were totally split up, generally in singles as a joint party of 60 you’d think we would have been grouped. By trading seats some people did get to sit with a friend. Mrs Physics ended up in 5 seats and didn’t even get as far as sitting down in two of them. There was excitement from the few plane spotters that an Airbus 380 taxied behind us, the queue of these planes was amazing and my cap comes off to the air traffic controllers. Xylophone had arranged a lovely announcement to welcome us on-board: it was a shame some of us missed it due to seat trading. During the flight some slept, some ate, some made the most of the vast array of entertainment on the screens; much more advanced than the last transatlantic flight Mrs Physics made in 2005. One person turned green and was sick all over the floor. After being sorted by cabin crew and nursed by Mrs Physics he eventually slept off the nausea returning to normal colour with an hour to go. His polite manner charmed the air hostess who was very impressed and really didn’t mind clearing up. We’re just skirting passed Alabama and Mrs Physics is reliving her teenage years with The Specials Album, a nod to you Wol…
I wonder what is next? There really does need to be a solution to people being trapped for hours due to sleeping passengers.

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BA breakfast

A bumpy descent and the smoothest of touchdowns saw us on American soil; alas things regressed. Although we all chose the correct queue, we were at least two and a half hours getting through customs minus two Moffat cases for three people. Some people had an easy trip through passport control (they’d already used their ESTAs), but some people just got officials starting their shift and they were in unpleasant mode. This is quite a traumatic experience for an adult, but for 14 year olds this can be very upsetting. Everyone did really well, and looked after each other. Well done to you all.

Booked in to the hotel, we are in rooms 308-312, all close to each other.

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Our hotel Marriott’s SpringHill Suites Houston NASA/Webster
This photo of SpringHill Suites Houston NASA/Webster is courtesy of TripAdvisor
Not many elevators look like this! This photo of SpringHill Suites Houston NASA/Webster is courtesy of TripAdvisor
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A typical room but much tidier than the girls room.
Even a microwave and a fridge for storing pizzas, but they never got eaten- too much food all round. This photo of SpringHill Suites Houston NASA/Webster is courtesy of TripAdvisor

The weather is hot, the people are lovely, but we need to sort the time to get served in Steak n Shake. I’ve written this post and the food still isn’t here, no wonder they wouldn’t serve 17 people. Some people have been up for nearly 48 hours, time to turn in…….

Day 2- First Day of Space School

The day started well, the missing cases had been delivered by 6 am: never mind the clothes the teabags were here. How much more enjoyable was breakfast? Day 1 of Space School. The day started with an inspirational talk by the legendary Big Dave Brown, who ran the space school in 2005 when Mrs Physics first came. He discussed the human desire to explore and the need for engineers. He then took us through the programme for the week: boy we’re in for a treat. Kaci Heins, is the Educational Supervisor and assisted Dave in putting together this inspiring programme, she also welcomed us to Space School.

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We then set out for a tour of the facilities by tram.

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The weather is wonderful and the cool breeze makes it really pleasant.

The first stop was the Mission Control Building. Someone got to sit in the seat once occupied by the Queen. Rahul explained the purpose of the console rows and Mark detailed the reason why the film Apollo 13 was shot in Hollywood and not in the original building.

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Our next stop was the mock-up facility building where astronauts train on full size mock-ups of parts of the ISS. The other end of this facility was occupied by some wonderful and high tech Robotics equipment. In the middle section were mock-ups of commercial space vehicles including Dragon by SpaceX. We saw the Orion module, the next generation of manned vehicles, destined for Mars.

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The Orion Capsule, which should bring our astronauts back from Mars

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Mock-ups of the various ISS modules

We visited the Rockets, including a full Saturn V rocket. It was built from the parts of the Apollo missions that never flew (18-20). Part of one of these rockets had been the basis of the Skylab space station.

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Another photo opportunity but some people just couldn’t keep up!

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Mr Physics disappeared for a few moments, because the tour guide had shown him a rather unusual parking sign.

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After the tour it was straight down to school work! Each student had been placed in a team and I will leave it to you to discover the theme. The first task was to save Fred.

