Space Day Event Brings Students Closer to NEAR

Maryland Kids Go Behind the Scenes of Historic Asteroid Mission

Space Day pictures
A captive "Comcast-Discovery Mission 2000" audience learns how infrared heat lamps simulate the sun during spacecraft testing.		As a prelude to national Space Day 2000, the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory teamed up with Comcast, Discovery Networks, and the Maryland State Department of Education to give more than 100 Maryland middle school students a true outer space experience. On April 14, the students moved from behind their desks to behind the scenes of a deep-space mission at the Applied Physics Lab during Comcast-Discovery Mission 2000: Operation NEAR. The kids heard a briefing on the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) mission - the first to orbit an asteroid - and took part in a special student press conference at the Kossiakoff Center with NEAR team members Andy Cheng, Rob Gold, Scott Murchie, and Andy Santo. The students then donned clean-room suits and toured the Lab's space facilities, including the NEAR Mission Operations Center, the space environment simulation lab, the vibration test lab, and the satellite communications facility.
On their tour of a space environment simulation facility, students wait for a balloon to pop during a vacuum chamber demonstration.		Comcast Cable taped the events and will air highlights on its Maryland outlets around Space Day, which takes place May 4. A national, annual event, Space Day encourages people of all ages to advance science, math and technology education, and to inspire future generations to continue the vision of the first space pioneers. Millions of students, teachers, community leaders and space enthusiasts will participate in Space Day celebrations through local activities in schools and museums across the country. The Lab designed and built the NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft and manages the NEAR mission for NASA. NEAR was the first in NASA's Discovery Program of low-cost, small-scale planetary missions. For the latest news, images and mission information visit the NEAR Web site at near.jhuapl.edu.