Local teacher attends NASA Liftoff Institute

Brenda Henderson Gray, a teacher from Whiteville Elementary School in Whiteville joined educators from across the nation for the LiftOff Summer Institute at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.
This program sponsored by NASA’s Texas Space Grant Consortium selects teachers from across the U.S. who will increase their knowledge of space education through this Professional Development Summer Institute. LiftOff is a collaborative effort of Texas Space Grant Consortium members and affiliates, NASA, and industry.
Teachers apply for LiftOff and are selected competitively. The workshops are organized around an aerospace or space science theme drawn from NASA’s diverse engineering and scientific research programs. The theme for LiftOff 2015 was Living in Freefall!
The primary focus was on microgravity, living and working on the International Space Station, and training for long-duration missions.
Opening the week long institute was a presentation by Dr. Liz Warren, Operations Lead for the International Space Station Medical Project, including the Twins Study. Three astronauts spoke to the educators during the week: Astronaut Don Pettit shared experiments conducted on the ISS  including numerous Saturday Morning Science activities he conducted during free time aboard the ISS, former Astronaut Clay Anderson shared experiences Living and Working on the ISS and each teacher received his book “The Ordinary Spaceman”, and Leroy Chiao told about his spaceflight experiences.
Rachel Edgerly gave the ISS: 101 background.
The International Space Station (ISS) is a unique spacecraft in low-Earth orbit. It is the largest and longest inhabited object ever to orbit the Earth.

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