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Fred was more tempting to eat than save. Just 3 paper clips a life ring and his capsule were all that was available and a group of brains. The task was to fit the life ring around Fred, both of which were gummy bears. Unfortunately the life ring was under the space capsule and we couldn’t touch either with anything but the paper clips and we couldn’t deflate the life ring. The teachers managed it but I wasn’t sure if any of the teams just ate Fred. This was an excellent team building exercise as one person alone could not have safely lifted the  space capsule.

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Then after a quiz on Newton’s Laws of Motion it was down to business. Each group had to choose their roles; with 4/5 team members being managerial, I’m surprised anything is being. Every role was important as there was money to be won as well as contracts and bonus payments.

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The roles were:

Project Manager– overall boss, but as much an encourager of the rest of the team than a hard task master.

Time Manager– fines will be levied on any team that doesn’t complete the task on time. It is easy to get engrossed in a task and forget how much time remains. This person needs to have their eye on the ball and the clock!

Accounts Manager– with a budget of $60M, every penny (sorry cent) must be accounted for and bonuses and fees applied. Often the budget changes at short notice so they have to be good with their figures and stop everyone from getting carried away.

Design Engineer– needs to get the group’s ideas down on paper and develop into workable plans, this person needs a good eye for a diagram and to ensure the others can understand and implement it.

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“My kinda shop”

Supplies Manager– the only person allowed into the store to make purchases and to see what is available. They have to be ready to have the budget slashed and yet drive a hard bargain.

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With the roles chosen the rocket task could start. Pimped, constructed and carefully planned the rockets are no toys. They will be launched tomorrow.

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We were given lunch vouchers at 12:30 and could make for the food hall. Most opted for the ubiquitous burger and fries, but the sandwiches on offer was where Mr and Mrs Physics headed, they’d had too much fat for their figures.

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The afternoon was probably the most fun.  After a little more Physics on Thermodynamics and the obligatory Kahoot Quiz, it was time for the challenge. Build a heat shield for the egg-stronaut. This could be made of 4 layers of material, no more than 1.5cm thick, and an area of 12.5 x 12.5 cm it had to withstand 2 minutes of temperatures of 2000°C. There was a bit of research time, but the teachers over thought this.

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It was the design stage first, then purchase, build and test. The temperature of the eggs were duly measured and then the heat shield placed between the egg-stronaut and the flame. The gas was lit and it was just a matter to wait and hold the breath. The teachers felt they’d done pretty well with only a 6°C increase in temperature, but then the big stars moved up. We would like it acknowledging that the students had their heat shields fully to the bottom and some were certainly more than 1.5 cm thick, but there were some eggselent designs. The winning team’s egg-stronaut was just 0.5°C hotter after two minutes of blast than at the start. What was more was the winning team was Surveyor.  A couple of the eggs were spot boiled and one was dissected to see the effects of this sort of environment on an egg. (Hard boiled on one side, and very runny on the other.)

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After a plenary it was back to the hotel. The pool was more enticing than the pizza and movies on offer, which has begun to break down the barriers between the two groups. By the time the Martian was put on the TV only 5 people remained in the TV room and no one was taking much notice. I think it is time for bed.

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The Pool, you can get at least 30 in here, although other guests might want to sit indoors!

My time to go and chaperone the pool party. Roger and out!

If you’re finding this useful then please let me know. I think I’m talking to myself.

Day 3- three, two, one blast off!

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Our beautiful and helpful Visions in Education Rep, Izzy
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There is a good breakfast each morning and Mrs Physics ensures she brings down enough tea bags for everyone

 

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I am not quite sure of the purpose of the screen, I think it is to capture tired guests each morning. View of the lobby

We have to start today by mentioning the Project Manager of the Pathfinder group- not luckily one of the D&G crowd. He has discovered this site, so he should let it be known that he is infamous in being late for the morning session. His excuse was that when he looked out of his room he didn’t see anyone queuing for the bus. If he’d looked a little harder he would have seen that we were all on the bus and had been for 10 mins, we were just trying to work out who was that one missing student. Welcome to the site PM, but don’t do that again. Get your time manager on to it.

