WEBVTT

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DAISY: NASA and the Discovery
crew take education to a whole
new level-

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The International Space
Station.

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Teachers in space... next on
Real World.

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? [music] ?

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MISSION CONTROL: And Booster
ignition, liftoff. Space
Shuttle Discovery,

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taking the space station to
full power, for full science.

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DAISY: Math teachers in space!

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That was the theme of the
recent Discovery mission
STS-119.

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Students from Dunnelon Middle
School in Florida

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were able to see their math and
science teacher

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soar into the heavens aboard
the Space Shuttle Discovery.

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Joe Acaba and Ricky Arnold are
two teachers

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turned astronauts who completed
the 28th Shuttle flight

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to the International Space
Station.

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The main goal of this mission
was to bring and install a

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truss containing solar arrays

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that would give the Space
Station more power.

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MIKE MOSES: Basically it’s our
last big assembly mission...

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DAISY: Mike Moses is the Space
Shuttle Launch Integration
Manager.

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MIKE MOSES: We have a couple
more modules coming, but this
one’s taking up

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the fourth solar array power
generating truss.

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And so when it’s done the
stations going to look like all
the pictures

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that the artist’s conceptions
have been over the years.

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DAISY: But this mission is
about more than just looks.

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NASA engineers are really
excited about the new solar
arrays.

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Power at the Space Station
comes primarily from solar
energy.

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The station’s solar array
panels contain

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hundreds of thousands of
photovoltaic cells.

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Sunlight hits these cells and
gets converted into electrical
current.

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The electricity can be used
immediately

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or gets stored in rechargeable
batteries.

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When the Space Station orbits
around the dark side of the
Earth...

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away from the suns rays...the
batteries are used.

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It takes about 90 minutes

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for the Space Station to
complete one orbit around the
Earth.

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So being able to collect and
store energy is vital.

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The two brand new, solar
arrays, will allow the
Space Station

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population to grow from 3
astronauts to 6.

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This adds more than
800 cubic meters

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of solar harnessing
photovoltaic cells.

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All of the solar arrays
together will

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generate up to 120 kilowatts of
electricity

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to power additional life
support requirements,

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waste treatment and new
experiments.

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So how powerful is 120
kilowatts?

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Well, a kilowatt is equal to
1000 watts.

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And what’s a watt?

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A Watt is a unit of power
equal

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to one joule of energy per
second.

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Okay, so now what’s a joule?

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A joule measures the amount
of energy it takes to move
an object one meter.

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The 120 kilowatts

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generated from the Space
Station solar arrays

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will be enough to take care of
6 astronauts,

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powering all their life
sustaining systems.

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Here on earth,

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120 kilowatts is about what it
would take to power 42 homes!

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Plus the amount of power
dedicated to science projects
is now doubled,

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from 15 kilowatts to 30
kilowatts.

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Installing the solar arrays was
a challenge.

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After docking, they were
unloaded.

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Because of their immense size,
the truss and panels

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are designed to fold in order
to fit in the shuttle’s cargo
bay.

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Once unfolded, the array was
positioned in place

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with the help of the Remote
Manipulator Arm.

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It took several space walks to
properly install the array.

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Both Joe and Ricky,
the educators
-turned-astronauts,

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played a major role in
installing the solar arrays at
the Space Station.

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For Joe, the experience was
worlds away

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from the classrooms at
Dunnellon Middle School.

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JOE ACABA: Once I got
the phone call and

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was asked if I wanted to come
to NASA to be an astronaut,

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there was just no doubt in my
mind that

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an opportunity like that
doesn't come very often, and

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I just knew it was one I had to
except and am grateful that I
did.

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RICKY ARNOLD: Astronaut Ricky
Arnold

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went from teaching middle
school students in countries
like Indonesia and Romania

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to completing a space walk that
helped install the solar arrays
at the Space Station.

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DAISY: Ricky hopes to inspire
his students to

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someday take up the challenge
of space travel...

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sending humans to the moon,
Mars and beyond!

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RICKY: This is going to be a
journey that is made one day

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and there's going to be people
all over the world making it
happen.

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And so they need to be thinking
about what part do I want to
play.

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It's not just a handful of
people doing it; it's thousands
of people, everywhere.

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DAISY: And that dream of
sending humans to the moon and
Mars

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is one step closer thanks to
the efforts of teachers like
Ricky and Joe,

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who answered the call of space
exploration.

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MIKE MOSES: I think it gives a
different perspective, most of
the folks that work at NASA are

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engineers by trade...
scientists... the
astronauts

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come from that same background
they’re either academics, in
the medical profession,

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or pilots. And so to bring
someone in with a different
viewpoint,

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it really kind of gives you a
different perspective.

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DAISY: Ricky Arnold and Joe
Acaba show us that

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math is as relevant in space as
it is down here on Earth.

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Math can take you to places
that you would never expect...

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like the International Space
Station and beyond!

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? [music] ?