Mableton Starbase 1.5 Club: Aerospace Engineers: Introducing......Our Future Aerospace Engineers!

Each and every time I step foot in the Starbase Lab door, an overwhelming feeling of excitement bubbles up and comes out as a big smile as I see my 4th graders come in with such enthusiasm. We have been working extremely hard learning all about rockets and rovers. In addition, the students and I have taken on another challenge which will hopefully begin an annual partnership with the Russell Space Center. A couple of weeks ago, my 4th graders tested out their first rocket and figured out how weight affects the distance a rocket can travel. It was so neat to see them getting their rockets launch ready, and stomping on our launcher! Each group recorded their results on their worksheets, and used their data to formulate a conclusion. Based on our collective results, we determined that rockets with very little weight can travel much farther than rockets that carry a lot of weight. Then, I had students think about those implications. What does it all mean to aerospace engineers? I could not believe how many of my students knew exactly what those implications meant for our mission objective. In order for our rockets to reach our final destination, we had to make sure that the rover we carry, and the rocket itself, not weigh too much! The students are going to be testing additional variables that aerospace engineers have to take into consideration in the coming weeks such as rocket materials, rocket length, and rocket width.

Now to our OTHER mission objective......our contract with the Russell Space Center. Many people know about the awesome space program that Russell Elementary School in Smyrna, Georgia has, but few people know the specifics unless your child attends there. Well, I just so happen to be very close friends with the creator, director, and space guru that pulls off this amazing program for the Russell 4th and 5th graders. Chris Laster has known me for a very long time since I was a 5th grade student at Russell. My mother also worked at Russell for over 15 years, and for many of those, assisted Mr. Laster with getting local dignitaries and community leaders involved in the space program. Mr. Laster selects 4th and 5th graders who are interested in space and trains them for many months to perform an authentic space mission, complete with a mission control center and a mock space shuttle outside on the school grounds. Russell Astronauts and Mission Control Members train all year for their mission which launches each year in May to much fan-fare in their school. They even have a Teacher-in-Space who conducts lessons via close-circuit television while on the mission! The entire Russell Space Center is state of the art and unbelievable.

This year.....we have partnered up with the Russell Space Team to do something amazing! For the first time ever, the Russell Astronauts will be doing a EVA or spacewalk while on their mission. Our Starbase 4th graders have been given the task of creating a model for the space walkers to put together while outside in space. So, the work has started and the students are pumped! We picked a model and have started drafting up directions for Mission Control to use and relay to the astronauts. This is exactly what happens on a real space mission! The students and I are getting down to the wire, and are getting close to finishing up. The great part about all of this is that the ENTIRE Starbase 1.5 Club has been invited to tour the Russell Space Center next week, AND my 4th graders have been invited over for the launch so they can really get credit for their hard work. I really like their model idea which can be adaptable for use on many more space missions.

Coming up: Next week we visit the Russell Space Center and launch MORE rockets in testing! Stay tuned!!!!!

A group of students working with a picture of the model in the background. They are trying to assemble it without any instructions just by looking at the picture!