Hello everyone! It has been a couple of weeks since I posted anything in the blogosphere. Tom has been making me feel bad as he has managed to keep up and I have not. So, what have we been working on? Great question and I am so glad that you asked. The virtual world is about to be invaded by Cosmosphere Educators. We just got a few new toys and now we are ready to start playing with them. Each educator has been asked to make a video of some sort...kind of educational in nature...that we can put out on the web. It is a test to see what we can really do and what we can really offer all of you out there. Here are the Teacher Tube links for each of the four videos that I have put out there so far.

Howie George: http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=584379e8c1a90f4ae6f1

Demetree Gaines: http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=ee5480519c6642b42bac

Tom Holcomb: http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=265f1e20f51f5d17d1e2

Joel Walker: http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=bd478980a1a4518f5981

Check these fun and short videos out and let me know what you think. We know that we have some pretty cool stuff to put out there for the public and for educators. We just need to know what format to put it in. We could amuse ourselves for months with this technology, but it won't mean much if no one needs it or uses it. Right now we are thinking about doing gallery tours, behind the scenes artifact stories and science demos that cover a wide range of sciences. It should be a lot of fun, but input would be helpful. Be kind though. These were our first attempts and a little rough. We will get better... I promise.

Make sure that you watch the launch tonight. It should be very cool and our CEO is down there now so we should get some good pics and video. I will get it on the website next week. Have a great weekend and keep reaching folks...we have a long way to go!

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! In a time of political and economic uncertainty with the winds of change howling at the door, the people of Hutchinson stepped up and overwhelmingly passed the renewal of the ¼% sales tax proposal. People, you did not have to do that. It would have been easy to say no. Had you said no, your choice could be criticized by no one. Times are tough and money is tight. Your positive choice speaks volumes about the quality of people who live here in this unheralded part of the world. The Cosmosphere stands as a monument to the spirit of this community. I believe I speak for everyone in this great organization when I say we pledge to continue to strive to be worthy of your pride. Watch what we accomplish in the next five years.

I see no sense in letting the election cycle end without adding my two cents. With so many issues on the table, both real and imagined, I have noticed that neither candidate has mentioned NASA or the space program. With construction of the International Space Station winding down we are nearing the end of the Space Shuttle Program. What will take its place? A program called Constellation is earmarked (our candidates should love that word) to begin on the heels of the soon to be phased out shuttle program. Constellation is an ambitious hybrid of old and new technologies designed to service the space station, return to the moon and eventually ferry humans to Mars. While it remains relatively inexpensive by federal government standards, one wonders if the will to continue funding it really exists for either candidate or for anyone in Washington. Pay attention in the weeks and months to come.

I apologize for the lack of my lovely image, but I am writing from the business office of my motel in Philidelphia.

I recently attended a conference for science centers and museums in the great city of Philidelphia. One of the sessions dealt with story telling as a means of introducing science topics to a public that is at times leary of science and scientists. One of the participents took the rather narrow line that story telling was inherently dishonest and should therfore be avoided, always. After all, he reasoned, fancy has no place in a discussion of how the world works, which made me think of rainbows.

I can't honestly remember when I saw my first rainbow, but I do know that I thought it was a fine and lovely thing whether I used such words to describe it or not. I also remember that the first explanation of the rainbow that I heard involved a determined fellow called Noah, a wicked world and a promise from a trustworthy diety. Now, I have always been a rather contrary sort even as a child and though I was not convinced that the story was true, I did think it was a comforting thought that went very well with the beauty of the rainbow.

Much later I learned about sunlight and water drops and how the world of science described the apparent miracle of the rainbow and that was a very satisfying moment in my life, for it enabled me to not only understand the rainbow, but to anticipate its appearence. Today, when the rain stops and the sun peaks out in just the right way, I look for the rainbow and never need to miss it. Science has enabled me to experience the beauty of the rainbow more often and that is certainly a good thing. But, whenever I see it a part of me remembers that first more meaningful explanation and the experience is more deeply felt.

