Due to participation in the GAVRT program, the school’s Astronaut Academy teachers and students were invited to be NASA's VIP guests at the launch of JUNO on August 5 from Cape Canaveral. Though it wasn’t feasible to take students to the launch, Middle School math teacher Jennifer Higa was already planning a trip to Florida and coordinated her visit with the launch date.

For a woman who once dreamed of being an astronaut on a space shuttle, this was an emotional event. For a teacher who helped create the Astronaut Academy program, it was an opportunity to share experiences with other GAVRT teachers and space scientists and bring home exciting materials and ideas to share with her students.

“I look forward to introducing this next crop of IPA Astronauts-in-training to GAVRT as we study things like quasars so distant that we're looking at what was there billions of years ago, and systems that probably no longer even exist!” said Higa.

“I learned the story of Jupiter and Juno and how early astronomy influenced the beliefs and religion of an amazing civilization. Our 7th graders begin the year in humanities studying creation stories and scientists believe that Jupiter may hold the secrets of the beginning of our solar system. I look forward to helping the 7th grade Astronaut Academy students see how interconnected their experiences truly are.”

Higa’s amazing experience at the Juno launch gave her lots of first-hand knowledge about the space program to bring back to her students.

In the days leading up to the launch, in addition to a special JUNO launch reception, Higa was able to participate in activities with other GAVRT-participating teachers and students. One group had come all the way from Chile! Activities included a specialized class in "Stomp Rockets" from a NASA educational specialist at the Kennedy Space Center, a presentation from the chief engineers and project managers for JUNO.

Higa spent three days at the Kennedy Space Center. One highlight was riding the “Shuttle Experience.” The entrance to the ride features video interviews with a number of astronauts as they relate the experience of a shuttle launch. Higa reports that, “once you enter the ride itself, you're strapped into a chair and the "room" is tilted so that you are almost on your back. As the seats begin to shake, the sound of jets igniting fills the space and the screen in front of you shows billowing steam, then clouds and sky, then gradually becomes black, dotted with stars as you exit Earth's atmosphere. Of course, you can't truly feel the acceleration that produces a force several times that of Earth's gravity or the sensation of weightlessness as you enter orbit, but the overall sensation is still quite an experience!”

On the day of the launch, GAVRT participants were bussed out in style with engineers and mission specialists from NASA, JPL, ULA, and other participating agencies. Many of these participants came from the space agencies of other countries in the United Launch Alliance, and Higa remembers thinking “how interesting and wonderful it was to be surrounded by people speaking British English, French, Spanish, Italian, and Japanese.”

About 2 hours prior to the 11:30 a.m. scheduled launch time our group was surprised with a chance to meet and talk to NASA Administrator Charles F Bolden Jr. Higa took the opportunity to ask him directly about the future of manned space flight with the cancellation of the CONSTELLATION program. She related IPA students' involvement in the LRO / LCROSS (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter / Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite) mission and the impact that experience had on the students' interest in STEM fields of study and careers. Bolden pointed to the launch of the GRAIL project in September to further map the composition of the moon and other upcoming missions to the moon and to Mars with rovers and robots.

Lightning in the area, and an unauthorized boat that had to be removed from the launch zone made for delay in lift off, leaving spectators uncertain at T minus 4:00 minutes as to whether or not the launch would happen. Higa reports that “listening to the sound of technicians and engineers report readiness of the various systems seemed almost like being in a movie. The crowd's collective breath was held as the countdown clock, which had held for almost an hour at T-minus-4 minutes, had started winding down again.”

Everyone around was counting off the final seconds, and “as we got to ONE! we saw the first billows of steam rolling out from the launch pad. The rocket seemed to move so slowly in those first seconds as we saw the flames from the engines and only after the rocket was almost clear over the gantry did the rumbling sound reach us and shake as if the earth were moving,” said Higa, with clear awe in her voice.

“I felt so patriotic and proud of what our country had achieved, but also felt amazed at seeing what could be accomplished when the scientists of several different countries came together to create this mission of more than 30 years in the making. I wondered what JUNO would discover from Jupiter that might radically change our views of the origins of our universe.”

“I don't remember breathing until I'd lost sight of the rocket in the sky about a minute after launch,” said Higa.

You can share a little in Higa’s experience. The NASA website about the Juno expedition:

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

And watch a video of the lift off that Higa witnessed:

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogallery/index.html?media_id=105049051