Flight Week: Day 3- Flight Day 1

 Today is the day!!! 

Our apparatus was successfully mounted and the RGO approved us for flight!

Test Readiness Board

Apparatus on the plane

Carl, Roxanne, and Dr. Leimkuehler donned their flight suits and boarded the aircraft. 

Everyone else stayed behind in the hanger and tracked the flights progress.

As soon as Carl and Roxanne got off the plane they said that the apparatus collected data! We look forward to seeing the GoPro Camera footage and the photos from the flight. Look forward to seeing Carl and Roxanne's flight reflections coming soon!

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Flight Week: Day 2

 Day 2 was a rough day! We were all running on very little sleep and then we were at the Hanger from 7:30am until 4:30pm.

 At least the Test Readiness Review we had in the morning went well!

 Early this morning during our pre-flight test our system developed a leak that we were unable to repair. The team had to quickly come up with a plan to reduce the leak in our system. With the help of the RGO Staff and our NASA Mentor, we were able to come up with a solution. We decided to eliminate the pump in order to reduce the pressure it created in the system that was intensifying the leak. After we came up with our solution we encountered another problem! The mounting rails that had been lost by Southwest, then found, no longer fit the apparatus while mounting to the plane. Our structural mentor, Mallory, came in and provided guidance to help us make our mounting rails work.

We left the hanger with our apparatus ready to be mounted and with our bodies ready for sleep. Once we returned to the hotel the boys passed out and Dr. Barney Smith took a nice long nap. Roxanne, Libby, and Jill worked on making changes to the TEDP and the Structures Report. We ended the night with a dinner at Boondoggles with some Boise State Alumni. Libby made sure the team left at 9:30pm sharp, so that everyone would be ready for flight tomorrow!

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Flight Week: Day 1

After a long night the team made it to JSC Ellington Field by 7:30am. We were greeted by the Texas A&M team and soon met the other teams from  Buffalo SUNY and Northern Florida. After a Welcome and Safety Briefing the team had a successful Pre-Test Readiness Review.

 NASA Engineers asked the team really great questions about the safety of our apparatus.

The boys and our NASA mentor Dr. Leimkuhler

  The team made a quick stop at Home Depot to pick up a few last minute items before we went back to the hotel. Jill and Dr. Barney Smith took a short power nap before dinner while the team worked on the apparatus. Then the boys took a nap on the ride to dinner.
The BSU team met the other teams and the RGO staff at Red River BBQ for a group dinner. Yummy Texas BBQ!

After dinner the team worked hard and long to get the apparatus ready for flight.

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Arriving in Houston, Texas

On June 8, 2014 after 5 hours and 5 minutes of plane napping, the Boise State University Microgravity Research Team arrived in Houston.

 The two flights were smooth, and all but our two mounting rails arrived with us.

However, nothing is stopping us from assembling our apparatus in the Homewood Suites conference room. Once we arrived at the beautiful Homewood Suits by Hilton Hotel, we began reassembling the apparatus. We began at 2:00 pm and worked on it for more than 12 hours! 

Family Dinner

The Homewood Suites staff went above and beyond to deliver us outstanding service. Thank you Homewood Suits staff!!

Carl

Janos

Scott

Roxanne

Libby

See you tomorrow at NASA's Ellington Field!

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Getting Ready for Houston

During the weeks leading up to traveling to NASA's Johnson Space Center the team preformed several different tasks:

 

Making a "Mock Brian" out of Ballistics Gel

 

 

 

 

Completing Functionality Testing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Completing Full System Testing

 

 

 

 

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"Astronaut" Training Camp - Girls STEM Day Camp

On Saturday May 3^rd, 40 8-12 year old girls came to the Lookout room at the Boise State University Student Union Building for ”Astronaut “ Training Camp! They enjoyed a morning full of
science exploration and discovery.

The morning began with six activity stations that taught the girls a little about what astronauts do on Earth, to train for space and how an astronaut's body reacts to the change in gravity in their new environment.

"Vomit comet" and "Let's do the twist" station. This station taught the girls about balance and momentum, utilizing swivel chairs. 

 "Get a Grip" Station. At this station girls learned about the importance of jointed space gloves.

"Remaining Neutral" Station. At this station the girls learned how astronauts train in the Neutral Buoyancy Lab and the importance of a properly weighted suit.

"O2-How Much?" Station. The girls learned the importance of healthy hearts and lungs and got to measure their lung capacity!

"Heart and Lungs" Station. The girls got to touch, feel, and hold pig hearts and lungs.

 "Bending Under the Pressure" Station. The girls considered the importance of a pressurized spacesuit with the demonstration of the vacuum chamber.

These activities were followed by "Toys in Space" stations to explore how different objects act in microgravity. Then the girls where given a challenge to design Astronaut Space Suits out of white trash bags and duct tape! The camp was concluded by their girls showing off their Space Suit designs in a fashion show for their parents. 





Thank you to all the girls for coming to our awesome STEM event!

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