There may come a day when only truth is allowed to enter the hearts and minds of the strange and fragile creatures that we call human. That will for this space science educator be a sad day, indeed.

When one spends much time in the world of academia, removed from the problems of the real world, one's vision can blur. Fortunately, for myself and my soon to be rabid followers in the blogosphere, this museum is not mired in academia. The Cosmosphere, I am fond of pointing out, is a working museum and as such offers its workers a rare opportunity to experience the best of both worlds. It is one such unique opportunity that I wish to share with you today. Are you ready? I sincerely doubt that you are. The Cosmosphere offers summer camp programs each year attended by students of all ages from all over America and sometimes even from distant lands. These camps focus on space science, space history, space exploration, teamwork, leadership and fun, so in order to work them an applicant has to be some kind of introverted space geek, right. Wrong! I am heavily involved in all aspects of the camps and when I first started at the Cosmosphere, admittedly in a previous century, I knew we had a moon and someone had walked on it and I really didn't care much about anything to do with space. I didn't hate it. I was just indifferent. Working here has obviously altered my view, but I steadfastly refuse to think of myself as some basement dwelling space nerd. No offense to basement dwelling nerds of any stripe is intended but you get the idea. Anyone who has talent and drive can work here and we need people with both to step up and apply to be camp counselors, directors and support staff. So, to all of you blogospheriacs out there who seek a challenge, I promise you this. If you apply and find yourself hired, you will step into the hardest job you ever loved. Follow the link. http://cosmo.org/ca_employment.htm Until next time, I bid you adieu.

Hey I have made it to blog number two. I feel like this may be the hardest one to do because now I am making a commitment to do this every week or close to every week. A lot has certianly transpired in a week. On a personal note, I ran The Race for the Cure two weekends ago in Oklahoma City. It was pretty cool, but not much of a race. At least for me as I am slow. It was fun to be around so many people and giving to such a good cause. A very neat atmosphere! Here at the Cos we are starting to get into the fall mode which encompasses planning and last minute programs. I wanted to blog about both today.

Planning for the summer of 2009 is well underway. The Future Astronaut Training Program is quickly approaching the quarter century mark and we have been confronted with a huge challenge. We have to change our entire camp program from a shuttle focus to a Constellation focus...Moon and Mars. This is going to be quite a task, but one that I feel we can accomplish with time and planning. I would love for the Cosmosphere to be the first organization to be running Orion (The manned capsule for the Constellation program. Find out more here: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/constellation/main/index.html)simulations for schools and summer camps. I can only imagine who cool it will be to have seventh graders training for a simulated mission to the Moon. Look for mini-camps coming soon (maybe even this Christmas) where we will start to test all of these new ideas. It will require incredible team work and a fair amount of LICE as well. What is that, you ask? Why did I mention a parasitic creature when talking about Lunar Exploration? Great question. My education team and I cam up with that acronym while identifying the core components of any successful education program at the Cosmosphere. Here it is:

L = Leadership. We want to inspire young and old to be leaders in any way that they can.

I = Inspiration. If a program does not inspire than we cannot hope to educate.

C = Challenge. We feel that it is our job to challenge future explorers to reach new heights.

E = Entertain. You might have been waiting for educate here, but it is hard to educate if they don't show up in the first place. We have to get them in the seats.

I like it! It is what we do! By the way, did you know that the platypus does not get lice. Hmmmm...

Back to space and the Cosmosphere. We have a lot of work to do to realign our camp and education programs to NASA's new bold exploration vision, but I have no doubts that we will be able to do so and bring exciting educational offerings to both schools and the public. Spesaking of exciting educational opportunities, don't forget about Teachers Night Out on Nov. 21. Former Astronaut Winston Scott will be in the building for a keynote speech to all of the educators in attendance. He will also be in the building the morning of the 22nd of November for a public talk and book signing. Make your travel plans now!

