• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Project to Prepare Teachers for Flight: Three Columbus Teachers to Board the 'Vomit Comet'

Posted on: Tuesday, 2 May 2006, 06:00 CDT

By Harry Franklin, Columbus Ledger-Enquirer, Ga.

May 02--Three Columbus High School teachers leave Wednesday for the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, to train for the trips of their lives: flights aboard NASA's C-9 airplane to test the effects of space tumbling on small satellites.

Students from the school proposed an experiment titled "Improving Space Communication Technology Through the Study of Induced Spacecraft Tumbling." But those students have graduated, leaving others to continue the work.

NASA selected the project to fly in the C-9 aircraft, also known as the "Weightless Wonder" or the "Vomit Comet." But for safety reasons, high school students are not allowed to fly on the plane.

During the 10-day trip, Columbus High physics teacher Luther Richardson, biology teacher Gail Sinkule and chemistry teacher Chris Spraggins, will learn how to fly aboard the plane, which is used regularly by astronauts to train for trips into space. The experiment is scheduled for two flights. Each flight will follow extremely curved paths in the sky, so the experiments and riders experience 20 to 30 seconds of microgravity.

The original students in the project were Chase Betack, Simon Clark, Heather Sigmund and Clay Willoughby. Students continuing the project are Elizabeth Linares, Kyle Nagamatsu and Nate Williams.

-----

Copyright (c) 2006, Columbus Ledger-Enquirer, Ga.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.

Source: Columbus Ledger-Enquirer

More News in this Category