Space Mission: Comet at the NYC Center for Space Science Education (A Challenger Center)

Mikro had an absolute blast participating in a simulated space mission, and acting as both an astronaut on board a space station mockup and as a Flight Controller in Mission Control. He was part of the team building and deploying a probe to gather data about a comet. The mission went down to the wire, as the probe was deployed about 3 seconds before the window of opportunity closed. It was amazingly engaging, for the kids and the parents!





Enroute to the ISS, they were briefed on the missiion, and about the space shuttle and ISS:





Aboard the ISS, they went to their assigned stations, and communicated by headset with the other kids acting as mission control personnel, to get their assigned tasks done.





Part of the way through, the teams switched.





They got the job done, and were very proud of themselves for working through what was sometimes a stressful experience. I love the way they had to work as a team, and sometimes stop, recoup, and figure out how to proceed. A very valuable learning experience on many levels!



When we got home, we were able to catch a glimpse of the ISS going by (sadly not visible in my photo...)

World Science festival, Astro Night

Under the Brooklyn Bridge, and the stars, we got to experience NASA's portable learning lab and touch a real moon rock, learn about an upcoming mission to study a comet, see a sculpture of a comet, listen to talks by space program personnel, including Bobak Ferdowski, aka Mohawk Guy, the mission controller from the Curiosity Mars landing (and Mikro actually got to talk to him and ask him questions!), look at the moon through a powerful telescope, make a comet craft, and enjoy an amazingly beautiful night looking across the East River at the Manhattan skyline.