When educator-astronaut
Barbara Morgan launches to the space station this June, she hopes to 'plant
the seed' that that will
start students thinking about their own futures in space.
Literally.
In addition
to Morgan and her six STS-118 crewmates, space shuttle Endeavour will
have on-board millions of basil seeds, which will be distributed after the
mission to children in kindergarten through high school working to develop
their own designs for Moon- or Mars-based plant growth chambers.
"We
know they will be excited about having the seeds, something physical that has been
in space that they can touch and grow," Morgan told collectSPACE.com
during an educational event held Friday at Space Center Houston [image].
"There's
a little bit of a metaphor there, its really planting the seed to get them
going, it's getting something physical in their hand that they can go and do
what we do - explore, experiment and discover," explained Morgan.
The flown
basil seeds will be used by students to test their own designs for growing
plants and food on other planets. Morgan will formally announce the
"engineering design challenge" while in space but is sharing the
basic details now so that teachers can incorporate the project into their fall
lesson plans.
Morgan
wants to involve students in real space activities to teach them how the can
play a part in their own future.
"We
want them to understand that our mission, and all these series of missions, are
just one and long step into an open ended future. So we're going to help finish
building the International
Space Station, that leads on to us going to the Moon and on to Mars. Right now, as you know, we are
working on the exploration vehicle and how we are going to get to the Moon and
how we are going to get to Mars," continued Morgan. "[For] these
kids... and even high school seniors today, that will be figured out by the
time they are in graduate school but there's lots and lots of stuff that hasn't
been figured out at all yet."
"We
want to get them engaged now figuring out that stuff so they can actively contribute
to advancement now and not just by absorbing knowledge from us but by working
within and working together on these problems that haven't been solved,"
Morgan described as her motivation behind the plant growth chamber challenge.
Students
participating will be able to compare the basil they grow on Earth with seeds planted on-board the
ISS.
"We
are also taking up a growth chamber that we will be transferring over to
station and Clay [Anderson, STS-118 crewmember and station resident,] will
start and continue the growth of these basil seeds," Morgan said.
In addition
to the seeds, NASA is planning for Morgan and perhaps her crewmates to
participate in as many as three educational "downlinks" when she will
answer students questions from aboard the shuttle and station.
"Right
now we are still negotiating that with the mission operation folks to find out
how much time we have and what type of activities we can do," said Robert
Musgrove, deputy director of the education office at NASA Johnson Space Center
in Texas.
Beyond her
educational duties, Morgan will help operate the shuttle's robotic arm during
the planned
11-day flight that will deliver and install a new station truss segment,
bring supplies and will replace a U.S. crewmember living on-board the orbiting
laboratory. Named a member of the 1998 NASA astronaut selection group, Morgan
left her career as an Idaho teacher and has trained as a full-time astronaut since.
Morgan
previously was selected as back-up to America's first teacher in space
candidate, Christa
McAuliffe, who was tragically
killed along with her Challenger crewmates 21 years ago on January 28,
1986. Despite the accident, Morgan remained committed to flying in space.
STS-118 will be her first mission.
Morgan
knows that McAuliffe's memory will be forefront during the flight.
"I
can't imagine that people aren't going to be thinking of her, thinking of
Christa, and not just her but the whole Challenger crew. They will be there
with us," said Morgan.
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