Today we attended the NASA Celebration at the Roper Mountain Science Museum in Greenville, South Carolina.

Each month, the Roper Mountain Science Museum has a special focus on the second Saturday of the month.  This time, it was learning about Space Exploration and NASA.



The kids were so excited to talk to the NASA Representative about space suits, space food, and how the astronaut stays healthy when up in space with zero gravity for six months at a time.  If they did not eat well, exercise, and maintain their temperature, they would could die or come back to earth severly debilitated.  They have to maintain very good physical condition to fly space missions in outer space.



The food was dehydrated in small packets and the children thought this was really gross.  The food did not look yummy at all.   The drink pouches were empty except for a small amount of dried flavoring.  They hook up the spout to a water source on the space ship and fill their drink.   The fella from NASA explained that they still needed to eat a balanced diet and the astronauts are allowed to choose their dehydrated food as long as it remains balanced. 



Their dried food packets are velcro onto to a meal tray so they don’t float around.



The children were able to try on a glove and a helmet from an astronaut suit.  The suits the astronauts wear are made of many different layers to protect the astronaut and keep him or her warm.  It is extremely thick.  One thing NASA is doing for the future is to have mechanical human like robots to be the astronauts and make the repairs and explorations needed outside of the space ship, as it is so cold and dangerous for humans. 



Then we went inside the NASA trailer and it was set up with dozens of video screens with information about different aspects of space exploration. 



Some of the areas discussed were:
Experiments
Robotics
Engineering
Travel
Materials of Space Suits and Space Vehicles
Stars
Planets



And a real moon rock.  This rock came from  the moon.  It is one of only 8 specimens in the world on display for the public to view.  The children were able to touch and learn about the rock.



The highlight for us was talking to a NASA Representative inside the trailer.  Right off the bat, we had some things in common.  He was from Bloomington, Indiana. We were from Indiana too. 

He had attended Perdue University in Indiana, and completed a mechanical engineering degree.  He did an internship on campus that was sponsored by NASA.  When he was done with his studies and earned his degree, NASA hired him and moved him to Houston Texas to work for them.    WOW!



We talked with him about so much that I can’t even tell you all of it.  One serious subject was what course of study or specialization NASA was looking for in employees, and he said “all fields of engineering”.  To build, fly, and maintain space craft and work with the dynamics of space exploration, all fields of engineering are necessary to make it possible to do this. 

It was a very productive discussion for this 11 year old, who is ready to fly a space craft into space!  Hope he can wait a few more years yet.

The kids left here today with a bag full of NASA goodies, and a whole new appreciation for space exploration.

There was much more to see and do at the Roper Mountain Science Museum today, and I will write another post with a link HERE as I get the story written.