Orbiter for Kids: advice please

[Jim Poston]

Students' Familiarity With Shuttles?

Hi - new person here.

Are your students already familiar with space exploration and/or human spaceflight?

I've made a few Shuttle presentations to students. To pique their interest and to act as an ice-breaker (for all of us!), I asked their teacher for the students to write their Shuttle questions on 3x5 cards.

The questions ranged from 'How much does it cost'', to 'how hot is the exhaust?', to 'What happens if someone dies in space?' I asked a number of KSC engineers for help, and to a person, they were enthusiastic about providing the answers, especially those who initially answered, 'Gee - I don't know!'

Having the student's name on the card helped, too. That allowed me to ask, 'Where is (first name/last name)?', and really kept them involved.

It sounds like you've all got some really good ideas and projects for bringing the next generation of space enthusiasts on board. Keep up the good work!

-Jim

 

[HazMatt]

Are your students already familiar with space exploration and/or human spaceflight?

Hi Jim. Welcome.
The students will fly the simulator on the final day of a four day summer camp, so they will be familiar with maneuvering in zero-G and the roles of each crew position. We will use a training video as part of their preparation that will demonstrate the location and usage of the controls, and the goal of the mission.

 

[Jim Poston]

Nice!

"The students will fly the simulator..."

That's a long way from using 3x5 cards!

 

[sitha241]

I am also planing to construct full sized 3 axial simpit..
I'l be asking funds from university next year..

 

[Donamy]

My first demold of a space helmet. Still needs a visor.

 

[HazMatt]

My first demold of a space helmet. Still needs a visor.

That looks like a lot of fun. What do you use for the molding and casting materials?

 

[Donamy]

Urethane rubber and plastic. I'll post some pics.

 

[Donamy]

As promised:

 

[HazMatt]

As promised:

Very clever. The wooden frame allows you to easily swirl the plastic around inside the mold, correct?

 

[Donamy]

Yes it uses a 2 axis rotation.

BTW, does anyone want to buy a space helmet ?

 

[kuddel]

Yes it uses a 2 axis rotation.

BTW, does anyone want to buy a space helmet ?

Do you ship to germany?
if (yes) {
what's the prize?
} else {
to bad..
}

 

[Donamy]

Don't know the final price yet, still need to do the visor. I believe shipping overseas would definitly affect the price. UPS, I suppose.

 

[kuddel]

Great! I would even buy it without a visor.
As I already own a apollo suit (+helmet) I know that the visor is essetial for the "real feel".
I've tried to make a visor by (slowly) heating a polycarbonate sheet over a big ring, to let it slowly bend due to gravity. But it's very hard to do it without getting the material "milky".

Nevertheless, do you have any information on the size of the helmet?
I hope my head fits

/Kuddel

 

[Donamy]

The one in the picture is my son aged 14, not known for a small head by any means, physically or figuratively.

 

[kuddel]

The one in the picture is my son aged 14, not known for a small head by any means, physically or figuratively.

:lol:

My Paragliding-Helmet is "size M" (58 cm; 7 1/2"), so you might get a feeling for my head-size.
Anyway, even if it is a little smaller, I sure will find some kid around that would be happy enough to get it....although that would make another "more grown up" kid like me a bit sad
Feel free to contact me for any further details
Kuddel

 

[jjake101]

Perhaps you could do a Freedom 7 style flight which is quite simple.

1. You launch at an inclination of 41 degrees
2. Wait until your Apogee is 180km
3. When you reach 180km burn Retrograde for 30 seconds

That should take about 15 to 20 minutes

 

[Donamy]

Helmet update ! Price would be $100 US plus shipping. Flag of your choice on the back.

 

[kuddel]

Nice! How did you 'solve' the visor problem?

My last attempt was to get a regular motorcycle helmet visor and make it fit my current (Apollo) helmet, but as I'm not sure about their actual sizes I postponed the buy. So I have to wait until I come around that shop in southern germany to actually "see" the models they offer.

 

[Donamy]

I bought a half-dome camera housing and cut it in half.

---------- Post added 05-24-13 at 01:41 PM ---------- Previous post was 05-23-13 at 09:57 PM ----------

a couple questions for some really smart people, mainly because I'm too lazy to figure it out.

1. If a scaled Earth globe is sixteen inches in diameter, in scale, how far away would the moon be ?

2. By the same scale, how far away would the sun be, and what would be it's diameter ?

 

[PhantomCruiser]

http://www.exploratorium.edu/ronh/solar_system/

http://thinkzone.wlonk.com/SS/SolarSystemModel.php?obj=Earth&dia=16in&us=y

http://fuse.pha.jhu.edu/~wpb/scale.html

According to that last link, with Earth at 16 inches, the moon would be 4.4 inches (maybe softball sized for reference?) and just over 40 feet away.