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As soon as we arrived at JSC we made straight for the tram where we were taken to the rocket launch site. The rockets were placed on a multi-rocket launch pad ready for the countdown. One member of each group was taken to fire the rocket, one to use an (in)clinometer and the rest of us took refuge by the trams in case of emergencies. Safety was a priority! Unfortunately, the first few rockets were fired without indicating to which team each rocket belonged. This meant it was difficult to cheer on and people just looked on and hoped it wasn’t their own rocket that was fired and the parachute failed to deploy. Some rockets landed in the long grass and were retrieved by a member of staff, who didn’t get attacked by the vicious snakes but did get very wet. A few landed in the short grass and just two landed back on the concrete; this was because neither of these two rockets had a parachute that deployed successfully.

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we were fascinated by the water towers, apparently you get to vote every couple of years on how you want it painting!
A very special water tower for one of the group.
A very special water tower for one of the group.
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Some took refuge in the tram, but if the rocket had come this way they would have been stuck!

I’ll see if I can upload one of the rocket videos but it is short in portrait and it isn’t very exciting, although the sound is good. A great whoosh accompanied each of the rockets, well each one that took off!

Yesterday, you could see the alarm of the students, and some teachers’ faces when told to cut a LARGE hole in the top of the parachute. It was quite funny to see some students and teachers just cutting off a little less than the recommended half of the parachute as they really didn’t feel comfortable with a large hole in the top. These were the rockets that definitely drifted the furthest into the long grass. At one point a light aircraft did appear to change direction during one of the launches and we were not sure of this was coincidence or not.

Although the teachers rocket came joint first for height, with an angle of 32 degrees for a 150 foot distance (work that out!) the group MRO’s rocket came back in better condition so was given the prize. In second place was Phoenix, which I might add contains two university students and in third place was Orion. So unfortunately no top places for D&G today, but they still did you proud. All the rockets had a height of between tan 25 and tan 32 (I’ll calculate that for you later if you really can’t manage that).

These are the two T38s welcoming people to the JSC.
These are the two T38s welcoming people to the JSC.

On the way back  to space school we heard a distinctive jet going over and was told that was an T38 (apparently the only supersonic training jet in the world) an astronaut training plane, we could hear it but couldn’t see it. Most of us nearly fell out of the tram to look but I think the pilot was having a laugh and flying directly overhead. Mark was having kittens for telling us and nearly seeing us all fall out. I don’t think he’ll mention that again until after it has flown over! At least you know that they are safety aware.

Then back for the real task for today. Martian Habitat.

Students had been warned to research Mars and our students did us proud. The day started with the usual Kahoot quiz and all our teams had done their homework. The leader board at the end of the quiz contained all D&G teams and the teacher team containing Mr and Mrs Physics, only one of whom had done any homework (thanks Mr P).

We were then asked a starter question. “If you run out of supplies on Mars, what would you eat?” To which the PM of Viking replied, “the rest of the crew”, backing that up with, “it’s either them or me!”

Personally Mrs Physics thinks it is a good job the HB from Moffat Academy is too tall to be an astronaut, I mean, would you want to be assigned the same Mission with a colleague like that?

The tasks for today- design, build, discuss, research and present a Martian base to keep six astronauts alive for 500 days.

The winning team will get their base displayed in the Gallery for the rest of the week.

The 5 vital things to cover were:

  1. Radiation, protecting from the harsh environment where a thinner atmosphere would result in high levels of dangerous radiation.
  2. Oxygen and life support system
  3. Agriculture and food
  4. Water
  5. Power generation, for running plant, facilities, energy, hearing, cooling etc.

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Students had just 25 minutes for their initial plan and design and it was not long enough and the teachers had twice the number on their team than the students. The next task was to build a 3D model of their habitat. Each item was priced ranging from $0.6M for a pipe cleaner to $10M for some of the more exotic items.

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Students went for lunch at 11:30am and were told if the whole group came back after half an hour they could work on their models. Only the teachers group failed to all return.

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Two and a half hours were allocated for this task and that included preparation for a 5 minute presentation to the judges. As there were so many students there were two panels of judges.

To be honest this was a hard task for the teachers, a naturally bossy group of people, used to telling large numbers of people what to do.

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Rahul and Suma discussing the budgets
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The delightful Natalie

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We videoed the students giving their presentations and some had done some amazing research and had all their calculations ready to explain. Unfortunately too much background noise makes the videos a bit useless, but I’ll try to upload the notes. Accountant from Viking- amazing work, so much so that Mr Physics is framing it on his wall, and I bet you didn’t even know he’d picked it up!

