Space Center Experience In Florida

While the students had an absolutely amazing time in both the DC area as well as Houston they were especially excited to see Kennedy Space Center in Florida where all of the manned US launches have occurred from.

We settled in on the first day and enjoyed just a little bit of downtime at the beach. When in the Cocoa Beach area you really must check out the beach there – it’s beautiful. We knew the next several days would be full of exciting things to see so we took advantage of some time to catch up on a bit of relaxation.

Before heading to KSC the students first went to the Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge to learn more about the environment and the animals that live there. Ned was the docent who spent some quality time with the students and it is clear that he is passionate about the refuge because he was fantastic at imparting knowledge.

Then it was off to the Kennedy Space Center for the next 2.5 days…. so much to tell you about there but I will just give you the highlights… Cape Then & Now Tour, VAB Tour, Fantastic Space IMAX movies and more!

The timing just happened to work out for a rare treat for the students who were participating… they got to partake in the Atlantis Opening Celebration with myself, Ken and about 50 astronauts! Truly the chance of a lifetime!

Last event in Florida was a stop at Sea World where I was happy to see a great message of Conservation. Many astronauts frequently say that we would all be kinder to the planet if we could all see it in the way that they have from space.

Obviously this is just a very high level overview of the trip… I could probably write dozens of “pages” about the trip but I think if a picture is worth a thousand words then an experience is worth a thousand pictures so I think you should all consider joining us on one of our experiences!

 

Join Us to See the Space Centers in Houston &/Or Florida

Join Us to See the Space Centers in Houston &/Or Florida

Ever want to check out Johnson Space Center in Houston and/or Kennedy Space Center in Florida? Here’s your chance to do so with other space enthusiasts and me! I have been fortunate enough to lead several of these trips for various groups of folks and we have some additional trips coming up… There are still spaces available for Houston & Florida in June if you want to join us! I can promise you lots of great space stuff, good food, great sightseeing and the chance to meet amazing people from NASA (including some astronauts!)

Don’t delay though… You certainly don’t want to miss out on this! Check out the link for full details!

Space Rappers!

Here in the UK we are visiting several schools. Today we got to meet a group who won a competition for creating a space rap. We love it! Here’s a snippet of it…
http://youtu.be/lRNjikhC5To?sc

We Have a Winner!! Well 2 Actually!

Yesterday Ken and I got the distinct pleasure of speaking to about 200 people to announce the winners of a contest held by ISSET. The contest was to create a Message to the Moon which was judged and 2 winners were picked to receive free participation in our Astronaut Leadership Experience (ALE) Program in the UK Lake District in March.

It was pretty neat to consider the fact that there Ken and I were across an ocean from them but via the wonders of technology and Skype we were able to deliver the good news that they had won and take some questions. It was a brilliant event and we are excited to meet the 2 winners when they come to the ALE Program in just over a month. We hope to see some of you there too! Check it out at http://isset.org/astronaut_leadership_experience/lake_district.php

Here are some pictures I snapped…

• Our view of Chris Barber (Director and Founder of ISSET) from the beginning of the event
• Ken and I speaking to the group in the UK
• Our 2 winners

 

Many congrats to our winners!!!

ISSET Student Trips Get Ready to Travel to DC area!

I had such a wonderful time touring about the students groups from the UK who traveled to Houston in the Spring to learn more about space and STEM in general. It was such a joy to get to really interact with and get to know so many great kids who have such interest in not just space but in learning in general.

If you’ve been keeping up with my crazy life I have moved out of Houston to the East Coast so I wasn’t sure if I would get the opportunity to work with ISSET on these student trips anymore which was a very sad thought for me to have! Turns out we came up with an even more exciting solution…. Student trips to Washington DC!!!! We always strive to bring the very best space related and STEM experiences to all involved and we realized that there is so much that DC has to offer so we designed a whole trip about it!!!

I am excited to get to bring the students to the Air & Space Museum and the Udvar Hazy (the huge hangar that is an extended portion of the Air & Space Museum but it is located out at Dulles Airport). It will be especially exciting for me to go to the Udvar Hazy because it will be the first time that I will get to see Discovery in her new home. (Some of you may have seen my personal blog – An Homage to  Endeavour) Given that Discovery carried Ken into space on his first flight I also have some amazing memories of her so I can’t wait to see her again up close and person. (Who knows maybe I’ll be writing another homage after that too!) We will also be touring many of the iconic sites of Washington DC such as Arlington, the various monuments and The Capitol. In keeping with our space theme there will also be a visit to Goddard Space Center a well as the US Naval Academy which has a rich tradition of graduating astronauts. Along the way there will be lots of information & excitement shared, people inspired and even a few astronauts met!

Sound interesting to you? Make sure to keep checking the ISSET page to find out about future events you can be part of!!

And check out the specifics about the October Trip as well!

Below are a few photos from the Spring Trips to Houston

Glasgow was Out of This World!

I just returned to my home in the US from an incredible trip to Glasgow. Why Glasgow you might ask? Well that’s a great question and I am glad you did ask 🙂  While on the Astronaut Leadership Experience in the Gobi Desert recently I was lucky enough to become friends with 2 gals on the trip from Glasgow. I won’t go into the lengthy details but the bottom line is we got along famously and as a result while I was “over the pond” I swung through Glasgow for an amazing evening talking about space and how Glasgow can get involved in Mission Discovery, Astronaut Leadership Experiences & Message to the Moon!

29 Studios put on an amazing event where I was fortunate enough to meet many wonderful people who I suspect are going to help me make this happen in Glasgow! Don’t you want to be part of it too?!?!?!?
Check out the 29 Studios page about the event

http://www.29studios.com/?page_id=1199  (Sorry for some reason Word Press is giving me issues with actually linking this. Grrrrr!!)

The event at 29 Studios picked up so much attention I was asked to be on Scotland Tonight which was live and thus a little nerve wracking but it went well I think!

If you would like to see the video from that check out this link to my personal blog (sorry I can’t upload video here without paying an upgrade fee.)

http://chellesspace.blogspot.com/2012/09/glasgow-was-out-of-this-world.html

Grrrrrrr – once again why won’t Word Press work like it’s supposed to? The link button in the editing/writing phase isn’t working. Sorry I guess you will have to copy and paste in the link to your browser.

I am so thankful to 29 Studios (all of whom I now consider dear friends) and my dear dear friends Gillian & Michelle for making it such an awesome trip. I can’t wait to go back to Glasgow!

 

Kev & Gillian

 

Michelle & chelle