Fall 2008
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Table of Contents
East Ramapo School District and Challenger Center
Awarded $10,000 Grant for Robotics Program..................1
The Challenger Center Rocket Club closes its 2008
season with successful launch at RCC................................2
Two students from Haverstraw Middle School ask
questions to “space tourist” Richard Garriott .....................2
Mural depicting the history of space flight on display
in the Challenger Center .....................................................3
Challenger Center’s LEGO Robotics Team enters
second year of competition .................................................3
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Do you remember the chess games Kirk and his
colleagues used to play on the Enterprise? .........................4
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Are you ready to fly in space?
Ticket prices are dropping!.................................................4
Reminder: Keep those Cards and Letters coming! .............5
*=Courtesy of universetoday.com
East Ramapo School District and Challenger Center
Awarded $10,000 Grant for Robotics Program
The Lower Hudson Valley Challenger Learning
Center and the East Ramapo Central School District
have been awarded a $10,000 grant, funded by the
National Science Foundation (NSF), to create a
district-wide after-school LEGO Robotics program.
The grant will allow students from the two East
Ramapo high schools to create a “Learning Place”
where they will become proficient in LEGO Robotics
technology and climatology research and will then
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disseminate their skills
in science, technology,
engineering, and math
(STEM) to younger
students in the East
Ramapo middle schools.
The
high
school
students will help design
the LEGO Robotics
“Learning
Place”
program,
plan
its
activities, and will help
the younger middle
school students in the
Ramapo community to
explore, learn, and be inspired. Challenger Center
Director, John Huibregtse, sees the program as a
“great way for students, who might not normally get
the chance, to have the opportunity to work with
experts in the field of Robotics, and gain valuable
experience involved with a project that encompasses
so many STEM-related fields.”
Over the last couple of years successful “Learning
Place” programs have been done at the Science
Museum of Minnesota and the St. Louis Science
Center, and now the program is branching out to four
new museums and science centers including the
Lower Hudson Valley Challenger Center. Staff
members from the Challenger Center and teachers
from the East Ramapo district will act as advisors to
all of the students. The East Ramapo middle school
students will form the core of a FIRST LEGO League
team that hopes to participate in a local tournament in
early 2009.
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The FIRST LEGO League is an alliance between the
"For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and
Technology" (FIRST) organization and the LEGO
Company. The international FIRST LEGO League
introduces students around the world to the fun and
experience of solving real-world problems by applying
their science, technology, engineering, and math skills
to a topic selected by the FIRST organization each
year. Using LEGO NXT Mindstorms technology and
their own imaginations, the Robotics Team members
solve engineering challenges, work on a specific
research project, develop important life skills, and
learn to make positive contributions to society.
Communities across the United States have expressed
enthusiasm for the value that “Learning Place”
programs have added to their students’ lives. A
“Learning Place” after-school program can provide
rich experiences that not only turn students on to
STEM activities but get them to continue taking
science and math courses in school and to see
technology and engineering fields as a possible career
choice.
The Challenger Center Rocket Club closes its
2008 season with successful launch at RCC
On the chilly Saturday of
Thanksgiving weekend the
Challenger Center Rocket
Club held a model rocket
launch
at
Rockland
Community College for its
members and the public.
Under the direction of
President Neil Brown, the
Club members, the general
public, and a reporter and
photographer from the
Journal News who covered
the event, watched the
Neil Brown helps Joe
launching of over 30 model Montuoro prepare his 6.5 foot
rocket for launch
rockets. Several of the
model rockets that took flight were built at workshops
given at the Challenger Center.
The Rocket Club, which promotes model rocketry as a
hobby for the whole family, is open to anyone age 7 and
older. Family memberships are available for $60 per year.
The Rocket Club is sanctioned by the National
Association of Rocketry (NAR) and is designated as
“Section 691”. As a NAR Section, the Club has the
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required insurance
coverage needed to
hold launches in our
area
and
Club
members can launch
their rockets at these
events for free. The
Rocket Club meets
about once a month,
either at the Lower
Hudson
Valley
Rocketeers recovered their rockets
Challenger Center
both in one piece and sometimes in
several pieces
for
the
rocket
building workshops
or in nearby Pine Island, NY, where the Metropolitan
Rocket Association (METRA) rocket launches are held.
