Watching a rocket launch, getting up close to the Space Shuttle Atlantis, speaking to former astronauts, and learning about the incredible science that helps launch rockets — these are a few of the adventures experienced during a recent trip to NASA in the USA.
This two-week trip for Year 8 students was designed to encourage more young people to consider future careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). It might even have inspired a few of them to become space scientists or astronauts.
“The NASA trip has sparked my interest in aerospace engineering. I am very interested in the engineering and work to build rockets, send them into space and then return them to Earth. I’m also interested in how robotics play a part in space missions and exploration,” says Jasmine (Year 8), who is studying Science and Mathematics. “The work behind the scenes in developing new technologies for space exploration is fascinating and I’m interested in contributing to missions that expand our understanding of the universe.”
During the trip, students visited NASA’s space centres in Houston, Texas where astronauts train, and Orlando, Florida where NASA rocket launches take place.
“The two-week program is packed with hands-on activities and gives students opportunities to explore future studies and careers in different STEM fields. The time at NASA allows students to learn more about space and to understand that there are some areas of science that we don’t fully understand yet. They learned about rocket and space habitat design and space exploration, heard from astronauts and space engineers and then watched a live rocket launch — a once in a lifetime opportunity.”Mark Doyle, Haileybury Head of Science (Middle School)
Students toured the facilities where astronauts train and work, learned about robotics and coding, discovered how space missions are carefully planned and got some hands-on experience of what it takes to build a ‘home’ in space.
“I learnt that sunsets on Mars are usually blue and when astronaut, Ed White, was making the United States’ first spacewalk during the Gemini 4 mission, his spare thermal glove floated out of the capsule,” says Cooper (Year 8).
“The NASA trip has made me more interested in aerospace engineering, especially aircraft design and its operation within Earth’s atmosphere, and spacecraft design. It has sparked my interest in becoming a test pilot where I can combine my passion for engineering with hands-on experience in flight testing and aircraft development.”Cooper (Year 8)
For Logan, learning about heat shields, robotics and ‘the endless vacuum of space’ at NASA was fascinating.
“But the most memorable moment was watching the launch of the SpaceX rocket,” says Logan (Year 8).
“The trip to NASA was an amazing opportunity and has opened so many possible career pathways for me — from studying space and its impact on the human body to working on spaceships. I realised how everything has to come together in a very complex way to launch someone into space.”Logan (Year 8)
During the trip to the USA, students also took part in a workshop at Universal Studios that looked at the engineering and design of theme park rides, kayaked for bioluminescent algae and took an airboat ride to look for alligators.
In the spirit of reconciliation, Haileybury acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.
Type on the line above then press the Enter/Return key to submit a new search query