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Rahul- has the Mars lander landed?
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Surveyor, checking the details of their habitat
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Spirit coming on nicely

 

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Viking’s Mars habitat taking shape
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Sprit’s Mars habitat coming on nicely

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Then the presentations; some detailed research had been undertaken and some high tech calculations

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It was tidy up, an hours free time in which some people still managed to swim, and then across to the Main Event for lovely fresh pasta food. For several students the freshness was not to their liking and they opted for a buy it yourself burger. Then the pool tournament, sorry billiards. Mrs Physics was even persuaded to join in, but luckily some late entrants meant she was replaced. All a game of pool taught her was that she can play equally well left or right handed, and that’s not at all. A very close losers game between RM and Mr Physics earned a round of applause and handshakes all around. The overall winner was the Mechanical Engineer from Strathclyde University and ex-Carluke High School. Some tried other games at the Main Event. One lovely girl was seen hitting lots of things (I am not sure what this says about her, but she certainly knows her Newtonian Physics). I’ll speak to her about anger issues at school! Her best pal was carrying her bag and coat as an accomplice, proving me right. “Mrs Physics does have a point!” said the accountant on reviewing the situation.

Students drifted back to the hotel at various times the last being RM with Mr Physics after another close battle of billiards. I think there might be a rematch on Saturday!

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Surveyor (notice the first prize ribbon on their name tag)

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And obviously the best habitat was the illegally made Teachers’ effort

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Conquered for Scotland, a little piece of Mars! With genuine biohazard, and a hydroponics outfit taken from a couple of lovely foreign tourists in the dining hall, to save them from disposing of the rubbish- cost to the project $0M!

More swimming, well climbing out and jumping back in after either trying to make the biggest splash, disperse all the water or seeing how wet they can make Mrs Physics.

Cryogenics tomorrow- boy I hope that is properly assessed. Talking of this, let me reassure you that safety is paramount for Space School and I have every confidence in the staff.

You’ll want to know if you got your heights right:

Tan 25 from 150 feet away is 70 feet or 21 m (2 sig fig)

Tan 25 from the same horizontal range is 94 feet or 29 m

Day 4- Cryogenics- this could be soooo cool!

Firstly Mrs Physics would like to apologise to Nanny Physics and family that their breakfast dose of blog is missing. It has been another full on day, but without the internet so it’s been hard to write things up. I hope you can catch up by tea.

8:15am

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Sitting having a personal chat to EMMANUEL URQUIETA. The bus broke down so 67 of us are being shipped by minibus…..

Later………

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Emmanuel’s talk was amazing. He spent 30 days on Hera Mission XI (Human Environment Research Analog). He never left the Earth but simulated a trip to Mars and back. The full trip would take 715 days but they cut this down to 30 days. The mission tested both physiological and medical issues. I’ll write more about this amazing and lovely guy in the blog section of this site, but it might be something to do on the plane.

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Before we started the Cryogenics task we watched NASA TV for the ESA landing on Mars. There was a storm on the planet at the time and great concern. It was great to see the enthusiasm of the NASA staff who obviously see NASA as a family and take great interest in all things NASA. During  the day we kept an eye out for what was happening but it looks like only 14 missions in 41 gave been successful, and probably now 42.

On to the results of the habitat challenge. (drat I appear to have lost half a days reporting. I hope I can find it in the history. I think this is indicative of how tired Mrs Physics is getting during the week!)

Found it…..

On to the results of the habitat challenge.
Tie for third place was MRO and SURVEYOR, but as MRO came in cheaper they got the ribbon. In second place was VIKING and their first ribbon and the winner was team PHOENIX. There was an honourable mention for team SPIRIT, so well done D&G.

