Hello Cosmoverse, it's Howie G again!

It's Christmas Eve as I share my thoughts. The first thought I have today is that, "dang, I'm old". I say that because my son is celebrating his 27th birthday today. The kid (?) is pretty smart (you know the apple doesn't fall...). He took the advice I gave him at least once.

When he started school, the kids got to start using these crazy things they called Apple computers. He got in on the ground floor and it was normal stuff for him. Over the years he learned both platforms & became very adept at using them. One Christmas, we got the kids (son & daughter) this hot new thing called Nintendo. We had to pry their fingers (mostly his) off of the controllers.

Then it was Nintendo 64 & Super Nintendo as I recall. He was glued to that stuff. We did take time away to be involved in Boy Scouts together, so we did get out of the house once in a while & I'm still very proud of my Eagle Scout.

He and a couple of his buddies started a computer consulting/building company before they finished high school. They held their own, didn't make millionaires of themselves, but did okay.

After high school, it seemed he just sat around in front of the dang computer, played games & did nothing for a year. One day he announced he wanted to go to a specialized college in Florida. Well son, why there and for what? "Computer game design" was the reply. "Huh?" was mine.

Long story short, he went & graduated in the top of the class & now makes computer games for a living out in L.A. He plays games for a living & gets paid to do it!!!

The advice I gave him? "Find something you like to do and then find a way to make money at it". Good for you son.

I even took my own advice & gave up lots of vacation time & money at the place I put in 27 years at to come to work for The Cosmosphere. I get to blow things up, light things on fire, play with all kinds of cool toys, go to fascinating places and hopefully all while inspiring young people. I even get paid to do it!

Happiness is way more important than lots of things at my age.

I wish you all out there in the Cosmoverse the Happiest Christmas & the Happiest New Year ever!

Done rambling for now except to say- Happy Birthday Travis! - Love Dad.

Moonoverse Blog

Hello, my name is Demetree Gaines. I'm a Space Science Educator at the Cosmosphere. I just started here a year ago, but I take education very seriously. Teachers are definitely important to our society, our children and our future. So I have taken it upon myself to give you my special attention. That being said, on our web site you can get info about the teacher workshops that are going to be held here at the Cosmosphere throughout the year. Well, look out! I have added a new one. I want all my cosmoblogers out there to hear about it first. So, what is this new and exciting workshop that I speak of? I thought you would never ask. It's called "Moonoverse: Moons of the Solar System." I built this workshop for a special group of teachers from Council Grove Kansas, who asked for something new. However, I am inviting all educators to attend. Come one. Come all! We will talk about all the moons of the our solar system; how they were formed, who saw them first, what planets they belong to, and last but not least, what are the classifications for moons, planets, and dwarf planets. As always the experience will be jam packed with power points, resources, activities and free stuff. But most important, this workshop, like most of them, will offer the opportunity for college credit. I can hear pounding on the doors already. So get the lead out. Don't be the last one to jump on board. Tell a friend. Bring a friend. Contact myself or Laurie Given at the Cosmosphere and join us for the latest addition to the award winning education department workshop line up; "Moonoverse: Moons of the Solar System."

Hi everyone! Welcome to my first ever blog! I don't even know what that stands for or if it stands for anything at all. The boss, Joel, told me I needed to get to writing one of these, so here I am...

My given name is Harold George, but here at The Cos, I go by 'Howie G'. Then I'll go on to tell you the 'G' stands for genius... (most of the time Goofy).

January 2009 will be my 11th year here and I'm still loving it. I started as a part time presenter of the "Probe into Space- Space Exploration Merit Badge" for Boy Scouts on January 18th of that year. After a few years as a part timer, the Cos and I decided we needed each other on a full time basis. I became the "Scout Programs Manager" as my primary function along with being a director for our summer Future Astronaut Training Program and "other jobs as assigned" (gotta have that clause in the job description).

I just had a meeting with Joel this week and it was decided that I get to investigate all the possibilities of getting out into the virtual world. Tom coined the word "Cosmoverse" and I think I like it. Anyway, I am so excited about all this new technology that I get to play with, all in the line of duty.

Today I "skyped" with a class of 5th graders in El Paso that I met the teacher on one of my new resources called "plurk". That was fun and the kids actually learned some stuff from Howie G! So, I know that I never heard of 'skype' and 'plurk' before about a month ago, how about you? To skype is to make a free internet phone call and with video! It's like the Jetson's! (Reminds me, how come we aren't all driving cars that fly?) To plurk is to have an instant message posted so that a group of your chosen virtual 'friends' can respond. I have created a group that consists mainly of educators to enhance my learning efforts in this newest of technology (to me anyway).