Earlier in the year the Rocket Club was invited to launch
rockets in Trevor Park at the Hudson River Museum in
Yonkers, NY, as part of the museum’s opening of its
“Space is the Place” exhibition. Being a part of the
Challenger Center Rocket Club members have discovered
that building and launching rockets as a group is just
simply more fun! To become a member of the Challenger
Center Rocket Club call the Challenger Center at 845357-3416, or visit www.LHVCC.com.
Two students from Haverstraw Middle School
ask questions to “space tourist” Richard Garriott
Richard Garriott, a civilian who flew aboard the
International Space Station (ISS)
this fall, answered questions from
space, via a live video downlink,
that were submitted by students,
including two from Haverstraw
Middle School. The event was
broadcast live on the Challenger
Center
national
website:
www.challenger.org.
Students from across the United
States asked Garriott original
questions about living and
working in space. Two students
While best known for
from Haverstraw Middle School
his many successful
had their questions selected from computer game projects,
the many that were submitted by Richard Garriott has also
helped open the door for
students to their local Challenger
space tourism..
(Credit: Universe Today)
Learning Centers. Garriott, also
known as “Lord British” is a
significant figure in the video game industry, and is the
son of former astronaut Owen K. Garriott, who flew with
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Skylab 3 and Space Shuttle mission STS-9. At Clear
Creek High School in Texas, Richard Garriott took an
interest in computers and began to create fantasy
computer games. In the early 1980s, Garriott developed
the Ultima Computer Game series, and later established
Origin Systems, to handle the publishing and distribution
of his games. Origin went on to become one of the most
influential game developing companies in the history of
video games.
Michael Padron, of Haverstraw Middle School, asked
Garriott if he will make a new computer game involving
space. His classmate, Elizabeth Petit-Clair, asked Garriott
to describe what space looks like. All the student
participants recorded their questions on video and
selected questions were broadcast to Garriott, on October
20th, as he traveled aboard the ISS.
During his space flight adventure Garriott conducted a
variety of educational activities as a part of his
partnership with the Challenger Center for Space Science
Education. Teachers and their students can replicate his
on-orbit activities to demonstrate important concepts in
physics and can share their predictions about what might
happen in the microgravity (weightless) environment of
space. Lessons in support of Garriott'
s educational
activities, plus webcasts, podcasts, and students’
predictions
on
YouTube
are
available
at
www.challenger.org.
Mural depicting the history of space flight on
display in the Challenger Center
A mural painted by
artist Derys Jagde
that portrays the
history of space
flight is now on
display
in
the
Challenger Center.
The mural was
partially funded by a
Apollo Moon Landings, Voyager
grant
from
the Spacecraft
to Mars, first Shuttle mission
Community
Arts
with Young & Crippen, Sally Ride
Grants Program of
the Arts Council of Rockland and the New York State
Council on the Arts. Ms. Jagde has won many grants and
awards for murals and teaching projects throughout the
tri-state area.
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Beginning with an
image of a hot air
balloon developed by
the
Montgolfiere
brothers in the 18th
Century, the mural
includes pictures of
the first heavierthan-air flight of the
Wright Flyer; early
rocket
building
pioneers;
sputnik;
cosmonaut
Yuri
Gargarin, the first
man in space; the
Apollo
Moon
landings;
development of the
Space Shuttle and
International Space Station; Christa McAuliffe and the
Challenger Crew; and concludes with a representation of
possible future space flight vehicles. The mural, nearly 50
feet in length, is located in the central skylight area of the
Challenger Center’s lobby.
Challenger Center’s LEGO Robotics Team enters
second year of competition
Last February 10th, the
Challenger Center’s
LEGO
Robotics
Team, in its very first
year of competition,
won the “Team Spirit”
award at the Lower
Hudson FIRST LEGO
League Tournament
held
at
Pace
University
in
Pleasantville,
NY.
This year the Robotics
Team, “Bricktron”, is hoping to achieve even more
success! Made up of students from the Rockland County
area the team is coached by LEGO expert Lee Magpili.
The Robotics Team trains at the Challenger Center,
sometimes up to three days per week, in order to prepare
for a FIRST LEGO League tournament.
