Apropos of nothing, but worth a read, is Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin’s tale of one of the most unusual things he saw during his 1969 mission to the moon. Aldrin was on a TCA panel for National Geographic Channel’s Expedition Week.
Here’s a lightly edited version of Aldrin’s story:
I guess the discovery that really baffled me started the first night en route to the moon beyond the Van Allen Belts. We closed the windows and turned out the lights and Mike Collins had the headset on to listen to Houston and Neil [Armstrong] and I were under the couch.
All of a sudden I saw a flash, and then another flash. And before I could move my eye to see what it was, it was gone. And then maybe a streak. And I kept seeing these, until I decided I wanted to go to sleep.
Durham, NC (PRWEB) April 8, 2008 — Retired astronaut Guion S. “Guy” Bluford, Jr., Ph.D., will inspire educators to help their students build the foundation in mathematics necessary to explore new horizons - as a keynote speaker at MetaMetrics® Inc.’s 2008 Lexile® National Conference & Quantile® Symposium, June 16-19, at the San Antonio Marriott Rivercenter Hotel. Bluford, the first African American to fly in space, spent 15 years with NASA as one of its elite astronauts. His featured presentation will kick off the Thursday, June 19, inaugural Quantile Symposium, where educators will learn about strategies for using The Quantile Framework® for Mathematics to help students build critical mathematics skills.
The Quantile Framework for Mathematics uses a common, developmental scale to measure student mathematics achievement, the difficulty of mathematical skills and concepts and the materials for teaching mathematics. By placing the curriculum, teaching materials and students on the same scale, Quantile measures enable educators to predict which mathematical skills and concepts a student is ready to learn and those that will require additional instruction.
Bluford will share his personal experiences in the space program and the business world and how the education he received prepared him for his distinguished, history-making career. Upon his retirement from NASA in 1993, Bluford had logged more than 688 hours in space and was indicted into the International Space Hall of Fame in 1997. Today he is the founder and president of the Aerospace Technology Group, an aerospace technology and business consulting organization specializing in aviation and space-related technology development, analysis and marketing-related activities.
“When students develop critical thinking skills and strong mathematics abilities, they have the foundation they need for learning and exploring,” said Bluford. “By investing in high-quality education, today’s students can take us to frontiers that we may not have even begun to imagine exist.”
The theme for this year’s conference is “Successful Teachers, Successful Students.” Sessions will explore successful strategies for raising student achievement in reading, writing and mathematics and ways to ensure that students are prepared for success in postsecondary education, the workplace and life. The conference is designed for classroom teachers, administrators, curriculum and instruction specialists, school and public librarians, and researchers.
“Dr. Bluford is an exciting addition to our stellar roster of keynote speakers for our fifth annual conference,” said Malbert Smith III, Ph.D., president, MetaMetrics. “We look forward to hearing about his experiences in the space program and his insights into the ways we should prepare today’s students to pursue successful careers like his.”
Other keynote presenters slated to participate in the 2008 Lexile National Conference & Quantile Symposium include author and international literacy expert Quality Quinn; Willard R. “Bill” Daggett, Ed.D., president, International Center for Leadership in Education; education consultant Tom Welch; Angela Shelf Medearis, award-winning author and founder of Diva Productions Inc. and Book Boosters Inc; Ruth Culham, president, The Culham Writing Company; and MetaMetrics’ co-founders Smith and A. Jackson Stenner, Ph.D.
Discounted early bird registration for the conference is available until May 16, 2008. Attendees who register now will save $100 off the regular registration rate for the entire four-day Lexile National Conference & Quantile Symposium. Registration includes access to all keynote, concurrent and pre-conference sessions, conference exhibits and presentation materials. A special conference room rate of $199 per night is available at the San Antonio Marriott Rivercenter Hotel through May 23. For more information, to register and to reserve a hotel room, visit www.lexile.com/conference2008.
About MetaMetrics Inc.