This is exciting for me, an old dog learning new tricks, lots of tricks, maybe too many tricks??? Naaaaa, this old dog is looking forward to jumping through new hoops to inspire the youth of the world. Wow, I just said the world instead of the local kids... that's a bit scary, but together I think we can, I think we can...

Blog at you soon, Howie G

Hello World and Happy Holidays! The Christmas season is upon us and hopefully everyone is getting geared up for a great holiday season. I love Christmas and everything (most everything) that goes along with it. I always find it funny that Christmas reminds me of the moon as well. You see in 1968 Apollo 8 became the first manned spacecraft to orbit the moon. The crew of Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders were in Lunar Orbit over Christmas and read from the book of Genesis. What an amazingly powerful moment in human history! Imagine being all alone, 250,000 miles from your planet and enjoying a Christmas like no other. The spirit of Christmas must have been everywhere in that spacecraft.

My favorite story that goes along with that mission and I will admit that it may not be true goes like this: A foreign correspondent was in Houston covering the historic mission and did not get the exact words spoken by the crew during their broadcast on Christmas Eve (when they read from the book of Genesis). The correspondent called the Public Affairs Office at Johnson Space Center and asked for a transcript of the reading. The PAO officer asked where the correspondent was staying and upon hearing that it was in a local motel he asked the correspondent to check the drawer of the night table. Sure enough there was a bible there and the PAO officer directed the correspondent to the exact passage. A grateful correspondent was so impressed that NASA had thought ahead and placed transcripts in every hotel room! ? Like I said, great story...not sure if it is true.

What else has happened since my last blog? Well, we hosted Teachers Night Out and boy did we have fun. We had well over 200 educators attend some part of the event with about 150 in attendance for former astronaut, Winston Scott's keynote and book signing. He did a wonderful job and had one of the best "selection stories" that I have ever heard. It was a really fun evening. If you missed it we will have another one next year, but in the meantime check out the video we put together that night.

Teachers' Night Out Video

Still working on virtual outreach. As you have probably noted, we have no shortage of talent and I use that word rather loosely, but we are not entirely sure what you want. Please let me know what it is that you are looking for from us. Tours of the museum, classroom stuff, short videos, updates, live stuff...let me know so that we can meet your needs. We don't mind being on camera just give us some direction!

I will try and get one more blog in before Christmas. Only 19 more shopping days...Eek!!

Hello everyone! It has been a couple of weeks since I posted anything in the blogosphere. Tom has been making me feel bad as he has managed to keep up and I have not. So, what have we been working on? Great question and I am so glad that you asked. The virtual world is about to be invaded by Cosmosphere Educators. We just got a few new toys and now we are ready to start playing with them. Each educator has been asked to make a video of some sort...kind of educational in nature...that we can put out on the web. It is a test to see what we can really do and what we can really offer all of you out there. Here are the Teacher Tube links for each of the four videos that I have put out there so far.

Howie George: http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=584379e8c1a90f4ae6f1

Demetree Gaines: http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=ee5480519c6642b42bac

Tom Holcomb: http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=265f1e20f51f5d17d1e2

Joel Walker: http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=bd478980a1a4518f5981

Check these fun and short videos out and let me know what you think. We know that we have some pretty cool stuff to put out there for the public and for educators. We just need to know what format to put it in. We could amuse ourselves for months with this technology, but it won't mean much if no one needs it or uses it. Right now we are thinking about doing gallery tours, behind the scenes artifact stories and science demos that cover a wide range of sciences. It should be a lot of fun, but input would be helpful. Be kind though. These were our first attempts and a little rough. We will get better... I promise.

Make sure that you watch the launch tonight. It should be very cool and our CEO is down there now so we should get some good pics and video. I will get it on the website next week. Have a great weekend and keep reaching folks...we have a long way to go!

I see no sense in letting the election cycle end without adding my two cents. With so many issues on the table, both real and imagined, I have noticed that neither candidate has mentioned NASA or the space program. With construction of the International Space Station winding down we are nearing the end of the Space Shuttle Program. What will take its place? A program called Constellation is earmarked (our candidates should love that word) to begin on the heels of the soon to be phased out shuttle program. Constellation is an ambitious hybrid of old and new technologies designed to service the space station, return to the moon and eventually ferry humans to Mars. While it remains relatively inexpensive by federal government standards, one wonders if the will to continue funding it really exists for either candidate or for anyone in Washington. Pay attention in the weeks and months to come.

