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Three Thompson Falls High School students had an out-of-this world experience earlier this week. Team Astraeus – Rowan Ackley, Carter Marquardt and Jeremy Fausett – earned a trip to Kennedy Space Center in Florida along with their teacher, Doree Thilmony. The students studied concepts involved in the next trip to the moon, the Artemis I and Artemis II missions.

Teams from across the country made the journey to Florida. They were given a VIP tour of the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) and launch pad at Kennedy Space Center. "The building was buzzing with employees from all backgrounds," Thilmony said. Their tour guide, an engineer who worked for NASA for 25 years, explained that about 15% of the employees on the ground work directory for NASA and the other 85% for outside companies. "The VAB is large enough to fit Yankee Stadium in it," Thilmony said. "It has four bays where four rockets could be assembled at once. NASA builds their rockets vertically and then uses a Crawler to move it out of the building to launch."

The tour guide explained to the students and teachers that once the rocket is built, the Crawler moves 1 mph along a 3-mile track with special Tennessee rock. The special rock contains no iron. Having iron in the rock while the Crawler moves on its metal cleats would create sparks and might ignite the rocket before it reaches the launch pad. It takes about seven hours for the Crawler to walk the rocket to the launch pad.

The students learned about NASA's space launch system, the rocket design that produces 8.8 million pounds of thrust. "The students got to know what type of engineering designs were needed to withstand this type of thrust when they had the rare opportunity to be on launch pad 39 B where an Artemis II rocket will launch four astronauts around the moon and back," Thilmony said.

Another NASA engineer explained the launch schedule to the students. A rocket stays on the launch pad for about five days while 200-300 people work daily to prepare for launch. To reach the moon, the Artemis rocket reaches speeds of up to 25,000 miles per hour.

The students also got to watch a rocket launch from the beach. SpaceX launched a rocket carrying 22 Star-Link satellites. Thilmony said that even though they watched from six miles away, the launch shook the ground.

The students traveled to Florida as part of the NASA-sponsored Artemis ROADS (Rover Observation And Drone Survey) program. They competed in Bozeman earlier this summer and then were chosen to take part in the Florida event.

"The trip was a once in a lifetime experience for these students," Thilmony expressed. She was grateful for Central Washington University, Principal Jodi Morgan and the Thompson Falls School District, as well as the Blue Hawk Booster Club for helping make the trip possible for the students.

Thilmony stated that she plans to teach the Artemis II curriculum for Science Projects in the upcoming 2023-2024 school year. "It is a great curriculum where students learn science concepts through fun and interactive challenges," she said.