Top view of the ISS!

12/16/04
International Space Station (ISS)
The ISS conducts experiments during each expedition to explore space and help people on Earth improve their lives. They also are learning "how" humans can live in space for longer time periods.
Experiments include:
EarthKAM(middle school students)
Behavioral Issues affecting astronauts
Pore Formation (PFMI)
Materials on ISS (MISSE)
SAMS - II and MAMS (What we are studying!!!)
Education Payload Ops (EPO)
Binary Colloidal Alloy Test 3 BCAT
Protein Crystal Growth (PCG-STES)
Cell Biotechnology CBOSS- FDI
Human Physiology
CEO Crew Earth Observations
MSG - Microgravity Science Glovebox
InSPACE microgravity science glovebox
ARIS Active Rack Isolation System ...and many more!

12/16/04Our group was researching the main parts of the ISS. We wanted to know the different modules that make up the ISS. We found out that there are 36 different pieces that make up the ISS. The ISS is about the size of a three bedroom house. Some of the parts of the ISS are: Soyuz, Destiny module, and the Zarya. The ISS is the largest most complex project every designed in history. There are 16 countries working to put the ISS together! The ISS free falls around the Earth. It circles the Earth every 90 minutes at a speed of 5 miles per second or 17, 500 mph. (That is very fast!) The ISS gets 45 minutes of sunlight and 45 minutes of darkness. It will take 1900 man hours to put together the ISS if they work round the clock 24 hours a day. - Joshua P.

01/03/05
Researching the effects of a microgravity environment with NASA in our classroom! 
We are back from break and we are ready to dive into our microgravity research. This week we are preparing for our videoconference with NASA. We will have a videoconference with NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, OH. During the videoconference we will be learning about:
1.) What exactly microgravity is/ How does it work?
2.) Why microgravity research so important for our world.
3.) How research is conducted in microgravity.
4.) How microgravity affects living and non-living organisms.

In our classroom before the event we will be learning about:
1.) What is microgravity? Can we simulate it on Earth?
2.) What does gravity do?
3.) We will review Newtons Laws of Motion.
4.) We will work with falling weights, falling water, and throw some cans around.
5.) We will also learn about parabolic arcs.
6.) We will be recording our data observations from our drop tower experiments with our camera.

01/05/05
Researching the effects of a microgravity environment with NASA in our classroom! 
How can we experience some of the effects of microgravity here on Earth in our classroom? Let's throw some water around!
Free Falling Water?
Materials:
16 oz. styrofoam cup
15 oz water

Experiment 1
Q: Will water fall out of a cup as it is being dropped?
H: I predict that the water will not fall out of the cup until it hits the ground.
Observations:
The water and the cup hit the ground at the same time! They hit the ground together because they were both falling at the same rate/speed. The water splashed on the ground and the cup broke as they both hit the ground at the same time.

Experiment 2
Materials:
16 oz. styrofoam cup
15 oz water
pencil
Q: Will water come out of a cup with a pencil hole in it as it is being dropped?
H: I predict that the water will not come out of the hole or the cup until it hits the ground.
Observations:
When Ms. K dropped the cup the water and the cup hit the ground at the same time and the water did not come out of the hole! My predication was right! They hit the ground together because they were both falling at the same rate/speed. The water splashed on the ground and the cup broke as they both hit the ground at the same time.
-Chielon

Important Things Astronauts in Training Should Know:
It is important to know that most everything in space reacts differently in then it does on Earth.

