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[While the following live planned demonstrations were excellent
planned exercises utilizing Christa’s teaching gift, they differ from
the previous six lost lesson in content and approach. The previous six were not to be conducted
“live” but rather recorded on film or video. Additionally, the Lost Six,
are more fully addressed in Mayfield’s paper. This enabled the author to more
specifically duplicate their planned
execution. Likewise, the Lost Six had, in most cases, available NASA archival videos. These recorded training exercises were both on
the ground as well as on board the zero-G KC-135 NASA aircraft.
The live lessons are discussed below in summary manner by Bob Mayfield. Thankfully, there is a video of Christa’s
“walk though” of a portion of the live lessons. The pair of live lessons are also revisited in this project.. Indeed, as Christa often said, “I Touch the
Future. I Teach.” Through the lost live lessons, she will be
teaching once more, though more than a
score of years since that momentous launch of January 28, 1986. JRW November
2007]
Challenger’s Live Lost Lessons
Click on either of the links below to go directly to the Lesson Plan:
THE ULTIMATE FIELD TRIP (FIRST LIVE LESSON)
WHERE WE'VE BEEN, WHERE
WE'RE GOING (SECOND LIVE LESSON)
On flight day 6, the
teacher will conduct two (2) 15 minute lessons broadcast live from the Orbiter. The first, titled "The Ultimate Field Trip," required
no special hardware. The goals of the second lesson were to better understand
why mankind utilizes and explores space. The objectives were to demonstrate the
advantages of manufacturing in microgravity, to highlight technological
advancements that evolve from the space program, and to project mankind's future
in space. It was particularly desirable that these demonstrations could be
duplicated in the classroom so that students could compare in real time the
results of what they did to the space activity.
Several demonstrations will be conducted to illustrate the
behavior of materials in microgravity. A sphere of orange juice will be formed
carefully from a drink container. The fact that liquids form perfect spheres in
space is useful in forming mono-disperse latex
beads, for instance, which can be used by the Bureau of Standards. Mixing of molecules of different substances
will be illustrated using marshmallows and
chocolate candies in a plastic bag. Mixing of liquids
of differing densities will be demonstrated using salad oil and colored water
sealed in lexan bottles. Two of these containers will be used. One has
1/2 water and 1/2 oil. The other contains 1/3 water,
1/3 oil, and 1/3 air. These can be compared to determine how the presence of
the air affects the way the liquids behave. A marble is
in each bottle to stir the mixture. Also,
the teacher will use a large quartz crystal to discuss the special conditions conducive to the
growth of large crystals, especially relating to the growth of crystals in
space. Of course mankind uses space for more
than materials processing. This will be illustrated
using 8x10 color photographs of phenomena visible on the Earth from space, but not so apparent on the ground, or
even from aircraft. A photo of a hurricane, a volcanic eruption, a large meteor
crater are three (3) examples of the Earth activities man monitors from space.
Additionally,
the teacher will have a photo of the Hubble Space Telescope planned for launch
in 1986, and the Voyager space probe which will be at its closest encounter
with Uranus in January 1986.
Finally, a
scale model of the Space Station has been constructed to demonstrate the modular concept which will be employed to construct
This
concludes the discussion of the hardware development process for the Teacher in Space Project. Limited by available time and other factors,
the author could only hit the high points in most cases in his discussion of
the individual items that comprise the payload for the project.
Special
thanks need to be extended to a number of people who contributed a great deal
of their talents and time to ensure the success of this endeavor. Among them are Charles Chassay, Payload
Integration Manager at the
Finally,
thanks to the Teacher In Space finalists who provided the ideas, the raw
materials, which were used to construct these valuable teaching tools.
Bob E. Mayfield, Hardware/Procedures Coordinator, NASA/AESP
January 9,
1986
For a preliminary or concluding review of
the video performance of the six lost lessons, click here (7.0 MB, hi-res wmv file 10.2 MB) to view the video.
Click on either of the links below to go directly to the Lesson Plan:
THE ULTIMATE FIELD TRIP (FIRST LIVE LESSON)
WHERE WE'VE BEEN, WHERE
WE'RE GOING (SECOND LIVE LESSON)
For
added information or copies of the project, contact the project editor Jerry
Woodfill, at ER7, NASA JSC,
The
project is a work of the Automation, Robotics, and Simulation Division of the
