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Reach for it -- presented by Science@NASA
In August 1984, President Ronald Reagan announced NASA’s plan to send “one of America’s finest—a teacher”
to space aboard space shuttle Challenger. Of 11,000 aspirants for the adventure,
37-year-old high school teacher Christa McAuliffe from Concord, New Hampshire, was chosen.
As the first teacher traveling to space, she planned to conduct science demonstrations
from low-Earth orbit to get students “excited about history, about the future, and about space.”
Tragically, Challenger broke apart soon after liftoff on January 28, 1986.
There were no survivors, and McAuliffe’s planned demonstrations were shelved.
International Space Station astronauts Joe Acaba and Ricky Arnold
have brought McAuliffe’s mission full circle by completing and filming, on orbit,
her envisioned lessons as a tribute to her legacy.
U.S. crew members aboard the station have also performed and captured other brief,
engaging lessons ‘STEMonstrations.’ As part of the Year of Education on Station,
NASA has made all of the demos available to classrooms around the world.
Chromatography is one of the most interesting McAuliffe lessons Acaba and Arnold have brought to life.
It provides hands-on activities for student to understand the importance
of capillary action and chromatography and compare how they work in microgravity versus on Earth.
Capillary action occurs any time a liquid spontaneously flows into a narrow tube or porous material.
It’s how plants get water from their roots to their leaves.
It’s how our blood makes a ‘round trip’ through our bodies.
And it’s how those paper towels soaked up the orange juice you spilled this morning.
Chromatography is a technique that uses capillary action to separate mixtures
so they can be analyzed. On Earth, chromatography is used for activities
such as studying samples at a crime scene. Chromatography is an essential technique for spaceflight too.
For instance, keeping crewpersons safe from contaminants includes analyzing unknowns,
which can be critical on long space missions.
An example of a Year of Education STEMonstration features NASA astronaut Randy Bresnik
sling-shotting objects of all sizes across the inside of the space station with a bungee cord.
He’s illustrating how Newton’s second law of motion holds true in microgravity just like on Earth.
Simply put, Newton’s law states that the greater the mass of an object, the more force it will take to accelerate it.
Year of Education on Station also included more than 60 opportunities
for hundreds of students and teachers to connect via in-flight education downlinks
with astronauts aboard the space station for live question-and-answer sessions.
Participants asked questions about all aspects of living and working in space.
"Hi, my name is Ramsey and my question is, did you ever have the idea to get a lot of water,
pour it out, and see what happens?" "See how it just sticks to my hand? It just waves there,
it doesn't really go anywhere, it just sticks right to the surface so I could drink my lemonade right from my hand!" [ Drinking sounds ]
"How do you grow plants in microgravity without soil and water getting everywhere?"
"One of the plants actually uses pillows that are impregnated with moisture and the nutrients they need.
We have another advanced plant habitat that I've been working on where there's a reservoir and the water,
it's all very controlled, pretty much soil free. The important thing is nutrients and water."
"Hi, I'm Lexi. Would a yo-yo work in microgravity?"
"I didn't have a lot of time to practice so, here we go! My first yo-yo.
So it works! But it's a little bit different so thanks for the question and letting me find out if they do work.
With the Year of Education on Station, NASA’s goal was do what Christa and her optimism did so well:
inspire students and teachers to “Reach for it; push yourself as far as you can.”
For more on NASA’s Year of Education on Station, go to www.nasa.gov/stemonstation.
For other inspiring NASA happenings, visit science.nasa.gov.