1. Once you get up into space you will be taller (which could be a plus for you).
2. Your bones will get weak in space so you will need to drink lots of milk and get plenty of calcium in all of the foods you eat.
3. You still need to brush your teeth at night.
4. In space, up can be down and down can be up.
5. Toliets in space are like vacuums here on Earth. You will wear a special type of space suit with a built in vacuum so you can concentrate during your space walk or EVA.
6. And don't worry about anyone snoring in space because the fleshy soft palette in the back of your throat does not vibrate in space - so space is a "snore free zone".
7. A NASA psychophysiologist will help you with your motion sickness before you get to space so don't be worried.
-Bobby and Gabby

We have also emailed our scientists friends Mr, Richard and Ms. Nancy, that are helping us understand the ISS research and the SAMS- II and MAMS projects. - Alicia

1/10/05
ITIS (Interesting Things In Space)
1. You can see a better view of our Earth from space.
2. If you are going to be an astronaut you get to train in the NBL.
3. You can do things in space that you can't do here on Earth like a constant somersault in the air.
4. If you travel to space you will be taller.
5. There are heaters in the space suit to keep the astronauts warm.
6. You are able to go on spacewalks when you are in space.
7. You can pick up heavier objects with just one finger since there is microgravity.
8. There is no weather in space since there is no atmosphere.
9. A candle flame in microgravity has a round flame and is not like a candle flame on Earth.
10. Research is conducted in space to help us do experiments we can't do here on Earth.
-Fifth Grade Scientists

1/14/05

After

Thank you for the Expedition 10 Mission Patches Administrator O'Keefe!

three days of working on our questions for the ISS Downlink we have finally decided which questions we want to use for the downlink.  Each of the three groups wrote about 10 - 17 questions  to present to the larger group for for discussion.   We discussed the questions and said why we wanted the questions and how they were all related to what we wanted to ask Leroy Chiao and Salizhan Sharipov.  Each group narrowed those 17 questions down to their top 5 questions.  We again presented each question to the group and debated why we needed to ask this question.  Other classrooms and the three other schools were also sending their questions to Ms. K and we didn' want to overlap or repeat any questions they had already turned in so it was extra challenging and fun to do this.  We ended up with about 7 questions we really liked and then ranked them in the order we wanted to ask them to the Expedition 10 Crew!  Now Ms. K will email the questions to NASA for their approval.  How exciting we will be talking with the astronausts soon!  We clapped for ourselves since this was a lot of work!  It really felt good to have completed this project we started so long ago.  This is probably how the NASA scientists felt after they launched and then landed their Mars Rovers!  We have started our countdown to the February 8 Downlink with the ISS!

- Fifth Grade Scientists

01-25-05 
Yesterday Ms. K surprised us. She had been wearing her NASA Explorer Schools shirt for two days in a row. She had sewn on a Expedition 10 mission patch she said was a gift from NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe! She would look at her patch and smile and say, "Isn't it great? Don't you just love this patch? It really is the coolest." - every five minutes. We asked her not to rub it in but she continued to smile at her patch. Someone asked if she brought back enough for all of us. She asked what we would do with an Expedition 10 patch. We said we would wear it. She asked us where would we wear it and we said EVERYWHERE! She kind of screamed and said, "Everyone... check underneath your chairs!" We checked underneath our chairs and guess what ... she had taped an Expedition 10 patch underneath everyone's chair! We are all going to put them on our uniform shirts for the ISS downlink. Thanks for the great patches Administrator O'Keefe. We really love them and we will keep them always.

- Fifth Grade Scientists

02-01-05 
The Top 9 Things You Should Know About Space Food

9. Shrimp cocktail is the most liked food in space.
8. They have velcro straps on the tray so they can strap it to their thigh; the tray has velcro on it and the food packages have velcro too so nothing floats away in 0g.
7. They don't use regular salt and pepper;they use liquid salt and pepper.
6. Space food use to come in tubes. (pureed food!)
5. They eat m&m's in space.
4. All freeze-dried food for astronauts and the crew is healthy.
3. Food is freeze-dried because regular food will weigh down the launch vehichle. (They add H20 to food later.)
2. They cut an ''X" in their bags of food so they don't get alot of food on their fork.
1. They eat yummy tortillas in space because they have less crumbs than bread. Crumbs can cause problems.
- Mike & Samantha

02-01-05 
FUTURE SPACE TRAVEL
Today we learned about all the different spacecrafts and what they need. We learned about a new space program called SLI (Space Launch Inititive). We also learned that the Saturn 5 is taller than the Statue of Liberty and weighs over 6 million pounds! That is huge! If it wasn't for the Wright Brothers, we wouldn't have landed on the moon in 1969. They got us started in flight. In the future, NASA wants to have two seperate parts of the space shuttle so if it catches on fire, or anything happens the astronauts can get away safely. NASA is using an RLV (Reusable Launch Vehicle) so that they can use it over and over again. We also learned the heavier the spacecraft the more thrust you need to get the spacecraft off the ground. So they are trying to make lighter spacecrafts.
- Bobby & Kendrik

02-09-05
"What did you like about the downlink?" 

