NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

As soon as Phil West said the words "astronaut underwear," the audience of 570 elementary students giggled with mouths covered and eyes open wide. West, acting director of Johnson Space Center's Office of Education, was explaining how heat transfer keeps astronauts cool in their spacesuits by using liquid-cooled underwear.

Image to right: After a closer look, an Oak Hills first-grader realizes these astronaut pants may be too big for him. Credit: North Side Independent School District

During the first week of November, students and staff at Oak Hills Terrace Elementary in San Antonio packed their cafeteria-turned-classroom to get a lesson on space from "substitute teacher" West.

The K-5 school became one of 50 new NASA Explorer Schools in May 2005, and is the first one in San Antonio. In its third year, the program now has 150 schools representing 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

NES provides educators, students and families with classroom resources and innovative technology based on NASA's unique research, discoveries and missions. During the three-year partnership, NASA assists schools in addressing needs in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

"These visits really give NASA a chance to help the school launch their first year as a NASA Explorer School and allow us to interact with them face-to-face," said Jonathan Neubauer, the JSC NES coordinator. "It's a way to let them know that they really are a part of the NASA team." Neubauer, along with Aerospace Education Service Program Specialist Jennifer Becerra, joined West during the kick-off event.

"There is a place for you at NASA and you don't have to be an astronaut. We'll need geologists, engineers and even people to come up with space food when we go back to the Moon and on to Mars," said West to the students.

After sharing the Vision for Space Exploration, West demonstrated how a spacesuit worked with some help from the audience. The student assistants modeled the astronaut underwear that keeps astronauts cool, while another inflated the suit's arm.

He also presented a miniature Texas flag that was flown aboard Space Shuttle Discovery during the STS-114 mission in July and a full-size, white NASA Explorer Schools flag to the school.

In addition to the main NASA assembly, the JSC NES team took part in classroom visits, giving students and teachers a chance to ask West questions about space and spacesuits, which he had worked on for 10 years. Students also got to try on a real astronaut glove and get up close and personal with space food.

The students' questions varied from "How much does the spacesuit weigh?" to "What's the speed limit in space?" Classes also got to showcase their designs for rooms they predicted would be needed for future long-duration missions, such as a game and relaxation room for the astronauts.

Image to left: The Oak Hills NES team, which includes teachers Kathy Puente, Brooke Borer, Jason Pieratt, Matt Bartley and Principal Don Van Winkle, were presented with a Texas flag that was flown on STS-114 in July. Credit: North Side Independent School District

Later that evening, the students brought their parents and siblings back to the school for a NASA night, where they learned about the benefits of space exploration and the importance of math and science education. Families then trekked to the school's backyard, where the San Antonio Astronomical Society greeted them with telescopes aimed at Mars, Venus and stellar constellations.

Next door in the gymnasium, children competed with their parents to see who could launch their balloon rockets farthest as onlookers counted down. Other hands-on activities included making moon prints, fabricating rockets out of basic shapes and propelling straw rockets.

"Aside from teaching students that science, technology, engineering and mathematics activities can be educational and fun, we must also prepare the teachers with resources to inspire their students to study STEM careers in the future. The future of exploration is in their hands," said Becerra, who will bring NASA's missions and resources to OHT teachers throughout the three-year partnership. NASA's mission for this visit was to inspire the next generation of explorers, but the students had a mission of their own: to prove to NASA the truth of their school motto, "OHT is the place to be!"

For information about the NASA Explorer Schools Program on the Internet, visit:
http://explorerschools.nasa.gov

Debbie Nguyen/JSC