"My experience at NASA!"

By:  Ashley M. Streebig
Snow Hill High School

Worcester County Schools

 

A few months ago I was forwarded a message from our science coordinator as a call for educators to be a part of Wallops Rocket Academy for Teachers (WRATS), for NASA Greenbelt at the Wallops Flight Facility.  I had no rocket experience although I could not resist this experience due my grandfather’s history as an electrical engineer at NASA Goddard at Greenbelt.  I applied and was accepted and it has opened a door for me as an educator that I could have never imagined.

    On June 22, 2015 I arrived at the Wallops Flight Facility for my week long workshop sponsored by NASA Wallops Sounding Rocket Program Office.  I had to go through the badging office to get my official badge access as visitors on base for the week.  I then found my classroom on base and the fun began.  I met amazing educators who not only taught us but do professional jobs here on base that are directly related to the sounding rocket program here at NASA WFF.  Our instructors included Phil Eberspeaker, Chief of the Sounding Rocket Programs Office and Barit Bland of NSROC Sounding Rocket Program.  Our group of 20 educators was extremely special and diverse and included those of us with no rocket experience all the way up to those who host their own rocket clubs as well as those who have experience building and launching rockets. 

            We learned everything from the physics and design on a theoretical level on how rockets fly, in addition to the calculus and geometry that supports them.  Then we actually built our own model rockets that included actual payloads that we constructed to collect atmospheric data during the launch.  To do this, we constructed a payload using circuits which we wired independently as well as tested using a program that we wrote!  This was super thrilling and intense.  Not to mention the launch of our own personally made rockets equip with parachutes we hand-built with our payload!  We also were able to view the launching of the Terrier Improved Orion on Thursday June 25, 2015 from the island of Wallops at the WFF through our VIP access granted to us through this program.  This particular rocket held a payload designed by a group of college students that were hosted here at WFF.

            Amidst all of this construction we were taken on tours of the base which included the testing labs for rockets as well as the machine shop in which the parts were constructed.  We were given presentations by program directors at university levels as well as subcontractors who are on site managers of the individual projects here at NASA WFF.  One of the most amazing sites that we were privileged to see was the Antares Rocket in construction phase, which is scheduled to launch to the International Space Station early next year.  The experience was truly surreal and breathtaking. 

            Our goal as educators participating in WRATS is to take this information back to our students and implement it into our classroom and through clubs in our counties.  We were not only trained to do a task from an engineering perspective, we were trained to teach it to our students through an inquiry based approach.  This structure directly supports our performance expectations in Next Generation Science Standards as well as STEM initiatives.  The educational opportunities here at NASA WFF are ongoing and of great variety.  The NASA.gov website provides tons of information on opportunities for our students to apply for and complete their own internships offered to students and teachers alike.