I thought the downlink was cool because we were talking to the astronaut and cosmonaut in space! The coolest part part about the downlink was talking to people who live in a 100 ton space station that falls around the Earth. -Mike

Even though everyone didn't get to ask questions it was still the greatest thing ever. The whole point was to help us imagine that someday we could be explorers like the crew is right now. The ISS is up there floating around the Earth every 90 minutes - that is just cool. But the coolest part was that some of my friends got to ask questions we made as a class. - Zane

I really liked talking to the ISS Crew. It is something I will remember for my whole life. - Derek

The downlink was amazing! We were all silent until we got the okay from Ms. K to cheer! We didn't get through to all the questions but we still were part of history for Minnesota. We had the first downlink ever at our school! When we were done with the downlink the Expedition 10 Crew did somersaults in the air in different directions to say "Goodbye!" It was the most exciting thing in the world! - Anita

February 8 is a day I will never forget. This is the day we got to talk to the Expedition 10 Crew on the ISS. My school made a long distance call to space! Who gets to do that? We asked them questions and they answered our questions. I like the fact that we were the first school in Minnesota to have a downlink. Our principal and teachers said they never had a chance like this in their school before. - Endurance

At the beginning of the downlink I didn't know at all what we were going to do. After the first question I couldn't believe it. I saw them show us what happens to free falling orange juice. Cool! It floats in a blob in the air. Leroy Chiao said they get up early to get ready for their EVA. And they have an EVA for 5 - 6 hours! I thought it was funny that Salizhan and Leroy drink tea and have peanut butter and cookies each night. I liked when they did the somersaults at the end. - Shaquille

There were so many students in our gym from other schools. That was cool! We talked to the ISS for 20 minutes! This was the most best thing that happened in my life. I will never forget about the ISS downlink. My teacher told me to make a memory - I did that too.
- Joshua

I wish we could talk to the ISS every day. I loved talking to the astronaut and cosmonaut. I wish we could do it again and again. I liked that kids got to ask questions during the downlink and we all got answers. We all had so much fun I hope we can do it again. I can't wait to be an astronaut going to Mars.- Alyssia

We talked to the astronaut and the cosmonaut. I thought it was cool because we did alot of work and something good came out of it! I was sad I didn't get to ask my question but we all were there to listen to all the questions that did get asked. We watched the replay of our downlink and we listened to the commentary at the end, the commentary did answer my question about the ADUM research. - Alicia

I thought the downlink was cool. We talked to the ISS. I would like to work like Chiao in space. - Kelly

We even got a letter from Senator Coleman congratulating us on earning a downlink! And just like our teachers and NASA ... he wants us to be explorers too!

The downlink was the best experience ever in fifth grade! - Bobby

We got to talk to the crew and they gave us some fabulous answers back - it was cool! I liked when Sharipov demostrated what liquids do in space. I know you can't pour water into a cup but you have to see it to believe it. Things act different in space. - Alyssa

I liked Sharipov and Chiao's patch and I liked that we had a patch the same as the crew. -Opal

On February 8 an awesome thing happened at Crossroads Elementary. We had a downlink with the ISS Crew. This was such a great experience. I also want to say thank you to everyone that helped make this experience possible. - Samantha


