NASA Educator Astronaut Program Soaring

Nominations for NASA’s Educator Astronaut Program are in
high orbit. Since the Program’s kickoff January 21, more than
1,300 teachers have been nominated to become members of the
Astronaut Corps. Texas leads with 324 nominations, followed
by 223 from Florida, and California with 163.

The Educator Astronaut web site is also receiving a high
volume of traffic. More than 4.8 million visits have been
recorded during the first 10 days of the program.

“After only a week, we are seeing tremendous interest in the
program. The number of nominations coming in are a wonderful
testament to the teaching profession,” said Educator
Astronaut Program Co-Manager Debbie Brown. “One enthusiastic
teacher called today and said her students are so excited
they are debating over who will write her letter of
recommendation,” she said.

Students, family members, friends and the public are
encouraged to nominate K-12 teachers for this unique
opportunity to join NASA’s first class of Educator
Astronauts. Selected teachers will perform the jobs and
responsibilities of Mission Specialist Astronauts on Space
Shuttle and International Space Station missions. Educator
Astronauts will be trained for spacewalks, to operate the
Shuttle’s robotic arm, and lead research experiments. With
their unique teaching skills, Educator Astronauts will help
create extraordinary ways to share the space experience with
millions of students and teachers.

Educators interested in applying for the program or anyone
interested in nominating a teacher can find the
qualifications at:

http://edspace.nasa.gov/qualifications/qualif.html

To learn more about the Educator Astronaut Program and other
NASA education activities on the Internet visit:
www.edspace.nasa.gov