As mentioned previously on this blog, I recently visited the NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio, for an outreach education training for a small grant my school received. The training was great, providing several cool NASA Engineering Design Challenge activities for the kids attending my summer camp later this month. I am super excited for this camp! While at the Glenn Research Center, I learned a few things I didn't know. For example, the center employs over 3000 people and there's a smaller research facility a bit to the west in Sandusky, Ohio. Very cool! I took a few pictures as our group was given a tour. We were given a tour of the space exercise lab and they showed us the harnesses they are developing to assist with exercise on the International Space Station.
An exercise harness may not sound exciting, but exercising in space to limit bone loss in a low gravity environment is crucial. Having the appropriate equipment to exercise is necessary for astronauts.
This was next to the visitor's parking lot! Speaking of being a visitor, it was a bit intimidating entering the complex and going through two security checkpoints. For the most part the facility is closed to visitors, but they do offer a visitor's tour once a month. You have to register ahead of time on their website, but if you are in the Cleveland area, I highly encourage you to do this!
There's also a NASA exchange store and I made sure to pick up a few items for my kids, but I'll share those in a later post.
That is the Centaur rocket which NASA Lewis (now Glenn) developed. Very historic item. The Centaur is still used today by many rocket companies for their upper stage.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-glenn-dedicates-historic-centaur-rocket-display