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So what was our cryogenics challenge? We had the same resources for the heat shield challenge but this time we had to prevent our Marshmallow from freezing or worse, total destruction. The rules were similar to before, 4 items, at various costs with the dimensions of the capsule less than 7cm cubed. The marshmallow was to be left in a pan of liquid nitrogen with the lid on for two minutes. (I am sure that this is a new form of relativity- time passes slower when your marshmallow is in danger).
As in several of the tasks the teachers over thought whilst the students just got on with protecting their marshmallows. Various options were tried. Surveyor created a lovely cork triangular contraption, Spirit went for the “never mind what is looks like just wrap it up” look.
The first marshmallow to hit the pan at 25 degrees Celsius was extricated at a temperature below the lower limit of the laser temperature probe- we are grateful to team Phoenix for providing a low base rate for success.
At the end of the competition the results were as follows:
Third place, Pathfinder, second place: Surveyor and the winner MRO. Well done to them, they’d obviously got some cracking engineers and designed a cork flotation device so that it was well insulated and the cork allowed the mallow to float on the upper warmer surface of the nitrogen. With design like that they deserved to win. This team are well in the front and gaining bonuses daily. This is increasing their budget and making it easier for success: a great lesson for those who wish to think about business as a careers.

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Before another early lunch we had enough nitrogen left over to test our currencies, the dollar versus the pound. Mr Gall was confident about the RBS bank note and coughed up a Scottish twenty pound note to Rahul’s $1 bill. Both currencies came out cold but unaffected by the experience and available to spend in the duty free on the way home. We then searched for the new plastic £5 note.

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winning cryogenics challenger- floating the egg on the liquid nitrogen- that’s engineering! Sly but good problem solving.

Mrs Physics had been traded one earlier in the week and decided she was willing to forfeit a fiver for the scientific experience. In went the plastic and two minutes later out came a crisp new fiver that rapidly returned to ambient temperature. I have every faith in the new notes! Rest assured folks, if you accidentally drop your new fivers in a vat of liquid nitrogen don’t stick your hand in to retrieve it; let the nitrogen boil away and you can get in back later, it will be fine.
Tara gave a wonderful presentation on the evolution of the Mars rovers and then it was on to our challenge. Build a rover to cross the Martian surface and retrieve samples of rocks and return these to base. The rover should be built for function and not beauty. The control panel had slots for five motors, and each joint would need a motor.
This was a chance for all those LEGO builders to step up to the mark and they did so confidently. Some students who had taken less interest in other tasks stepped up to the mark. Mr Physics too was in his element and got designing. This task took the rest of the day in Space school. There was a brief break to test out the designs on the actual surface, after which some groups went right back to the drawing board. You would never believe the difference in design.
After the end of the session it was clearing up time and a short break at the hotel before making for Kemah Boardwalk.kemah-boardwalk

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Many hadn’t been to a Bubba Gumps before, but most had seen the film, obviously some many times as the quiz at the beginning had many willing participants.

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Kemah Boardwalk. The pelicans are in force, the fish are amazing and the whole place is very South Texas.
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Only in the USA can you pay $2 to experience a hurricane, it was $5 to experience extreme cold (which I think was just air con on minimum!)

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Unfortunately, despite some of our students buying a day ticket for $24.99 at between 19:27 and 19:50 the park closed at 20:00. Izzy was straight on the phone to try to rectify the situation and the wrist bands were collected up, ready to reuse. Sorry guys, but always check when the park closes.

Oh well it gave more swimming time……. back to the pool.

Day 5- buoy, more amazing experiences.

Just got back from the NBL and guess what, there were two female astronauts being suited up and placed in the NBL. This was amazing for the students (and let’s face it the teachers who enjoyed it most) as we were about 20 feet above them. What is more is Izzy was watching them getting suited up and they appeared to be both female astronauts- how times are changing, hooray! Positive role models ladies!

 

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Four divers for each astronaut in the pool, one for the camera, two for the buoyancy, and one for the life line. Plenty of jobs at NASA
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It’s nail-bitingly tense
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Spirit picked up one rock- twice! It was so strong, apart from those grippers.

Just having drinks ready for the Mars rover competition. I can’t say there is a lot of confidence from the driver’s, apart from HB Moffat, who said he was feeling confident, which is typical, considering this morning a few moments before they were called up their control unit wasn’t working.

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3 rocks for team Awesome (the teacher’s team), 1 rock for Spirit, although they collected it twice. Returning to base the rock slipped, hit the Martian soil and bounced back on to the course.

