All media representatives are invited to the Challenger Space Center on MONDAY, DECEMBER 30 when five finalist teams of middle school students will defend their International Space Station designs to a team of Honeywell engineers and scientists as part of the Honeywell Aerospace Fiesta Bowl Challenge event. The grand prize for the winning team is the trip of a lifetime: the group, including their teacher, will fly to Florida to watch a shuttle launch at Cape Canaveral.
What makes this event particularly unique and special is that the crew of the Space Shuttle STS 110, which visited the International Space Station (ISS) last April, will be on hand to meet with the aspiring scientists. The judging of the students’ space station designs will take place from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m., with the astronauts expected to arrive at approximately 10:30 a.m. The shuttle crew is expected to be available for photos with the teams.
The STS 110 Shuttle crew installed the 43-foot-long S0 (S-Zero) Truss, the backbone for the future station expansion, to the ISS. Among other activities, while in orbit, the crew performed four spacewalks and prepared the first railroad in space, the Mobile Transporter, for use. The STS 110 crew will query the students about their designs, as well as speak with them about what it is like to live and work in space. This event consistently provides terrific visuals (astronauts in flight suits talking to an enthralled group of wide-eyed children); quotes; and sound bites for television and radio. In addition, the story makes a great “good news” feature for print.
The finalist teams are from the following schools:
- Ira Murphy Elementary, Peoria. Teacher: Mark Wingert.
- St. Simon and Jude Elementary (two teams), Phoenix. Teacher: Maureen Hill.
- Central Phoenix Home Educators, Phoenix. Teacher: Valarie Spink.
- Maricopa Elementary, Maricopa. Teacher: Nancy Rollins.
EVENT BACKGROUND: The Honeywell Aerospace Fiesta Bowl Challenge is in its fourth year as an official Fiesta Bowl event.
In early December, nearly 35 teams of middle-school students competed in the semi-finals at the Challenger Space Center in Peoria. Teams of 5th through 8th grade students from across the state were invited to participate in the event in which these bright young students designed their interpretation of the next generation of the International Space Station. In addition to the physical design, students also designed and described their habitation modules; waste management systems; how they would create and sustain a food supply; and much more. Using a multi-page checklist, Honeywell engineers and scientists judged the teams, based upon scientific and engineering criteria. Five finalist teams were selected to participate in the final competition.