This year, because interest has grown in LEGO Robotics,
the Challenger Center is sponsoring two teams, and hopes
to enter both teams in the FIRST LEGO League regional
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tournament scheduled for late January at Mahopac High
School. At the tournament the teams will have to compete
with other teams in three tense rounds of robotic
challenges. Each team will be judged on the technical
design of its robot, and on a research presentation relating
to climatology, which is this year’s theme for all FIRST
LEGO League competitions.
Do you remember the chess games Kirk and his
colleagues used to play on the Enterprise?
Greg Chamitoff, a Canadian astronaut aboard the
International Space Station (ISS) has been filling his
spare time playing chess with participants at various
space centers around the world, and is so far undefeated.
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as with members of the United States Chess
Championship Team. Chamitoff took his custom-made
chess set into orbit when he few on the STS-124 shuttle
mission to the ISS. The chess pieces attach to the board
with Velcro to prevent them from floating around the
station'
s Harmony module where the matches are taking
place. To view a video of the chess playing astronaut in
action
click
here:
http://main.uschess.org/content/view/8776/475/
Are you ready to fly in space? Ticket prices
are dropping!
The travel company “RocketShip Tours” will begin
selling suborbital rides on a two-seater spacecraft called
the “Lynx”, built by the commercial spaceflight company
XCOR. The price for tickets to ride the suborbital
spacecraft has actually been lowered from the original
estimates. $95,000 will get you a seat right next to XCOR
pilot and former Space Shuttle commander Rick Searfoss,
for a 30-minute ride to the edge of space.
XCOR decided not to sell tickets directly to consumers,
Chess playing Astronaut Greg Chamitoff contemplates
his next move
(Credit: Universe Today)
You might think that an astronaut might have better
things to do in orbit than play chess. Chamitoff has a very
busy engineering schedule to follow while in orbit and so
only has a limited amount of recreational time on his
hands to play, and that is why he can only make one
move per day. These slowly played chess games allow
the public, especially young students, to learn about what
it is like to live in space, and NASA hopes that the
matches, some played against students in the classroom,
will boost interest in space exploration.
Chess is a valuable
way to get students
to
become
interested in math
and to help develop
their
critical
thinking skills. So
far Chamitoff has
had matches with
school children in
kindergarten as well
(Credit: Universe Today)
“Lynx” Spacecraft
(Credit: Universe Today)
but instead offer wholesale packages to adventure travel
companies, which will set the price for customers. The
$95,000 price includes a 5-day program of briefings,
medical evaluations, and test flights on aircraft to test for
g-forces and claustrophobia before going on the real
flight on the Lynx, which should begin flying in 2010.
The Lynx will take-off horizontally like an airplane, but
will quickly go vertical and climb up to 61 kilometers (37
miles) above the Earth. While coasting at apogee, a
passenger will experience over 4 minutes of a
microgravity environment and a spectacular view of our
planet. When the vehicle heads into re-entry, passengers
will feel a maximum of 4 G'
s before landing back on the
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runway where it all started. Flights will last about 30
minutes but will give many people the opportunity to
realize their dreams of flying into space. Already 22
tickets have been sold, and the first commercial passenger
on the Lynx will be Danish investment banker Per
Wimmer.
If you'
re looking for an unusual holiday gift for the
person who has everything, check out RocketShip Tours.
A deposit of $20,000 begins the process of assigning the
participant to the qualification program, which includes a
medical questionnaire and a screening performed by
qualified aeronautic physicians. Instruction in life support
systems, flight physiology, and other aspects of the Lynx
flight will also be provided. The price for a flight on the
Lynx is cheaper than the suborbital flights being planed
by two other commercial space flight companies, Virgin
and Rocketplane, where ticket prices start at $200,000.
XCOR won'
t fly as high as the other commercial space
companies, but XCOR provides the up-front, fighter-pilot
spaceflight experience — the passenger and the pilot are
the only ones on board.
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Reminder: Keep those Cards and Letters coming!
The staff of the Lower Hudson Valley Challenger Center
would like to thank all of you who have sent “thank you”
notes to the Center. The notes, as well as studentdesigned mission patches, have been posted around the
Challenger Center so that everyone who visits will be
able to see them and enjoy the artwork.
If you would like to ask a question, make a comment
about this newsletter, receive previous newsletters, or be
taken off the mailing list send me an email at:
director@lhvcc.com
The Mission Continues…
John Huibregtse
Director
Lower Hudson Valley Challenger Learning Center
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