Russell Elementary School's Space Team Is Out of This World

“Space shuttle Intrepid rolls out of the runway to complete a successful mission T plus 26 hours, two minutes, four seconds,” said the public affairs officer.

No, it’s not NASA, but it is close. ’s Space Team has just successfully landed after its 14^th mission to space.

Across the hall from mission control, the cafeteria erupts in cheers and chants of “USA!” Students have been monitoring the status of the mission since it began a little more than a day before and are excited by the successful landing.

Russell Elementary School’s Space Team is one of only three of it’s kind in the country, said Nancy Dipetrillo, the school’s principal. The space mission is the culmination of the Space Team’s year of hard work and learning.

Fourth and fifth grade students have the opportunity to join the team at the beginning of each school year. They spend the first semester learning the basics of aeronautics and space missions and then apply for different team positions in January. Students can apply to be astronauts, public affairs officers, capsule communicators, engineers, and flight dynamics officers.

""They look at their tests scores, because they’re tested on all the information that they’ve learned as well as how they work together as a team to decide who gets which role," Dipetrillo said.

The program got its start 14 years ago when Chris Lassiter, a science teacher held the first mission with a simulated shuttle made of PVC and plastic, she said. The program has come a long way since then. On the day of the launch the astronauts head to their space shuttle, a trailer designed to simulate the inside of a real shuttle, and the command team takes their positions at mission control, Russell’s science lab. Students will spend the next 27 hours orbiting the Earth or commanding the mission.

The mission culminates with a press conference in the cafeteria. All 700 of Russell’s students gather to greet the Space Team with cheers and songs before asking them questions about the mission.