Viking has just finished their run collecting the most stones in the competition, unfortunately most weren’t the rocks that they were meant to be collecting- so seven rocks collected, one rock counted.

Surveyor are on now. The rest are queuing for pizza then off to the pool for the robotics challenge….. Surveyor collected two rocks.

I am not sure who winner was, we suspect Pathfinder who also collected three rocks but got the big one!

Wow, I’m not sure if I have the stamina for this…..

Lots of the Space Centre University staff are keen to come to Scotland. I thought we could utilise this so Mrs Physics was ruminating over pizza: then twang, into my inbox popped an IoP email about Space education grants. I’ve run my idea passed the Education director and she’s keen and thinks it will work. It looks like Mrs Physics has a new project. Road safety was yesterday’s baby and has grown up, let’s try the new embyro.

Anyway more treats today. There is an airshow at Ellington’s air base on Saturday. The tickets are $50 and we won’t be a round but all day we’ve been treated to some impressive displays as various aircraft fly overhead. This culminated in four jets flying in a diamond formation as we came out of the recreational pool.

The scuba diving pool was housed in a warehouse like building and was hot and humid. There was concern that people would over heat and dehydrate. Never mind after Mr and Mrs Physics had consumed six bottles of water the heavens opened. Most people had never seen a storm like this and it dropped the outside temperature by about seven or eight degrees Celsius, recovering fast and drying out even faster. It was so warm that many students were dancing in the rain. Concentrating on the task became difficult! There were two tasks, but before we were given the task we were shown the sphero (well ladies and gentlemen, I think that is Christmas covered for you all!)…… I’ll finish after some sleep!

The first task was to get your sphero across the pool in the shortest possible time. They are cut little things run from a downloadable app on the ipods. Obviously the spheros could travel across the pool without modification, but this task was about speed. Various bits of material were available, much of it got strew across the floor, but the budget was suspended for this task (the accountancy sheets were too likely to get wet). I think this lack of accounting did have something to do with the mess, that and a lack of seats.

It was quite tense at the start of the race. Various modifications were made and I’ve no idea of the winner as Mrs Physics was too busy cheering on her own little guy, but first and second place went to two teams of girls from Carluke HS with neat little paddle steamer designs. Well done to them.

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Sorting the SPHERO

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Rain like we’ve never seen it! Singing in the rain!
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Promise they’ve showered before now.

The second challenge was more difficult and involved designing something to get as many table tennis balls across the pool as possible in the fastest time. However, the number of balls was paramount. If you came last but had more ping pong balls than anyone else you would win. This resulted in some amazing designs and a distinct lack of balls. As there were not enough balls the race was won over two legs. The winning team from round one had created a sphero driven trailer containing 25 neatly packed balls. It was a beautiful simple design and the only fault was that during construction they had pinched some of the teachers’ materials. This design was trumped in the second round by a far less elegant design but it worked. 38 balls were stored in what looked like a wagon off the wild west movies. They had used the sticky backed foam to stick the balls together.

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Spirit time manager with Awesome 2, 25 ping pong balls stuck around funky foam!

https://www.facebook.com/SCHSpaceSchool/videos/1043355035763660/

Personally I felt the challenge was a very good replacement for the scuba diving activity.

On to the buses for the journey back to the hotel, a quick change around and then out for dinner at the Golden Corral. This was an amazing place and an inspired choice. Everyone could find something they liked to eat from the huge array of buffet stalls, all arranged as a little old fashioned shopping arcade. Many of us chose to have a delicious Texan steak and it lived up to expectations. There was a distinct lack of fruit, vegetables and salad on most peoples plates, but plenty of meat, meat and carbs. The ice cream machine proved a firm favourite at the end and jelly and ice-cream was popular too. It was a quick turn around as there was still a way to go to the shopping arcade.

Do not expect many gifts from the trip. The shopping arcade was more Rolex than Primark and many students and staff spent a whopping zero dollars. This was not the case for all and some students came back well laden with goods. The mall closed earlier than our meet up time and one poor Carluke student got locked in the store, but we got him out unscathed. No time for the pool as we returned home at 9:50pm. A few managed a trip to the garage (a little retirement business for Mr and Mrs Physics me thinks!)

Honourable mentions must go to……..