I apologize for the lack of my lovely image, but I am writing from the business office of my motel in Philidelphia.

I recently attended a conference for science centers and museums in the great city of Philidelphia. One of the sessions dealt with story telling as a means of introducing science topics to a public that is at times leary of science and scientists. One of the participents took the rather narrow line that story telling was inherently dishonest and should therfore be avoided, always. After all, he reasoned, fancy has no place in a discussion of how the world works, which made me think of rainbows.

I can't honestly remember when I saw my first rainbow, but I do know that I thought it was a fine and lovely thing whether I used such words to describe it or not. I also remember that the first explanation of the rainbow that I heard involved a determined fellow called Noah, a wicked world and a promise from a trustworthy diety. Now, I have always been a rather contrary sort even as a child and though I was not convinced that the story was true, I did think it was a comforting thought that went very well with the beauty of the rainbow.

Much later I learned about sunlight and water drops and how the world of science described the apparent miracle of the rainbow and that was a very satisfying moment in my life, for it enabled me to not only understand the rainbow, but to anticipate its appearence. Today, when the rain stops and the sun peaks out in just the right way, I look for the rainbow and never need to miss it. Science has enabled me to experience the beauty of the rainbow more often and that is certainly a good thing. But, whenever I see it a part of me remembers that first more meaningful explanation and the experience is more deeply felt.

There may come a day when only truth is allowed to enter the hearts and minds of the strange and fragile creatures that we call human. That will for this space science educator be a sad day, indeed.

Hey I have made it to blog number two. I feel like this may be the hardest one to do because now I am making a commitment to do this every week or close to every week. A lot has certianly transpired in a week. On a personal note, I ran The Race for the Cure two weekends ago in Oklahoma City. It was pretty cool, but not much of a race. At least for me as I am slow. It was fun to be around so many people and giving to such a good cause. A very neat atmosphere! Here at the Cos we are starting to get into the fall mode which encompasses planning and last minute programs. I wanted to blog about both today.

Planning for the summer of 2009 is well underway. The Future Astronaut Training Program is quickly approaching the quarter century mark and we have been confronted with a huge challenge. We have to change our entire camp program from a shuttle focus to a Constellation focus...Moon and Mars. This is going to be quite a task, but one that I feel we can accomplish with time and planning. I would love for the Cosmosphere to be the first organization to be running Orion (The manned capsule for the Constellation program. Find out more here: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/constellation/main/index.html)simulations for schools and summer camps. I can only imagine who cool it will be to have seventh graders training for a simulated mission to the Moon. Look for mini-camps coming soon (maybe even this Christmas) where we will start to test all of these new ideas. It will require incredible team work and a fair amount of LICE as well. What is that, you ask? Why did I mention a parasitic creature when talking about Lunar Exploration? Great question. My education team and I cam up with that acronym while identifying the core components of any successful education program at the Cosmosphere. Here it is:

L = Leadership. We want to inspire young and old to be leaders in any way that they can.

I = Inspiration. If a program does not inspire than we cannot hope to educate.

C = Challenge. We feel that it is our job to challenge future explorers to reach new heights.

E = Entertain. You might have been waiting for educate here, but it is hard to educate if they don't show up in the first place. We have to get them in the seats.

I like it! It is what we do! By the way, did you know that the platypus does not get lice. Hmmmm...

Back to space and the Cosmosphere. We have a lot of work to do to realign our camp and education programs to NASA's new bold exploration vision, but I have no doubts that we will be able to do so and bring exciting educational offerings to both schools and the public. Spesaking of exciting educational opportunities, don't forget about Teachers Night Out on Nov. 21. Former Astronaut Winston Scott will be in the building for a keynote speech to all of the educators in attendance. He will also be in the building the morning of the 22nd of November for a public talk and book signing. Make your travel plans now!

That was a little random, but aren't all commercials like that? The Cosmosphere, as I mentioned last week, is getting ready to launch some new distance learning programs. Exactly what form they will take may be up to you. I want to hear from you what you want. Do you want a full hour long briefing from an educator? A week long project facilitated daily by a ten minute internet chat with our education team and an on-site follow up at the end? Do you want podcasts of cool content? Blogs, skypes and plurks...oh my! These internet tools are like lions, tigers and bears to me right now as we navigate our way through to you. Please help us figure out what you want. This is going to be a lot of fun and I expect many of you to take the journey with us.