That was a little random, but aren't all commercials like that? The Cosmosphere, as I mentioned last week, is getting ready to launch some new distance learning programs. Exactly what form they will take may be up to you. I want to hear from you what you want. Do you want a full hour long briefing from an educator? A week long project facilitated daily by a ten minute internet chat with our education team and an on-site follow up at the end? Do you want podcasts of cool content? Blogs, skypes and plurks...oh my! These internet tools are like lions, tigers and bears to me right now as we navigate our way through to you. Please help us figure out what you want. This is going to be a lot of fun and I expect many of you to take the journey with us.

Incredible journies are the theme of the day. Last week I met with Susan Chase from the Chase Foundation. This is the group that was responsible for bringing two groups of South African students to take part in the Future Astronaut Training Program and arranged for a Cosmosphere education trip there two years ago. She has just returned from Chile and our goal is to start bringing students up from Argentina and Chile. Susan assures that the students will be able to speak English though. I was actually dissapointed to hear that. It would have been a challenge but fun as well. Early next year she will be bringing the Director of Colegio Puerto Varas (a school in Puerto Varas, Chile) to visit the Cosmosphere. Her goal and mine is to impress him so much that he starts sending students to us to learn about space and space science while opening an "internet portal" (sounds like something from a bad horror movie) between the Cosmosphere and Chile. If I can reach students in Chile and South Africa then students in Kansas City and Towanda should be a piece of cake. I just went to the school's website and I realize that I need to learn Spanish pretty soon. It is 13 degrees Celsius there right now though. That is 55 degrees F...at least I can still do math.

The last area that I want to talk about is professional development. In the past week we have set up two in-services for schools in Andover and Wichita. The one in Wichita is with Mueller Elementary. We are very excited about that one. Mueller is starting to develop aerospace and engineering cirriculum for their students from pre-K through 5th grade and we are doing everything that we can to help. Anne Clemens and Michele Snodgrass are doing a fantastic job getting those kids and educators at Mueller excited about this concept and we are honored to be a part of this neat experience. We will be helping out with professional development, camp scholarships, specialized student programs and general support as they begin this inredible journey. Keep checking back to find out more about this!

Have a great week and keep reaching for the stars. Our future depends on it!

Hello world! This is my first attempt at a blog and it may be a little rough for a while, but I will attempt to put new content out every week or two. I thought that I would just use this space to let you all know what is going on here and how things are flowing in education at the Cosmosphere. Let me know if this is useful or not...interactivity is not only acceptable, it is REQUIRED!

Well, I sure am bummed about the latest delay in the shuttle launch. I was supposed to head out to Florida for an education forum surrounding the launch and get to see a night launch. How cool would that be?! I have seen one during the day and, let me just say this...WOW! I know that there are only a handful of shuttle launches left, but if you have a chance to see one then DO IT! It was an amazing sight to behold when I went back in 1997. The launch was everything that you see on TV and then a whole lot more. Light travels faster than sound so the view was impressive but relatively calm. A few seconds later the wall of sound and heat hits you and it is intense. I am not ashamed to say that I cried when I saw it. I have spent the better part of my adult life teaching kids of all ages about space and this was COOL. I digress. When the launch is rescheduled, early 2009, I will get the chance to go out for the launch so I guess that I just have to be patient.

Last week I took the education department and about half of the marketing team to a workshop on podcasting and web presence in general. Man, is there ever a lot that I don't know about that. We are so excited though and hope to be out there in cyber space soon. We would like to be in classrooms and living rooms across the globe. I have already received multiple requests for presentations in classrooms in Texas and Kansas. We are still trying to figure it all out so this should be a ton of fun. I hope that we will get some podcasts out there soon that show off our amazing museum and our education programs. Please be kind when you see the first ones. They will not be as polished as later ones. The process should be interesting. Any ideas for what you would like to see...please let me know! My brain needs all the help that in can get! :)

Teachers Night Out is coming up as well (Nov. 21). For those of you who are unfamiliar with this event, it is a yearly event (free for and built for educators) at the Cosmosphere where we thank teachers for all of their hard work and take care of them for a change! We have vendors from all over the state and a cool keynote speaker. In addition all of the cool stuff that the Cos has to offer is available...IMAX movies, Planetarium shows, rocket demos and our world class museum. This year our speaker will be Winston Scott, retired astronaut. Captain Scott has flown in space twice and done three space walks. He will be here November 21st for Teachers Night Out and will be doing a public presentation and book signing on the 22nd. Look for more details on both events coming up.

