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Mills Middle School students take a "Voyage to Mars"
Areojet Rocketydyne spokesman Mr. Wiley visited Mills Middle School to speak with students about space, missions, and career paths. Students watched a presentation of Orion's Launch Abort System and participated in a Q & A.
The next space launch will be in 2030. Mr. Wiley informed the students, the next astronauts are about the students ages now. They could be the next astronaut in space.
After the presentation the students went on a field trip to Challenger Learning Center, Discovery Museum Science and Space Center where they went on a Voyage to Mars, rendezvous with Comet Halley and returned to the moon.
The students broke up into teams where they all had to work together and be good team members to their classmates in order to make their "mission" successful.
- Isolation Team Assignment - Use robotic arms to determine if chemicals were leaking into the spacecraft, retrieve micrometeoroid impact panels and determine the condition of the solar array, and measure radioactivity in air filters.
- Probe Team Assignment - Mission involved the launch of a probe. They were required to pay special attention to following instructions in a step-by-step manner.
- Life Support Team Assignment - Maintaining the air, water, and power system of the spacecraft and analyzing the seed supply.