DAISY: NASA and the Discovery crew take education to a whole new level-
The International Space Station.
Teachers in space... next on Real World.
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MISSION CONTROL: And Booster ignition, liftoff. Space Shuttle Discovery,
taking the space station to full power, for full science.
DAISY: Math teachers in space!
That was the theme of the recent Discovery mission STS-119.
Students from Dunnelon Middle School in Florida
were able to see their math and science teacher
soar into the heavens aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery.
Joe Acaba and Ricky Arnold are two teachers
turned astronauts who completed the 28th Shuttle flight
to the International Space Station.
The main goal of this mission was to bring and install a
truss containing solar arrays
that would give the Space Station more power.
MIKE MOSES: Basically it’s our last big assembly mission...
DAISY: Mike Moses is the Space Shuttle Launch Integration Manager.
MIKE MOSES: We have a couple more modules coming, but this one’s taking up
the fourth solar array power generating truss.
And so when it’s done the stations going to look like all the pictures
that the artist’s conceptions have been over the years.
DAISY: But this mission is about more than just looks.
NASA engineers are really excited about the new solar arrays.
Power at the Space Station comes primarily from solar energy.
The station’s solar array panels contain
hundreds of thousands of photovoltaic cells.
Sunlight hits these cells and gets converted into electrical current.
The electricity can be used immediately
or gets stored in rechargeable batteries.
When the Space Station orbits around the dark side of the Earth...
away from the suns rays...the batteries are used.
It takes about 90 minutes
for the Space Station to complete one orbit around the Earth.
So being able to collect and store energy is vital.
The two brand new, solar arrays, will allow the Space Station
population to grow from 3 astronauts to 6.
This adds more than 800 cubic meters
of solar harnessing photovoltaic cells.
All of the solar arrays together will
generate up to 120 kilowatts of electricity
to power additional life support requirements,
waste treatment and new experiments.
So how powerful is 120 kilowatts?
Well, a kilowatt is equal to 1000 watts.
And what’s a watt?
A Watt is a unit of power equal
to one joule of energy per second.
Okay, so now what’s a joule?
A joule measures the amount of energy it takes to move an object one meter.
The 120 kilowatts
generated from the Space Station solar arrays
will be enough to take care of 6 astronauts,
powering all their life sustaining systems.
Here on earth,
120 kilowatts is about what it would take to power 42 homes!
Plus the amount of power dedicated to science projects is now doubled,
from 15 kilowatts to 30 kilowatts.
Installing the solar arrays was a challenge.
After docking, they were unloaded.
Because of their immense size, the truss and panels
are designed to fold in order to fit in the shuttle’s cargo bay.
Once unfolded, the array was positioned in place
with the help of the Remote Manipulator Arm.
It took several space walks to properly install the array.
Both Joe and Ricky, the educators -turned-astronauts,
played a major role in installing the solar arrays at the Space Station.
For Joe, the experience was worlds away
from the classrooms at Dunnellon Middle School.
JOE ACABA: Once I got the phone call and
was asked if I wanted to come to NASA to be an astronaut,
there was just no doubt in my mind that
an opportunity like that doesn't come very often, and
I just knew it was one I had to except and am grateful that I did.
RICKY ARNOLD: Astronaut Ricky Arnold
went from teaching middle school students in countries like Indonesia and Romania
to completing a space walk that helped install the solar arrays at the Space Station.
DAISY: Ricky hopes to inspire his students to
someday take up the challenge of space travel...
sending humans to the moon, Mars and beyond!
RICKY: This is going to be a journey that is made one day
and there's going to be people all over the world making it happen.
And so they need to be thinking about what part do I want to play.
It's not just a handful of people doing it; it's thousands of people, everywhere.
DAISY: And that dream of sending humans to the moon and Mars
is one step closer thanks to the efforts of teachers like Ricky and Joe,
who answered the call of space exploration.
MIKE MOSES: I think it gives a different perspective, most of the folks that work at NASA are
engineers by trade... scientists... the astronauts
come from that same background they’re either academics, in the medical profession,
or pilots. And so to bring someone in with a different viewpoint,
it really kind of gives you a different perspective.
DAISY: Ricky Arnold and Joe Acaba show us that
math is as relevant in space as it is down here on Earth.
Math can take you to places that you would never expect...
like the International Space Station and beyond!
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