Russell Elementary Students In Smyrna Blast Off Into 'Space'

SMYRNA, GA -- It was a small step for some elementary school students, but a giant leap for kids in kind. Some students at Russell Elementary had a blast recently as they embarked on a 27-hour real-time space mission simulation. The shuttle launch marked the 19th year that the students boarded a replica NASA shuttle to further their understanding of the world's top space program.

“They learn about orbital dynamics,” Chris Laster, Space Team teacher-coordinator and founder, said in a news release. “They learn how to work together as a team. They learn how to track telemetry, which is data that is sent down by radio from our space shuttle simulator. They learn how to monitor that for trends to detect problems and malfunctions and how to take measures to solve those problems.”

The launch included a spacewalk, payload deployment, onboard experiments, around-the-clock monitoring by a mock Missions Control Center and a next-day landing.

“We learned a lot about technology like radios and computers,”"kid-astronaut and fifth-grader Samantha said. “Before I joined the program, I used to call it a space shuttle or a rocket. Now, I know the full term for everything.”

The feat makes Russell, which is located on 3920 S Hurt Rd SW in Smyrna, one of the few high schools in the nation with a bona fide space program.

“All the kids learn how to read acronyms from NASA. They have to learn how to read flight plans and time stamps,” Tracey Steiner, a Russell science teacher, was quoted as saying.

Students prepare for the launch months before, taking classes that further their understanding of the math and science necessary to operate in space and developing keen insight into the complexities of the program.

Parents said the space program gives the students invaluable experience in how to lead.

“[The space program] teaches them how to be leaders,” their father Muhammed Dikko was quoted as saying. “It teaches them how to stay on task when they are given assignments. It teaches them to take life, in general, seriously. We have seen the changes in [Joy’s] life. We have seen it in our other daughters. I’ve never had to tell them to go do their homework as a result of this [program] because they look forward to it.”

Image via Pixabay