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Two boys watch the NASA SpaceX mission live stream ahead of blast-off (paNOW Staff)
inspiring moments

Local teacher hopes space launch can inspire students

May 30, 2020 | 5:55 PM

Maybe you can remember where you were when the Apollo 11 mission blasted off in the summer of 1969, or when the first Space Shuttle cleared the tower at Cape Canaveral twelve years later? And perhaps those iconic moments of human achievement inspired you to join the countless other young people who then embraced the sciences.

Now, more than fifty years since man went to the moon, and over nine years since the retirement of the Shuttle program, there may well be another jolt of inspiration among a new generation of school kids.

On Saturday, for the first time in history, NASA astronauts launched from American soil in a commercially built and operated crew spacecraft on its way to the International Space Station.

The SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule carrying astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley – dressed in their cool-looking spacesuits – was hurtled into orbit by the company’s Falcon 9 rocket. NASA described it as a new era in human spaceflight and an important step to expand human exploration to the Moon and Mars.

And for anyone watching the multi-camera coverage via live streaming, it was impressive. And for many younger people, it may well have been an uplifting experience in more ways than one.

“For a lot of [my kids] this would have been the first time they’ve probably watched even a televised launch, seeing as the last one from North America would have been close to ten years ago,” Grade 9 Science teacher at Carlton Comprehensive High School teacher Lynn Splawinski told paNOW before blast-off.

Amid the COVID-19 situation which has closed schools, Splawinski has been trying to engage her students online about the space program and even had them reflect on safety and other matters related to Wednesday’s aborted first attempt at the launch which was scrubbed because of poor weather.

She couldn’t predict just how inspired students who watched the proceedings would be by the mission, but conceded the cool look of the entire operation – from the astronauts being taken to the launch pad in the falcon-winged Tesla car, to being strapped into the futuristic capsule in those snazzy spacesuits– could certainly play a role in capturing young people’s attention. She acknowledges getting kids to break away from their video games, computers or smartphones can be difficult.

The spacesuits worn on the SpaceX Dragon are a big change from the past.( video screen grab/SpaceX.com)

“Sometimes just making it look cooler is part of the challenge and part of the way that we hook kids and get them to begin to see the actual cool things that come with learning about the science behind it,” Splawinski explained.

She admits she doesn’t know when students will be able to be in a classroom again to engage about the launch, hoping some would be inspired by this science-fact as opposed to the science-fiction of video games.

“It’s really important kids get to see this side [of science] and it’s a unique experience for them to see something like this in real life.”

Speaking to reporters before Wednesday’s aborted launch, SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk, said he spent a lot of time personally working on the design of those eye-catching spacesuits, and ultimately, it took nearly four years to successfully blend form and functionality.

But why the emphasis on looks?

“We want to inspire kids to say one day they want to wear that uniform,” Musk says.

“Get them fired up about, ‘yeah I want to be an astronaut, I want to work on aerospace engineering, I want to advance space flight’.

With files from the Canadian Press

glenn.hicks@jpbg.ca

On Twitter:@princealbertnow