Later this year, the United States will again send a teacher into space.
This is 21 years after the crash of The Challenger killed Sharon Christa McAuliffe, who was heralded as the first teacher in space.
While the four Hudson County teachers will not be lifting off from Earth any time soon, they did get a taste of space when they received a scholarship to attend the 2007 Honeywell Educators at Space Academy.
Ed Gass, a former Bayonne resident and currently a teacher at M.S. No. 7 in Jersey City; Hassane Raoudi, a teacher at Martin Luther King Jr. School on Bergen Avenue; Melanie DeFilippis, who teaches at Public School No. 24 on Virginia Avenue; and Barbara Henderson, a teacher at the Rafael Cordero School on Erie Street, attended the camp from June 18 to 29 at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Ala.
The four teachers joined 265 science and math teachers from 21 countries and 43 U.S. states to take classes focused on space science and exploration in addition to participating in real-life astronaut training.
“The Space Academy program is designed to help teachers inspire the next generation to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and math by providing memorable, life-changing science materials for their classrooms,” said Tom Buckmaster, president of Honeywell Hometown Solutions, who visited Bayonne last year when Honeywell brought its physics road tour to Bayonne High School.
“The objectives of the program will certainly aid in designing lesson plans and facilitating classroom experiences for the rest of my career,” Gass said in a journal detailing his trip to the camp.
The teachers were greeted at the airport by staff members from the Space and Rocket Center, and once at the camp received materials on their stay as well as their itinerary.
“On Tuesday, the first day of training, we were introduced to team members and our team leader. I had been chosen for Team Destiny,” Gass said. “We were given an overview of what our week was in store for. My team, in addition to completing all the workshops, was informed that there were actual missions we would be training for and completing by week’s end. We were basically a crew that would work together to successfully simulate and execute a spacewalk, communicate to mission control and land an orbiter successfully.”
Teachers participated in a variety of activities, including 50 hours of classroom, laboratory, and field training. This was the second time that Henderson and DeFilippis participated in the program, while this was Raoudi’s first time.
The teachers’ excitement seeped into their classrooms even before they left.
“My students were so happy for me, congratulating me,” Raoudi said. “But they think I am going to space.”
Twelve-hour days
DeFilippis said participating in last year’s space camp meant 12-hour days over a nearly two-week period, where there were workshops on a variety of subjects dealing with space exploration and travel.
“Last year was amazing, interacting with different educators from different countries,” DeFilippis said. “But it was a lot of work and a lot of moving around from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.”
DeFilippis, who teaches science to sixth graders, said that her first time at space camp gave her special training that she was able to apply to her teaching during the school year.
“We did robotics training at the camp where they showed us programs, and I showed my class how to do that,” DeFilippis said. “In class, we also did lessons on landrovers that included scheduling them doing a race.”
Gass said this year was similar.
“Throughout the week, the schedule was well-planned and filled with workshops, hands-on activities, training, lectures, and presentations,” he said. “We were even addressed by [former astronauts] Ed Buckbee, Story Musgrave, and Homer Hickham. Our schedules went from 8 a.m. until about 8 p.m. with breaks for our three meals, and transitioned very smoothly. We were constantly working in different groups during design challenges and history overviews for classroom activities and back to our team groups for mission training and completion.”
He continued, “I had the ability to meet educators from all over the globe in pursuit of innovative ideas. The great ideas will definitely breathe fresh air into my lessons and provide a knowledge base for my students for the rest of my career.”
The four teachers applied late last year for the opportunity to attend the camp.
“The selection process that Honeywell used to choose the trainees proved to be a perfect arrangement of educators that were excited and dedicated,” Gass said. “I had the pleasure of meeting a lot of great people, learning many new strategies and evaluating my own success along the way.”
He added, “From a teacher who worked in four-room schoolhouses in the woods of Maine to a teacher who worked in an urban middle school in Japan, I was shuffled amongst an array of individuals with different backgrounds and common purposes and goals. I feel I have made many lifelong friends that will turn-key ideas for years to come.”
Not all went as planned
DeFilippis said this trip included a few days at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where she expected to learn scuba diving and hoped to see the current space shuttle Atlantis land back on earth, which was scheduled for June 21. But bad weather forced Atlantis, carrying seven astronauts, to land a day later at NASA’s alternative landing site at Edwards Air Force Base in California after a 14-day construction mission at the international space station.
DeFilippis, a resident of Old Bridge, said her family – a husband and two small children – looked forward to her trip, but also lamented her leaving.
“My three-year-old is already asking, ‘Mommy, are you coming back?’ ” she said before her departure to the camp.
Henderson, a science teacher, brought back a souvenir from her stay at space camp last year that inspired her students throughout the year – her flight suit.
“I hung the suit onto the bulletin board in my class,” Henderson said. “I think they got a big kick out of it.”
She said the camp gives you a unique perspective on the space program.
“Honeywell Space Camp treats you well, and you get an insider’s look at the space program that most people may never see,” she said.
For Henderson, the space training continues an interest she has had since her youth. While growing up in Southern California in the 1960s and 1970s, Henderson’s mother worked for Rockwell International, which was responsible for building the NASA space shuttle.
“She worked on the prototype for the space shuttle, literally working on the inner panels doing the soldering,” Henderson said. “And every day, she would talk about her work.”
But Henderson has another reason for wanting to “reach for the stars.”
“A number of years ago, one of my students said he wanted to be an astronaut, and people laughed,” Henderson said. “I think it was because someone such as a child from the inner city wanted to do something different.”
She continued, “I made a promise to my students that if their teacher can do that, then they can do that.”
Meeting one of his heroes
Raoudi, a native of Morocco, said he did not know what to expect from the space camp, except that he was instructed to bring “comfortable shoes.” But he also reached out to other teachers who had gone through the camp.
He said he is still surprised about being chosen, but saw it as “a great experience for teachers.”
Yet Raoudi knew ahead of time that the highlight of space camp for him would be meeting Homer Hickam, Jr., the writer of the book Rocket Boys, a memoir about growing up in West Virginia as a rocket enthusiast. The book would later be adapted into the 1999 movie October Sky. Hickam was a former employee of the U.S. Space and Rocket Center.
“I’m very happy, watching the movie about Homer Hickham and then getting to meet him,” Raoudi said. “I was really amazed at how in the movie they showed mathematics being used to develop a rocket and getting the young boys in the movie out of trouble.”
Raoudi, a math teacher, continued, “When I came to the United States seven years ago, I knew no English and couldn’t study biology as I did in Morocco. So I went into mathematics, since it is universal.”
Doing the real thing
What would it be like to actually go into space? DeFilippis said she “would definitely do it” if offered the opportunity.
“I am little nervous thinking about going through the whole experience,” DeFilippis said.
“But educators can become astronauts ever since Christa McAuliffe.”
Raoudi said with a laugh, “Why not? I wish I can be there one day.”
Henderson, however, viewed the idea with some trepidation.
“I would love to have my feet on the ground,” he said. “Maybe do something in mission control.”