Shuttle Simulation

This activity ended in June of 1998.

Classrooms ran through a launch script, pretending to be the key people responsible for launching the shuttle. Once "on-orbit," students conducted one of three scientific experiments, collecting real numerical data. Then a landing script helped the young astronauts return to Earth, at which time they began analyzing their science data. Classrooms then shared the results of their analyses for others to learn from.

The steps to this activity included:

• prelaunch preparation;

• a shuttle launch using this launch script;

• performing one of the following two science experiments:

  • Contact Angle: students use the protractor to measure angles;

  • Rate of Drop: students recorded how long it takes a dropped object to reach the bottom of a cylinder filled with liquid;

• a shuttle landing using this landing script; and

• creating reports which were published online on a NASA computer; here are the experiment results which were submitted.