If
you listen closely on Saturday, when NASA launches the space shuttle Discovery
on a 14-day mission to the International Space Station, you may just hear the
voice of the STS-124 crew's special guest eighth astronaut.
He'll
be the one exclaiming, "To infinity... and beyond!"
Standing
12-inches tall, Buzz Lightyear, the action figure who thought he was a real
space ranger in the 1995 film "Toy Story", will achieve his dream
of flying in space as part of a new educational partnership between NASA and
the Walt Disney Company.
With
the help of Discovery's crew, who will deliver a new
Japanese science laboratory to the orbiting outpost, Buzz
Lightyear will fly into the space station, where he will 'live' for six
months as part of NASA's "Toys in Space" effort. Once on-board, the
character will introduce 'fun elements' from space into science and math
classrooms across the country.
"The
Space Ranger Education Series will give teachers an opportunity to incorporate
a fun and engaging moment into the classroom with a character that children
really love," said Jay Rasulo, chairman of Disney's Parks and Resorts.
Jointly
developed by Disney's Youth Educational Series and NASA, the online Space
Ranger Education program includes educational games for students and materials
for educators to download and integrate into their classroom curriculum.
The
games, which debut for play starting on Saturday through NASA's website,
feature Buzz Lightyear and are themed around the events to take place during
STS-124. Children can choose trying to dock the Japanese science lab to the
station, match international partners with their contributions to space
exploration, or try loading cargo in Discovery's payload bay.
Click here to see a
video preview of the Space Ranger Education Series games.
Another
of the five games invites kids to navigate Buzz Lightyear to different popular
toys to see a movie on how they behave in space. The videos, shot on-board
earlier shuttle and station missions, feature U.S. astronauts and Russian
cosmonauts playing with yo-yos, basketball and soccer balls, and a gyroscope,
among other examples.
Since
1985, NASA's Toys in Space program has used toys to help children learn science
and math by predicting and then observing how common toys will work in zero-g.
During
his time in space, Buzz Lightyear will participate in a similar experiment and
appear in a video downlink from the ISS along with U.S. flight engineer Gregory
Chamitoff.
Buzz
will also contribute a journal about his adventures in space, which will be
posted to the NASA website.
A
sixth game will debut in the fall, to coincide with Buzz's return from space
and students' return to school.
According
to Disney Parks spokesman Duncan Wardle in an interview with collectSPACE.com,
Walt Disney World plans to throw a ticker tape parade welcoming Buzz Lightyear
back to Earth before placing him on public display in the resort. Though the
location for the exhibit isn't yet known, one candidate, said Wardle, is near
Toy Story Mania!, the new attraction opening on May 31 at Disney's Hollywood
Studios in Florida and June 17 at Disneyland in California.
Guests
to both resorts will be able to take home their own replica of the space-flown
Buzz Lightyear. Thinkway Toys is reintroducing the original 12-inch action figure
they sold in 1995 exclusively through Disney Parks' gift shops.
"He
is finally more than 'just a toy'," said John Barton, Sr. Vice President
of Thinkway Toys.
Copyright
2008 collectSPACE.com. All rights reserved.
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