  1. Dory who so far hasn’t managed to lose any of his own stuff of anyone elses
  2. Ironing man- on knocking on the boys dorm, Mrs Physics was delighted to see the boys had an ironing board up (they could teach the girls a thing or two). Apparently the boys were competent ironers, but the problem had been they hadn’t known how to fold up the board at the end; well that is what they told me!
  3. Bendy boy- who got stuck in the bus shelter after falling through the seat. He should get a mention as the one least missing home, and he was the one we were worried about. (No need mum and dad to take him on holiday- he’ll be going with his friends)
  4. The mini bus of students who travelled to the Galleria, we have happily arranged my funeral and I know it will be safe in their hands. Not that I am planning on going for a long time yet.

 

Day 6- Graduation

Another amazingly packed day, despite finishing Space School.

We arrived at S.C.H. at 8 am as usual but the first task was our visit around the Independence Plaza- the independence space shuttle and adapted plane. This was a STS (space transporter system) that was never meant to fly. It was set out as STS Atlantis. From there the tour went to the adapted 747-100. The adapted plane that was modified to take the STS by piggy back. The information boards were informative and interesting. Mrs Physics wishes she had now gone back to re-read those that she couldn’t finish.

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There was no hanging about as the highlight was Brunch with an astronaut. We were privileged to have Commander Brian Duffy (born June 20, 1953, Boston, Massachusetts),  a retired U.S. Air Force colonel and a former NASA astronaut. He flew aboard four Space Shuttle missions. We had brunch, what seemed to be only an hour after breakfast. It was in the “club” with an elevator only to the upstairs. After we’d eaten we waited for a while and prepared for a photo opportunity. Brian Duffy came in and had his photo and then gave a short talk about how he got to be an astronaut. He was a lovely humble man with great experience and a dry sense of humour. He answered questions for about 45 mins and then each student and member of staff received a personalised sign photograph of him.

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D&G Space School 2016 with Astronaut Brian Duffy. Our VIE representative Izzy is leaning down at the front.

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After our brunch with the astronaut we divided into two groups, one went to do an evaluation and one went to the starship gallery for a video and tour. We had our first and only medical incident. One student had a bruised finger and we got that strapped up by the SC staff. It was an impressive mitten when we re-joined the group and invoked lots of sympathy. Hopefully this will assist healing.

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There were various mock-up and real space mission relics, including the real Apollo 17 capsule, Gemini and Mercury capsules and a tiny piece of moon rock. It was great to touch a piece of the moon but washing hands after was imperative, apparently one million visitors a year touch the rock.

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After we had all filled in questionnaires and visited the gallery it was time for graduation. We all took our seats in the main hall with our groups. Each group were called up individually and Suma had chosen really appropriate words to describe each team and the way that they had worked as a team.

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Team Spirit
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Team Surveyor
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Team Viking

After everyone had received their certificates the ranked teams were announced. In third place it was Team Phoenix, in second place overall, was our own team Surveyor, and a very worthy winner from Carluke was team MRO. They had consistently performed well over all challenges and shown great design, knowledge and execution. Well done to them.

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overall winners team MRO

Well done to all the teams. They have worked hard, developed new skills, managed in situations that they found hard and been polite, and fun. Well done.

 

Dr Gall gave an excellent speech thanking the Space University staff and then Project Manager from team Viking gave a surprise and lovely speech and presented Mrs Physics with a wonderful sextant. Thanks to y’all for that. You’ve been a delight to take away and I really hope that those experiences remain with you and you use them to reach for the stars, whatever you want those stars to be.

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The Beautiful Sextant that the very first D&G space cadets got for Mrs Physics. Know that I will treasure it, even if I can’t work it!

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HB from Moffat, I will happily take you on any school trip, but I am not sure I will go with you on a space mission if I might be your tea!

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The Amazing Space University Staff that have helped us all week. They have been a fantastic group of knowledgeable, fun and helpful people, all with incredible stories to tell.

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The afternoon was then our own and we finally got to look around this fabulous place. Chaperones were needed in the stores, but this was the busiest it had been all week (note to self purchase things earlier on in the week when it is quiet and the stocks are there). People managed to unload nearly all of their cash, although, personally Mrs Physics felt there was less interesting stuff in the store than when she first visited. It could be due to her already having purchased all the books in the shop on the previous visit!

