Local Middle School Student’s Participate in Upcoming Mission of Space Shuttle Endeavour

January 26, 2000

KSC Contact: Bruce Buckingham/Denise Coleman

KSC Release No. 14-00

NASA has created one answer in assisting teacher’s with an age-long quest to interest students about science,
geography, mathematics and space. Students attending two local middle schools, Ronald McNair in Rockledge, FL,
and Space Coast in Port St. John, FL, have been preparing to access a special camera on the Shuttle, called
EarthKAM.

EarthKAM, a program sponsored by NASA and classrooms across the nation, enables students to take photographs
of Earth from a camera flown on the Shuttle. An Electronic Still Camera (ESC) bracket-mounted to the overhead
starboard window of the orbiter aft flight deck will allow the classrooms to observe various student-selected sites.
Students work collectively and use interactive web pages to monitor the Shuttle’s flight path. Within hours,
classrooms can access the digital images on the web and use them to conduct their own investigation about Earth.

The Student Mission Operations Center will utilize round-the-clock efforts requiring students, teachers and parents
to take turns manning the center. The Shuttle takes about 90 minutes to orbit the Earth, half of this time is daylight
and half is dark. Because the camera only operates in daylight, students have about 45 minutes per orbit to take
pictures and select new targets for each orbit.

“We are thrilled that we can offer this rare and unique opportunity to the students at Ronald McNair and Space Coast
Middle Schools,” said Denise Coleman, education outreach specialist at Kennedy Space Center. “This program
allows students to take an active part in the space program at an early age, and we hope this exposure will encourage
them to dream about being the scientists and astronauts of the future.”

There have been four previous missions in which students captured more than 2,000 high-resolution digital images of
Earth. The images were used in classroom projects to learn about science and geography, develop skills of
investigation and image analysis, and learn how to use computers and the Internet.

The students and teachers will be attending the launch of Space Shuttle Endeavour, currently scheduled for Jan. 31,
2000 at 12:47 p.m., to watch as EarthKAM is launched into space giving them a personal, up-close view of the world
we live in.

For more information about the EarthKAM program visit the web site at www.earthkam.ucsd.edu.

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