Incredible journies are the theme of the day. Last week I met with Susan Chase from the Chase Foundation. This is the group that was responsible for bringing two groups of South African students to take part in the Future Astronaut Training Program and arranged for a Cosmosphere education trip there two years ago. She has just returned from Chile and our goal is to start bringing students up from Argentina and Chile. Susan assures that the students will be able to speak English though. I was actually dissapointed to hear that. It would have been a challenge but fun as well. Early next year she will be bringing the Director of Colegio Puerto Varas (a school in Puerto Varas, Chile) to visit the Cosmosphere. Her goal and mine is to impress him so much that he starts sending students to us to learn about space and space science while opening an "internet portal" (sounds like something from a bad horror movie) between the Cosmosphere and Chile. If I can reach students in Chile and South Africa then students in Kansas City and Towanda should be a piece of cake. I just went to the school's website and I realize that I need to learn Spanish pretty soon. It is 13 degrees Celsius there right now though. That is 55 degrees F...at least I can still do math.

The last area that I want to talk about is professional development. In the past week we have set up two in-services for schools in Andover and Wichita. The one in Wichita is with Mueller Elementary. We are very excited about that one. Mueller is starting to develop aerospace and engineering cirriculum for their students from pre-K through 5th grade and we are doing everything that we can to help. Anne Clemens and Michele Snodgrass are doing a fantastic job getting those kids and educators at Mueller excited about this concept and we are honored to be a part of this neat experience. We will be helping out with professional development, camp scholarships, specialized student programs and general support as they begin this inredible journey. Keep checking back to find out more about this!

Have a great week and keep reaching for the stars. Our future depends on it!

The target launch date for space shuttle Atlantis' STS-125 mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope has been reset to Oct. 14 at 10:19 p.m. EDT. A news conference is scheduled for Friday, Oct. 3, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida to announce an official launch date.

With the delay of Atlantis' launch from Oct. 10 to Oct. 14, shuttle Endeavour's STS-126 supply mission to the International Space Station, also will move from Nov. 12 to Nov. 16 at 7:07 p.m. EST. The target launch date adjustments were made Wednesday during the Space Shuttle Program's Flight Readiness Review, which concludes Thursday.

Detailed assessments were presented Wednesday by Mission Operations, Flight Crew Operations, and training divisions affected by the closure of the NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, as a result of Hurricane Ike. While vehicle processing at Kennedy continues on schedule, the lost week of training and mission preparation due to the impacts of the storm led to the decision to slip the dates.

The STS-125 astronauts capped off their three-day prelaunch training at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida by donning their orange launch-and-entry suits and heading to Launch Pad 39A for a full countdown dress rehearsal aboard space shuttle Atlantis.

This afternoon the crew members are set to return to their home base at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston where they will continue training for their mission to service NASA's Hubble Space Telescope.

During a question-and-answer session with members of the news media Tuesday morning, Mission Specialist John Grunsfeld addressed how difficult STS-125 will be. "The bottom line to me is this mission is really hard," Grunsfeld said. "After (STS) 109, I thought we'd really maxed out what we could do on a space mission. This time, we've added a lot of content with inspections. From an EVA standpoint, we've gone from doing heart surgery on Hubble to what is comparable to doing brain surgery on Hubble with the instrument repairs. So, this is going to be a very complex mission... it's going to be very hard."

Space shuttle Endeavour is at Launch Pad 39B where it will be on standby in the unlikely event that a rescue mission for the Atlantis's crew would be necessary. After Endeavour is cleared from its duty as a rescue vehicle, workers will move it to pad 39A in preparation for liftoff on mission STS-126 to the International Space Station in November.

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html

Hello I'm Dan Bateman, Camp Programs Manager at the Cosmosphere. I started working with Future Astronaut Training Program in 1993 as a counselor and now work to make sure we have the most enjoyable camp experience available anywhere.

Welcome to the first Cosmosphere Blog on camps. After 16 summers of working as a counselor and director of the FATP, this one is one of the best summers I can remember. With 21 counselors from across the country and directors from all over Kansas and one from Florida, we are having one of the best camp seasons in memory.

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