 We are at the Crossroads of Discovery! Read what NASA wrote about our research!  
 Crossroads Calls Space! "Hello Space Station!"   This is a story about us!
 A New York NES School's Call to Space!  
 Long Distance ... "Hey mom can I call ...?"  
 Want to see the ISS in the sky?   Want to see the ISS in the sky? Just look up the times and dates. It is visible from 12/21 to 12/31/04!
 Space Station Crew  
 SAMS-II and MAMS  
 MAMS  
 SAMS - II  
 SAMS-II and MAMS   Real time measurements aboard the ISS
 ISS  
 ISS Research  
 NASA Home  
 What does that stand for?   acronyms
 ISS Mission  
 Space Library  
 Astronaut Biographies  
 ISS Info  
 Biological and Physical Research aboard the ISS  
 The Fundamental Physics in Space  
 Virtual Astronaut  
 Learn to speak Mandarin  
 What is an investigable question?  
 BCAT3  
 CSLM - 2   Coarsening in Solid - Liquid Mixtures - 2
 ISS Assembly   space station assembly
 What kind of research are they doing in space?  
 ISS research overview  
 Stories from Space  
 Expedition 10 Crew Information  
 So you want to be an astronaut?!  
 Food in space ... how do you eat while in space?  
 Leroy Chiao's menu in space  
 Salizhan's menu for space  
 Happy Birthday to the ISS!  
 Don Pettit - Bubbles and more in microgravity!  
 Don Pettit - Space Chronicles  
 Greetings Earthlings!  
 Space Station Science  
 ISS Experiment Fact sheets  
 ISS Sightings!  
 Human Space Flight  
 ISS Crew completes spacewalk! 03.28.05  
 Saturday Morning Science  
 Expedition 10 is back!  
   

Image Gallery: Expedition 10

See all 5 images.

Image Gallery: Student Preparation for ISS
Ms. K's Fifth Grade Scientists are learning how many things work in space without gravity. They have been learning about the different ways we simulate 0g(weightlessness) here on Earth.
See all 4 images.

Image Gallery: 0g work in a 1g environment!
What if I told you astronauts don't really float in space? Sure they appear to be floating, but in reality they are really falling. We conducted an experiment to explore why someone who is falling can look like they are really floating! Mrs. Mika from Cumberland - NES, WI, came to help Ms. K's Fifth Grade Scientists with the 0g experiment in 1g! Thanks Mrs. Mika!
See all 15 images.

Image Gallery: Researching ISS Facts
12/16/04 Groups researched the ISS, experiments for Expedition 10, MAMS, and the SAMS- II to prepare for our downlink. Individual groups were looking for facts relating to the current ISS mission, Expedition 10.
See all 8 images.

Image Gallery: Our Microgravity DLN with NASA Glenn Research Center!
Take a look at what we did today in class! Fourth and Fifth Grade Scientists had the opportunity to speak to two NASA Glenn Research Scientists! Ms. Nancy, Fluid Physics and Mr. Richard, Electrical Engineer. They helped us understand even more about microgravity including the drop towers at NASA Glenn, the KC-135 Reduced Gravity, and even research in the ISS!
See all 4 images.

Image Gallery: What do vibrations do?
We are studying the SAMS-II and the MAMS work on board the ISS. We talked with our fellow scientists, Ms. Nancy and Mr. Richard by email and Mr. Richard suggested we use water to study vibrations here on Earth to get a better understand for how they work! What a good idea! Here are our notes!
See all 6 images.

Image Gallery: Stellar Performances ... Space Elevators???
Space Elevators, plasma beam spacecraft, new Mars plants, deep space transmissions, and moon shields! No this is not the movie, "Independence Day" not even "Star Wars" this is real life and NASA is helping inventors make the future space products possible to help explorers like us!

Image Gallery: ISS wrap-up
We have been wrapping all of our ISS research up. Take a look!
See all 13 images.

Image Gallery: Learning about Russia
Ms. Brita helped us learn about Russia. She even taught us how to say "hi" and "how are you" in Russian! Thanks, Ms. Brita!

Image Gallery: Welcome to Crossroads!
We made "Welcome to Crossroads" signs for each of our visiting schools, NASA GRC, and NASA Headquarters!

Image Gallery: NASA visits us!
Ms. Marge, Ms. Cathy, and Mr. Greg all visited us at Crossroads today! They brought along some really cool things for us to see!
See all 8 images.