Debbie Nguyen
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
|
04.23.07
| RELEASE:
JE07-007
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NASA Congratulates Students for Naming Space Station Module
Classes in six schools in the United States will be almost in orbit Monday.
After submitting the winning name “Harmony” in the Name the International Space Station Node 2 Challenge, students will receive a surprise memento and be congratulated by Astronaut Don Thomas at 1 p.m. CDT. NASA’s Digital Learning Network team will connect all six classes from their hometowns to Thomas, who will be at Johnson Space Center in Houston. Thomas will talk about his experiences in space and the students’ future in space exploration. He also will answer videoconference questions from students. To view the live Web broadcast, go to:
http://sargasso-3.arc.nasa.gov:10005/live
Six classes from six schools nationwide submitted the name Harmony, reflecting how the pressurized module will connect and provide a passageway to additional international partner science labs and cargo spacecraft. The academic competition involved more than 2,200 kindergarten through high school students from 62 schools representing 32 states. Participants also had to build a scale model and write an essay explaining their proposed name.
For information on where each class will be connected from, please contact the selected schools:
- Paul Cummins' eighth-grade class of Browne Academy, Alexandria, Va., 703-960-3000
- Sue Wilson's third-grade class of Buchanan Elementary School, Baton Rouge, La., 225-343-4585
- Brigette Berry's eighth-grade class of League City Intermediate School, League City, Texas, 281-284-0020
- Bradley Neu's ninth-grade science class of Lubbock High School, Lubbock, Texas, 806-766-1444
- Russell Yocum’s third-grade class of West Navarre Intermediate School, Navarre, Fla., 850-936-6060
- David Dexheimer's students of the World Group Home School, Monona, Wis., 608-266-4275
Harmony was built for NASA in Italy. It joins three other named U.S. modules on the station: the Destiny laboratory, the Quest airlock and the Unity node, but is the first U.S. piece of the space station named by people outside of NASA. In addition to increasing the living and working space inside the station, it also will serve as a work platform for the station's robotic arm. It is about 21 feet long and 14 feet in diameter. Harmony is being prepared at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Fla., for its space shuttle Discovery flight, designated STS-120, targeted for launch later this year.
Through this hands-on, interactive, educational activity, NASA continues to invest in the nation’s education programs and to engage students, educators, families and the general public in NASA’s missions.
Using space shuttles to finish construction of the space station is a key step in America's long-term exploration strategy, or the Vision for Space Exploration, which includes plans to venture beyond Earth orbit for purposes of human exploration and scientific discovery. The space station is a crucial test bed for those future exploration missions.
For more information about the Node 2 Challenge, visit the NASA Exploring Space Challenges Web site:
http://esc.nasa.gov/
For more information on the station and the Harmony module, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/station
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text-only version of this release |
