The Will County Aerospace Team was formed in 1997 as a professional development cadre for teachers. The focus was to increase opportunities for space and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) teaching and learning. The group was formed under the leadership of former Will County Regional Superintendent of Schools Richard Duran. The cadre expanded its reach to sponsor students on simulated missions at the Challenger Learning Center of Northwest Indiana beginning in the 2000 – 2001 school year.
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Mission to Mars was one of those clubs I'm glad I joined. We had a great trip, we met new kids from other schools and it felt like a real mission. The ISO or Isolation team was great. We worked with robots and helped the other ISO team. Mission to Mars was a great club and I wished it would never end.
I was on the Space Weather team, and our job was to track storms, monitor the satellites possibly damaged by space weather radiation, and study the magnetism of Mars We monitored the magnetism of Mars because it affects storms and the atmosphere. My experience in Mission to Mars was very fascinating.
I was a member of the Probe team. My favorite part of the mission was to tell the other two members of the Probe team how to put the probe together in the spaceship. It was a great experience.
My favorite part of the mission was when we had problems and we had to fix them ourselves. The most challenging part was when my partner and I had to use the glove box to collect samples. This was an awesome experience.
I was a Mission Specialist for the Space Weather team. My partner and I had important jobs to do. The Space Weather team learned about sunspots, solar flares, Coronal Mass Ejections (CME’s), and auroras. We also had many emergencies. These consisted of situations like oxygen running out in the spacecraft or humidity running low on Mars. Mission to Mars was an exciting experience.
The Challenger Learning Center of Northwest Indiana was the 33rd center to go online as part of a network of facilities devoted to carrying on the education mission of the Challenger 51L Crew and First Teacher In Space, Christa Mc Auliffe. The center was brought to fruition through the dedication and hard work of teacher, Lisa Austgen. Ms. Austgen worked tirelessly to establish a task force and raise the money to build a 15,000 square foot facility dedicated to inspiring students to think about their future by providing teachers with innovative curriculum and unparalleled educational experiences like a simulated mission to the Moon, Mars or a Comet. The center houses 2 mission simulators, a planetarium and a multipurpose science room and provides programs for nearly 17,000 students and guests each year.
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