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My name is Bethany Dixon from Rocklin, California and I teach
at Western Sierra Collegiate Academy,
a Rockland Academy Family School, and this is NASA Now!
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Hi I'm Maria and this is NASA Now.
During the course of this season we are going to take a look
at some of the exciting career opportunities available at NASA.
In today's program we catch
up with teacher turned astronaut Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger
and see what it takes to go
from the classroom to low Earth orbit.
That's ahead, but first here's what's happening at NASA Now.
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A lasting legacy on the moon.
NASA's Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory
or GRAIL successfully completed its mission to study differences
in the moon's gravity.
On December 17th 2012, GRAIL'S two spacecraft, Ebb and Flow,
successfully impacted the lunar surface
after their scheduled descent.
The site was named the Sally K. Ride Impact Site,
in honor of late NASA astronaut, Dr. Sally Ride;
America's first female in space.
Dr. Ride, who passed away in July 2012,
also led the mission's MoonKAM program.
The first camera on a planetary mission dedicated entirely
to education and public outreach.
MoonKAM took more than 115,000 images of the lunar surface.
Imaging targets and the spacecraft names were selected
from student submissions across the country.
Following the mission, images were returned
to the students for further study.
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She was a Mission Specialist on the crew of STS 131 and spent
over two weeks on board the ISS.
So what was it like to go from being a teacher to an astronaut,
and how in the world did she get there?
Those are some of the questions we will answer
when Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger shares her incredible career.
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Since I've been here at NASA I've been living my dream.
And it's been quite exciting.
I've met many new people, learned so much
about our space shuttle which is now retired
about the International Space Station.
And I'm learning more now about our international partners
and the vehicles that we're using
to supply our International Space Station.
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One day, when I was teaching my high school class,
one of my students asked me, "How do you go
to the bathroom in space?"
It's a great question.
I didn't know what that toilet looked like.
So I went to the NASA website.
I found out just what the shuttle toilet looked like,
learned how you can use it.
And at the same time they were posting
for teachers to become astronauts.
I thought this is a perfect job so I applied.
I knew that it would be very unlikely that I'd get the job.
But again, I set my goals high and I worked hard.
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There's not one single day that's ever the same whether
we're in classes learning about systems
of the International Space Station
or how the new visiting vehicles work, or whether we're
in our Russian classes learning the other language
of the space station.
Sometimes we're flying out in a T-38 and practicing checklist
and how to work as a team in a very real environment.
Sometimes we're in the Neutral Buoyancy Lab
and we're practicing 6-hour long space walks underwater
because it's the closest that we can get to being
in a simulated weightlessness.
Other times, we're in front of lots of video screens
and practicing robotics because the best way for us
to do our robotics is through simulators.
And so all of those things are ways
that we have a different daily schedule and then
in between there, we have desk jobs, too,
where we're supporting those people that are flying in space.
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When you're in space from the very first moment that you start
to feel this weightlessness, you start to get this fluid shift
and all the fluids start to go up towards your head
and to places that they normally don't because, you know,
here on earth, fluids shift down due to gravity.
And at first, this makes you feel really stuffy,
it can make you feel a little bit nauseous
because your stomach is floating up where it's not normally at
and it just takes some--
a matter of a day or so before you start to feel pretty normal.
That's the amazing thing about your brain is that it starts
to recognize what the new normal is and adapt to it.
And then you have to figure out some other things to do
for your body, for instance just taking care
of like brushing your teeth, putting your contacts in,
washing your hair, using the bathroom,
all of these things take a little bit more effort
than they do here on earth.
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I want you to be just as equally excited about science,
engineering and math and technology.
And here's why, because we're going places.
NASA's got big dreams too and I hope you do too.
We're thinking about exploring beyond low Earth orbit.
We're trying to build a spacecraft
that will get us there.
And so you guys are going to be the ones that go explore for us.
And we're going to be using your minds and your dreams
to propel us further and further into our solar system.
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Did you know that space is anything but empty?
In fact there's a corrosive gas called Atomic Oxygen that exists
in low earth orbit and is helping to restore artwork
and clean surgical implants right here on Earth.
In an effort to learn more about atomic oxygen,
and the negative effects it has on satellites and spacecraft,
NASA scientists discovered that this corrosive gas could help
to restore fire-damaged artwork
and remove bacterial contaminants
from surgical implants.
Now you know.
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If you would like to join the team at NASA just
like astronaut Dottie Metcalf- Lindenburger,
there's no better time to plot your career path than now.
Teacher's you can point your students towards a great career
website where they can explore a variety
of opportunities that exist at NASA.
You can find it by checking out the extension activity
for this program on the NASA Explorer Schools Virtual Campus.
Well that's it for NASA NOW.
Be sure to visit our facebook page and leave a comment.
We'll see you next time on NASA NOW!
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NASA Now comes to you from the Virtual Campus at NASA Explorer.