CAMARILLO : NASA Lesson Inspires Kids to Reach for Stars

He’s not an astronaut, but NASA educator Donald Scott took his mission before 30 Camarillo sixth-graders just as seriously.

“See these rocks?” Scott said Monday, showing tiny bits of moon dust and ground rock encased in a Lucite mold. “These are worth $25 billion. But NASA thinks you guys are our future astronauts, so you should get to see them.”

Future astronauts, perhaps. But more to the point, these Los Nogales School students are future taxpayers. And Scott certainly impressed teacher Kristin Simmons’ class with a list of NASA achievements and fun facts.

The children learned, for example, that disposable diapers were invented by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to accommodate astronauts forced to wear heavy spacesuits for hours at a time.

It takes the space shuttle just 8 1/2 minutes after liftoff to reach space. And space travelers drink juice from a shiny silver pouch that can be attached to a shuttle wall with Velcro.

“I didn’t know they ate all those weird foods,” said Rene Cabrera, 11, after looking at a sample meal of freeze-dried potatoes and sirloin tips.

Other props were just as popular: The children looked at a spacesuit complete with bubble helmet; scale models of the space shuttle, the Hubbell Telescope and a space station, and brilliant photographs of Earth and Mars taken from space.

Scott is part of a NASA education program that provides specialists to perform demonstrations at schools throughout 11 Western states. He enlisted 12-year-old Martha Browning to demonstrate how energy can be used to maneuver spacecraft.

Martha was able to turn on a platform without moving her lower body after Scott handed her a spinning bicycle wheel and commanded her to “steer” to the left and right.

“This is what we call a gyroscopic stabilizer,” Scott said.

“Wow! That’s awesome,” said Steven Garrett, 11.

Earlier in the day, Scott presented simpler concepts for the younger students at Los Nogales. Principal Paige Fisher said he was impressed.

“He really know his stuff,” Fisher said. “And he’s really good at gearing the discussion level to the age of the kids.”

Eleven-year-old Katie Sherman was one of many students who said they wanted to grow up to be astronauts.

“I love science,” Katie said. “Math I’m not so great at. But I’ll get through it.”

Nathan Cota, 11, said he, too, was fascinated with space travel. But he has no desire to become an astronaut.

“I favor golfing a little bit more,” he said.