MetaMetrics Inc., a privately held educational measurement company, develops scientifically based measures of student achievement that link assessment with instruction, foster better educational practices and improve learning by matching students with materials that meet and challenge their abilities. The company’s team of psychometricians developed the widely adopted Lexile Framework for Reading (www.Lexile.com); El Sistema Lexile para Leer, the Spanish-language version of the Lexile Framework; The Quantile Framework for Mathematics (www.Quantiles.com); and The Lexile Framework for Writing. In addition to licensing Lexile and Quantile measures to state departments of education, testing and instructional companies and publishers, MetaMetrics delivers professional development, resource measurement and customized consulting services. For more information, visit www.MetaMetricsInc.com.
ITHACA, NY–(Marketwire - October 26, 2007) - Flight engineer Sunita Williams wields a hand-held drill outside the International Space Station. Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin sets up a scientific experiment package on the desolate lunar surface. STS-11 crew members Jim Reilly and Danny Olivas make an odd couple in orbit, working head-to-toe during a 17,000 mph spacewalk. These stunning images of astronauts at work are just a few of the 53 breathtaking outer space images that appear in the limited-edition “Year In Space” 2008 Desk Calendar, an award-winning 144-page weekly calendar featuring images and information from the past, present and future of space exploration and astronomical discovery. http://www.YearInSpace.com.
Published in cooperation with The Planetary Society, “The Year In Space” takes its readers on an out-of-this-world journey while giving them a convenient way to organize their busy lives back on Earth.
The 53 weekly images represent the full spectrum of space exploration, from the Apollo Moon landings to the International Space Station. Amazing planetary images by the Cassini Orbiter and the Mars Exploration Rovers are presented along with incredible deep space views taken by the Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescopes. An informative essay accompanies every image, and each weekly calendar page is filled with historic dates in space history.
“The Year In Space” is also a versatile desk calendar, with weekly, monthly, yearly and multi-year calendars, a daily moon phase calendar, an address section, blank pages for notes, and more.
Discounts of 25% to 44% are available for educators, students, Internet surfers, and NASA employees. Discounts also apply to employees, customers, retirees and stockholders of organizations that sponsor the calendar, including Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, The Planetary Society, UniverseToday.com, and member organizations of the Coalition for Space Exploration.
“The Year In Space” can be ordered online at http://www.YearInSpace.com or by calling 800/736-6836. There is free standard shipping in the U.S.
HOLLOMAN AIR FORCE BASE, N.M., Oct. 26 /PRNewswire/ — The nonprofit Teachers in Space program announced one small step for education today: the start of a competition to select two teachers who will be the first astronauts to fly in space and return to teach in American classrooms.
What comes next could be a giant leap.
“The private sector is developing reusable suborbital spacecraft that promise dramatic improvements in the cost and safety of human spaceflight,” said Teachers in Space project manager Edward Wright. “These new spacecraft will be terrific vehicles for education.
“For fifty years, since the dawn of the space age, teachers have used space to inspire. Students have been told that if they excelled at math and science, they could become astronauts and go into space. Until now, that has been a false hope: a student has a better chance of becoming an NBA basketball star than a NASA astronaut. What message does that send?
“We want to turn that around and show students that they have a real chance to go into space. Imagine hundreds of teachers, from all parts of the country flying in space every year. Imagine thousands of astronaut teachers in American schools, touching millions of students, in less than a decade. What impact would that have on education?”
Before that can happen, however, the Teachers in Space program needs to raise more money, develop curriculum, and prove its educational concepts on a smaller scale. For that reason, Teachers in Space is recruiting a small group of teachers to become “pathfinder” astronauts. Pathfinders will fly on flights donated to Teachers in Space by suborbital companies. They will also help develop training programs for the large numbers of teachers who follow.
The first two pathfinder competitions, announced today, will demonstrate two different ways of selecting teachers to fly in space. One competition will be for STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) teachers; applicants will be asked to submit a proposal for an experiment that can be performed on a suborbital spaceflight. The other competition will be for K-12 teachers in all subject areas; applicants will be asked to submit a lesson plan or educational module based on some aspect of human spaceflight. All submissions will be posted to a Wiki website where they will be available to the entire educational community. Additional pathfinder competitions may be announced in the future.
Teachers in Space is a project of the Space Frontier Foundation and the United States Rocket Academy. For application procedures and other information, visit http://www.teachersinspace.org.
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