NASA News 
National Aeronautics and
Space Administration

John F. Kennedy Space Center
Kennedy Space Center, Florida 32899
____________________________________________________________________________

KSC Contacts: Bruce Buckingham	/Denise Coleman
For Release:	Jan. 26, 2000
	
KSC Release No. 14 - 00

LOCAL MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS PARTICIPATE IN UPCOMING MISSION OF SPACE
SHUTTLE ENDEAVOUR

	NASA has created one answer in assisting teacher's with an
age-long quest to interest students about science, geography, mathematics
and space. Students attending two local middle schools, Ronald McNair in
Rockledge, FL, and Space Coast in Port St. John, FL, have been preparing
to access a special camera on the Shuttle, called EarthKAM.

	EarthKAM, a program sponsored by NASA and classrooms across
the nation, enables students to take photographs of Earth from a camera
flown on the Shuttle. An Electronic Still Camera (ESC) bracket-mounted to
the overhead starboard window of the orbiter aft flight deck will allow
the classrooms to observe various student-selected sites. Students work
collectively and use interactive web pages to monitor the Shuttle's flight
path. Within hours, classrooms can access the digital images on the web
and use them to conduct their own investigation about Earth. 

	The Student Mission Operations Center will utilize
round-the-clock efforts requiring students, teachers and parents to take
turns manning the center.  The Shuttle takes about 90 minutes to orbit the
Earth, half of this time is daylight and half is dark. Because the camera
only operates in daylight, students have about 45 minutes per orbit to
take pictures and select new targets for each orbit. 

	"We are thrilled that we can offer this rare and unique
opportunity to the students at Ronald McNair and Space Coast Middle
Schools," said Denise Coleman, education outreach specialist at Kennedy
Space Center. "This program allows students to take an active part in the
space program at an early age, and we hope this exposure will encourage
them to dream about being the scientists and astronauts of the future."

	There have been four previous missions in which students captured
more than 2,000 high-resolution digital images of Earth. The images
were used in classroom projects to learn about science and geography,
develop skills of investigation and image analysis, and learn how to use
computers and the Internet. 

	The students and teachers will be attending the launch of
Space Shuttle Endeavour, currently scheduled for Jan. 31, 2000 at 12:47
p.m., to watch as EarthKAM is launched into space giving them a personal,
up-close view of the world we live in.  

	For more information about the EarthKAM program visit the
web site at www.earthkam.ucsd.edu.
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