News media representatives are invited to attend an Armstrong Education Office presentation titled Journey to Mars on Jan. 29 for approximately 870 Gregg Anderson Academy elementary students who will be separated by grade level into three assemblies.
- 8:30 a.m. – 9:10 a.m. (1st and 2nd grades),
- 9:40 a.m. – 10:20 a.m. (kindergarten and 3rd grades),
- 10:25 a.m. – 11:05 a.m. (4th, 5th and 6th grades)
Gregg Anderson Academy is located at 5151 West Avenue N-8 in Palmdale.
Media interested in attending need to contact the academy’s Marie Norlin at 661-206-3750 or email her at m.norlin@westside.k12.ca.us. Media will enter through the front office where they will sign in and be escorted to the cafeteria where the event will be held.
The main focus of the NASA visit is to spark students’ interest in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) referencing some of agency’s s past missions and future. The presentation will include information about NASA’s missions from Apollo to the recent successful splashdown of the Orion capsule, which is the spacecraft that will take astronauts beyond Earth’s orbit on our Journey to Mars.
Students will hear from Armstrong employees who will explain how they found their dream jobs working for NASA. Education Specialist David Alexander will emcee and kick off the event. Students will also interact with Hernan Posada, an Armstrong pilot, to learn about the unmanned Ikhana aircraft’s role to capture live video of the Orion splashdown for NASA TV, and will be shown footage from the actual mission.
At the conclusion of assemblies, students will return to their classrooms to enhance their learning experience by designing a small-scale Orion capsule and parachute system using an engineering design process. They will use everyday materials such as Styrofoam cups for the Orion capsule and aluminum foil for the heat shield, as well as any items they can gather from their school.
For more information about the NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center’s Education Office, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/centers/armstrong
Leslie Williams
NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center
661-276-3893
leslie.a.williams@nasa.gov