NASA Continues to Abandon Education Programs

Reader comment: “Since this summer when my note concerning the possible cutting of the NASA Student Involvement Program was posted on NASA Watch, I was contacted by over 130 teachers who wanted to help. They all agreed to write letters to senators/reps/etc. We heard back from 3 senators who all said they would do what they could to support the program. Sadly, the NASA Student Involvement Program was cut completely.”

“In the last few days, the web sites for two more real science exposure programs for students declared they were cut from existence. Dropping in a Microgravity Environment (DIME) at Glenn and Hyper-G at Ames are gone.

As a physics teacher, I have 37 students working mostly after school on DIME, and Hyper-G projects. I will have to tell them that our laboratory and engineering work that was being done to create a real scientific experiment proposals has to stop.

How absolutely discouraging. In our program, called the CHS Space Program, we have had over a dozen experiments sent to space or tested at a NASA center over the last three years. Last year, we graduated 4 seniors from the program — 2 went to MIT, one to University of Georgia, and one to John Hopkins. These students were a direct product of the excitement of doing real science with NASA. Maybe someone did a trade on the cost versus the product and decided these kind of students are not so important to touch — I’d like to see that study.

I have tried to be patient and wait for some kind of direction from some form of leadership about where NASA is headed in terms of directly “inspiring” the next generation. It will take more than great web-pages.

Our program is highlighted on our site at: http://www.columbus2space.org

Ever upward,

Luther W. Richardson, Jr.
Columbus High School Physics

Student Space Program Lead Scientist
Physics Department
AUBURN UNIVERSITY

Alternate email: [email protected]”