At 3:45 we met up at the door and people were definitely flagging. Mr and Mrs Physics sat at the re-charging point but it didn’t work, they were just as tired.

Back to the hotel and one last time in the pool before leaving. Tonights activity- bowling at the Main Event. 14 lanes were booked and people got themselves into groups. Mrs Physics was the worst in the whole of the 14 lanes, having to resort at one point to the “dinosaur” to send down the bowling ball. The Time Manager from Spirit was delighted that at 17 he’d finally found a sport he could do and win, taking a clean sweep of three games!

 

Day 8- packing for home

No early breakfasts for us this morning, even Mr and Mrs Physics didn’t make it down to breakfast until 8:30 am. The waffle maker was out, which was great for the majority, but that had replaced the pineapple, strawberries, fruit, ham and cheese.

After breakfast the packing began or continued. For those in Room 311, the girls, this was a major task. I am not sure that their floor had been visible for six days, although it was not the fault of everyone in the room.

 

Hotel check-out completed, no scary bills. Most headed for the Main Event returning with finger snakes. Unfortunately DV has just killed Dory’s favourite pet snake. Mourning in progress. Eyes are beginning to close and it is only 14:45 Houston time.

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Dory’s 30 hour 16th birthday. Have we just time travelled I am sure it was a Rory’s 16th birthday on the way here!
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HB- you look nothing like Usain Bolt! Is it Bootsain Volt?
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Waiting at Heathrow for our delayed flight.

The Airbus flight from Heathrow to Glasgow was so comfortable and we finally got the seats together that we had been promised all journey. Mr and Mrs Physics actually got a wee kip!

There was a massive delay as we waited for our cases, hoping that they’d come on the flight with us this time.

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There was a small welcome party from Pi Physics, just long enough to hand over the presents! Houston’s coaches were ready and waiting and after saying a goodbye to one student who couldn’t face the bus the rest of us set out for home.

A couple of drop-off’s in Moffat saw another 3 space cadets reach home and the rest of us finally touched down at 16:38 BST. Mission Completed.

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A lovely reception party at Lockerbie Academy. Thanks to the gate keeper, you did a great job!

Students were returned to their waiting families and Mr & Mrs Physics returned home for a large cuppa!

Mission Complete touch-down 16:38 BST, apart from the write- up for the Holywood Trust.

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So Space Cadets please:

  • Give a brief account of what you did.
  • State anything that you have done that you’ve never tackled before.
  • Indicate any life changing experiences that you might have had.

 

Day zero- the rest of our life

Oh to see some hills, and the sun is shining in D&G. Feeling exhausted and jet lagged but what a super group of students. Anyone want to go again in two years time? Get saving!

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Over and out from Capcom! 28/10/16

(NB Capcom stands for Spaceflight communicator-Communications link between flight control and astronauts. Acronym was created when spacecraft were referred to as “capsules.”)

See you Monday!
See you Monday!

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9 thoughts on “Diary of a Space School”

  1. Hope you get this. How fantastic. Can’t wait for more. Brilliant read………..just popped my first £1 into the piggy bank!!

  2. 0800hrs in the U.K. Eagerly reading yesterday’s posts. A remarkable adventure. If Mr & Mrs Physics were our Science teachers, we would have secured a different career. Well done team. Allan & Olive

    1. I’ve got apologies to make too Pathfinder, welcome to my website. I hope you find the other pages useful too when you get back to school!

  3. Enjoying hearing all about your experiences a well as the photographs. Very entertaining and informative post. Looking forward to the next installment.
    Laura

  4. What a brilliant post! We look forward to reading more. Rain pouring down in Derbyshire for the last 6 hours. Enjoy the adventure. Olive and Allan

  5. Mrs Phyiscs, what a great blog. We very much appreciate the effort you are putting in to write it, and indeed the huge effort put in by you and Mr Physics, to get the team all the way to Houston.
    Ref Houston immigration, don’t take it personally, my experience of them is very much the same!! Just ask Jack….
    Looking forward to today’s update.

  6. Fantastic to see and hear all about the adventures – looks amazing! Thanks for sharing.

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