Space Shuttle experience brought to classrooms
News story originally written on January 9, 1997

Scheduled for launch on January 12, the Space Shuttle Atlantis will be carrying one uncommon payload...KidSat. KidSat is an education program maintained by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the University of California at San Diego, and the John Hopkins University. A still camera aboard the shuttle is used by middle school and high school students to learn more about space, the duties of astronauts, and the Mission to Planet Earth.

A group of high school students and undergraduates at the University of California will operate KidSat's "Mission Control" which is modeled after NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. These students will receive telemetry from the shuttle and will send instructions to the camera to photograph particular regions of the Earth.

This program allows students nationwide to learn more about our planet and NASA's shuttle operations. Interested school districts may view the information and images from KidSat via the following Internet address:

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/kidsat

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