Photo (left): Partners Brody Paquette and Ben Hyjek successfully designed one of the top three “space suits” for their balloon astronaut. (Photo submitted)
HUNTINGTON – On March 1st, fourth grade students at Littleville Elementary School took part in a virtual field trip to Space Center Houston to learn about astronaut space suits and the effect that atmospheric pressure has on the bodies of astronauts.
The morning of the event, students created balloon astronauts and used a variety of material including cloth, duct tape, packing tape, and foil—to build a protective “space suit” around their “astronaut”.
That afternoon, the students and their teachers (Angela Dalton, Amy Drenga and Judy Hallock) went to the Gateway Performing Arts Center to use the district’s distance learning equipment for a live lesson taught by an instructor at the space center in Houston. Students were given a tour of an astronaut’s space suit to learn how its fourteen different layers help keep astronauts alive when they are outside of the space station. Students also learned about air pressure and gravity, and watched a series of vacuum chamber experiments featuring the effects of decreasing oxygen on a balloon, a flask of water, and a marshmallow man.
Other schools throughout the country were also viewing the event, and one lucky classroom got to directly ask questions of the NASA instructor. He explained that astronauts are usually selected once they have completed a formal education on their field of study, such as math, science, astronomy or medicine. They then complete another 1-2 years of basic training to learn everything they need to know about traveling and working in space. Most astronauts are aged 25-35 because traveling in space puts a lot of pressure on bodies.
When the virtual field trip ended, the classrooms conducted their own experiments on their balloon astronauts to simulate whether or not the spacesuits they constructed could withstand a micrometeorite impact. Each balloon astronaut was laid on the floor, and a metal punch was dropped through a 6 foot-long PVC pipe. Experiments were repeated from different angles, until one balloon astronaut from each class survived. Top spacesuit designers were Ben Hyjek and Brody Paquette from Mrs. Dalton’s class; Jenna Desormier and Adrian Rivera from Mrs. Drenga’s class; and Katelyn Bean and Greta Calkins (along with their astronaut, “Jimmy”) from Mrs. Hallock’s class.
This is not the first virtual field trip attended by Gateway students. In the past, high school science students were able to observe an actual open heart surgery and elementary students were able to speak with butterfly scientists on the Yucatan peninsula. More recently, middle school students took part in a fish mystery, as part of a virtual field trip to the Aquarium of the Pacific and Angela Dalton’s 4th grade class studied the kelp forest along the California Coast (also through the Aquarium of the Pacific).
