Making learning fun is one of the best tools for educators. So, when Lockheed Martin approached Cocoa High School in Brevard County about inviting some of their students out for a unique hands-on experience, teachers said that it was a great opportunity.
What You Need To Know
- NASA is targeting Saturday, September 3 for its next launch attempt for the Artemis I mission
- About 20 students were invited to participate in the Astronaut Training Experience at the KSC Visitor Complex
- Students were also given a breakdown of the Orion spacecraft by two of the engineers currently working in that program
It was also a unique way to bring the pending Artemis I launch into their lesson plans.
“Our science coach, Mr. (Dennis) Mattson grabbed his best and brightest calculus students, kids who were interested in STEM and brought them here,” said Allison Haley, an Exceptional Student Education (ESE) school counselor for Cocoa High School, who also joined in the field trip. “They were excited and can’t believe all the cool things that they get to do.”
The group of about 20 juniors and seniors were brought to Lockheed’s Astronaut Training Experience (ATX) at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex (KSCVC) on Wednesday. Originally, the visit was supposed to capitalize on the energy from the Artemis I launch, but with the scrub on August 29, they now still have that to look forward to as well.
Learning from the minds behind Orion
Part of the experience for students was hearing from a pair of Lockheed Martin engineers who have worked for years on the Orion spacecraft program.
Barry Bohnsack is an Orion spacecraft production planner working at the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at Kennedy Space Center. He also spends time helping to coach competitive robotics teams around Brevard County.
He said it’s important to be able to offer these hands-on experiences with science and technology when they can in order to help students understand all that is possible, especially living somewhere like the Space Coast.
“This might be the first time these students have the ability to spark in their brain this might be a career opportunity for me,” Bohnsack said. “The Artemis generation is now growing and learning that walking on the Moon may be a career possibility. Working on the project or being an engineer or a technician that builds the spacecraft is a career possibility for them.”
Bohnsack was joined on Wednesday by Kelsey Evezich, a senior systems and software engineer for crew systems on the Orion spacecraft who spent the past five years with the program. She wrote the software for the hand controllers, or joysticks, that future astronauts will use to pilot Orion.
She was a middle school student in when the proposal for Orion was underway. She said an engineer came to her school to talk about it. Evezich points back to that moment as the point that changed the trajectory of her life.
Evezich hoped that giving kids an even more in-depth look into their work could be just as inspiring to the students from Cocoa High School.
“Once you have that idea of, wow, I could be working on NASA’s next spacecraft, it does not go away. And so, I think that’s the same thing for these students,” Evezich said. “They may not be interested today, they may not be interested tomorrow, they may find their path, but eventually, there are various influences through their life connect, make a thread and they may turn out right back on the program.”
Learning through doing
During the students’ time at the Astronaut Training Experience (ATX), they got to go through a series of simulators, similar to those that professional astronauts use.
The “Walk on Mars” test put students behind a virtual reality visor with special wands to move about the simulated Martian environment and try to retrieve objects based on the guidance of a student who was monitoring the mission from afar.
The ATX has a list of astronauts, like Charlie Walker, Anna Fisher, Jon McBride and Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper who have also gone through the simulation. It allows students to see how they stack up with those who have flown on Space Shuttle missions.
Another area has a microgravity simulator that allows visitors to feel like they’re floating on their backs while working on part of the International Space Station.
Nicholas Deans, a junior at Cocoa High School, said he had participated in STEM programs at his school and done some VR work. He said engineering was partially on his mind, but after going through the paces on Wednesday, he’s more sure than ever that he wants a role in the aerospace world.
“I think I want to help make stuff for projects like this or help astronauts get to space,” Deans said as he unbuckled from the lander/rover simulator.