On Tuesday, students at Asa Low Intermediate School will walk to Willie Pigg Auditorium and go into outer space. As part of a learning exercise, the fifth- and sixth-graders will be able to talk to astronauts and cosmonauts live via satellite on the International Space Station, orbiting 17,000 mph approximately 250 miles above the Earth.
"I couldn't believe we were accepted. I had to re-read the e-mail over and over," said Patricia Londono, a sixth-grade science teacher at the school.The once-in-a-lifetime experience was Londono's brain child. Being a self-proclaimed science nerd, Londono was a part of multiple NASA e-mail chains and stumbled across the idea a couple of years ago.She responded to the NASA e-mail, got the planning guide and went to work to bring outer space to Mansfield. It took a few application submissions and rejections, but in July, Londono's proposal was accepted."We had TAKS testing and the breaks, so there were just too many problems the first time around," Londono said. "I submitted it again in April of last year, and when July came around, we got confirmation."Mouser Electronics provided nearly $9,000 to obtain a satellite truck for the downlink. The satellite feed will allow the astronauts and students to hear one another, but only the students will be able to see the astronauts on video."Not many students get this chance. Outer space fascinates me, and this is a really cool opportunity," said Medina Barakat, 12. "We never think that astronauts are heroes, too. They put their lives on the line to go into space and do their experiments."Currently, a crew of six works on the ISS. Commander Dan Burbank and Don Pettit are the lone Americans on board and will answer students' questions. The crew, which also includes Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko, Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoly Ivanishin, plus André Kuipers, an astronaut from The Netherlands, has been in space since November and will return to earth in March.The students will have approximately 20 to 30 minutes to ask 20 questions. Because of the time crunch and the satellite link, the questions were screened and approved by NASA.More than 3,000 questions were submitted to Londono, who whittled it down to 30 questions before they were put to a vote and chosen by students, teachers and administrators. The students chosen to ask the questions were picked at random."I think it's amazing to be in space because they can see the whole world at once and see all the geographical features," said Jaqualis Coleman, 12. "I like stars, I like planets and I want to ask them if they can see Neptune."A sampling of the questions that will be asked by students include missions the astronauts and cosmonauts are working on in space, how they deal with medical emergencies and if they have ever lost contact with mission control."When I first told my dad about it, he said 'that's so cool!' So many people will be watching and it will so cool to talk to people in space," said Lauren Young, 11. "We get to see what the space station looks like on the inside. Not a lot of people get to see that."As a result of the phone call into space, Asa Low has been renamed Nasa Low Intermediate for the month of January. A block letter, "N," was provided to the school by Fast Signs."When I mentioned to NASA that we were going to rename the school Nasa Low for a month, they loved it," Londono said.Brian Hernalsteen, (817) 473-4451Have more to add? News tip? Tell us