It is Friday and I am running out of really intriguing things to talk about so I will turn it over to you. I wrote briefly about the shuttle launch that was delayed. This mission is to be the last to the Hubble Space Telescope. There was some controversy about this mission. Principally, should we even be going back to Hubble? I think that it is imperative that we get Hubble "fixed" so that we can continue to use it to explore the Cosmos. What do you think? Keep the comments thoughtful and rational please.

Should be a great weekend! Enjoy yours and keep reaching for the stars no matter how old you are. Don't let a number keep you from dreaming about the stars. We need all of the dreamers and doers we can find if we are to expand our reach beyond this oasis in the void (Earth). Until next week...

The target launch date for space shuttle Atlantis' STS-125 mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope has been reset to Oct. 14 at 10:19 p.m. EDT. A news conference is scheduled for Friday, Oct. 3, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida to announce an official launch date.

With the delay of Atlantis' launch from Oct. 10 to Oct. 14, shuttle Endeavour's STS-126 supply mission to the International Space Station, also will move from Nov. 12 to Nov. 16 at 7:07 p.m. EST. The target launch date adjustments were made Wednesday during the Space Shuttle Program's Flight Readiness Review, which concludes Thursday.

Detailed assessments were presented Wednesday by Mission Operations, Flight Crew Operations, and training divisions affected by the closure of the NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, as a result of Hurricane Ike. While vehicle processing at Kennedy continues on schedule, the lost week of training and mission preparation due to the impacts of the storm led to the decision to slip the dates.

The STS-125 astronauts capped off their three-day prelaunch training at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida by donning their orange launch-and-entry suits and heading to Launch Pad 39A for a full countdown dress rehearsal aboard space shuttle Atlantis.

This afternoon the crew members are set to return to their home base at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston where they will continue training for their mission to service NASA's Hubble Space Telescope.

During a question-and-answer session with members of the news media Tuesday morning, Mission Specialist John Grunsfeld addressed how difficult STS-125 will be. "The bottom line to me is this mission is really hard," Grunsfeld said. "After (STS) 109, I thought we'd really maxed out what we could do on a space mission. This time, we've added a lot of content with inspections. From an EVA standpoint, we've gone from doing heart surgery on Hubble to what is comparable to doing brain surgery on Hubble with the instrument repairs. So, this is going to be a very complex mission... it's going to be very hard."

Space shuttle Endeavour is at Launch Pad 39B where it will be on standby in the unlikely event that a rescue mission for the Atlantis's crew would be necessary. After Endeavour is cleared from its duty as a rescue vehicle, workers will move it to pad 39A in preparation for liftoff on mission STS-126 to the International Space Station in November.

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html

You have not seen a film until you have seen this one. Sure the story is predictable. They go to the moon and they come back. That's probably why nobody ever made a film about the Apollo 11 mission. The fly-on-the-wall concept totally works though. The flies are adorable. Real emotions in a computer animated film, that's a novelty! The animation and the sets are first rate. It may not have the finishing touch of a Pixar movie, yet in many ways this film is as groundbreaking as Toy Story 10 years ago. Best of all it was great fun, a truly unique experience for the whole family!

Hello I'm Dan Bateman, Camp Programs Manager at the Cosmosphere. I started working with Future Astronaut Training Program in 1993 as a counselor and now work to make sure we have the most enjoyable camp experience available anywhere.

Welcome to the first Cosmosphere Blog on camps. After 16 summers of working as a counselor and director of the FATP, this one is one of the best summers I can remember. With 21 counselors from across the country and directors from all over Kansas and one from Florida, we are having one of the best camp seasons in memory.

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