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Interactive Webcast Brings STS-118 Shuttle Mission Closer to Home

EDWARDS AFB, Calif. – The Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, and Columbia Middle School, Adelanto, a NASA Explorer School, will be featured April 20 during a NASA Digital Learning Network (DLN) event. George Grimshaw, NASA Dryden’s space shuttle support operations project manager, will discuss Dryden’s role as a back-up shuttle landing site.
The DLN and NASA’s Explorer School project are teaming up to host the “STS-118 Relay Rally,” a virtual tour of NASA’s ten field centers. On April 19 or 20, NASA centers, along with an Explorer School from each of their regions, will interact with Educator Astronaut Joe Acaba, questioning him about astronaut training, shuttle missions and whatever else piques their interest.
All videoconference participants will be able to interact with the other centers and Acaba. Only the school participants will be able to ask questions, but the event will be webcast live so students across the nation will be able to watch and learn.
The STS-118 flight of the Space Shuttle Endeavour will be the first flight of Educator Astronaut Barbara Morgan and an important step in the ongoing assembly of the International Space Station. Other STS-118 crewmembers are Commander Scott Kelly, Pilot Charles Hobaugh and Mission Specialists Tracy Caldwell, Rick Mastracchio and Dave Williams.
The centers featured during the April 19 event will be Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va.; Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.; Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio; Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Fla.; and Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.
Featured April 20 will be Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Miss.; Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif.; the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., and Dryden. The Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas, will be included both days, since Acaba will be participating from there.
Educator Astronauts are classroom teachers who have completed training to become mission specialist astronauts. Currently, there are four Educator Astronauts.
Through the NASA Explorer Schools or NES project, NASA enters partnerships with selected schools to bring engaging science, technology, engineering and mathematics lessons to educators, students and families. A competitive application process and selection of new NES teams occur each spring. NES is directly tied to the agency’s major education goal of attracting and retaining students in science, technology, engineering and math disciplines. The STS-118 Relay Rally continues NASA’s tradition of investing in the nation’s educational systems.
For more information on the STS-118 Relay Rally or to watch this live webcast, visit: nasadln.nmsu.edu/dln
For more information on research at NASA, visit: www.nasa.govl
 

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Dryden Flight Research Center
P.O. Box 273
Edwards, California 93523
Phone 661/276-3449
FAX 661/276-3566

Beth Hagenauer
NASA Dryden Flight Research Center
Phone: 661-276-7960
beth.hagenauer@dfrc.nasa.gov

Lindsay Crouch
Langley Research Center, Hampton, Va.
Phone: 757-864-3189