The Isle of Hope Fiddlernauts (middle school
student astronauts) participated in the National Student Astronaut Competition at
NASA this week - winning two First Place awards in four challenges, as well as
the Apollo 13 Teamwork Award! The Isle
of Hope School had qualified two teams as part of the Top 14 in the nation
during a runoff last October.
Preparing for success at finals required a lot
of dedication as the 18 student team members practiced between 10 and 20 hours each
week, including after school and weekends, beginning last August. The
competition included four different challenges...Landing Challenge, Space
Shuttle Atlantis Simulator Challenge, Lab Challenge and an Engineering Challenge.
Isle of Hope had an all-girl two-member team
compete for the Landing Challenge. They were the first all-girl team to advance
to the finals and ended up winning first place Wednesday night. Their
runs included flying the Space Shuttle Atlantis and landing on Kennedy Space
Center during the day, at night, blind, and coming in backwards. The
final run was at night with no landing instruments. The Fiddlernaut girls put
the Atlantis down beautifully along the coastline.
Isle of Hope “BIGS” - a six-member girl team -
also brought home first place in the Lab Challenge. Their idea, presented
to a panel of judges, was to use rushing storm water to power car batteries and
provide electricity to small household appliances during power loss after major
storms and hurricanes.
The Apollo 13 Teamwork Award is given to the
three-member crew who works the best together. This award is significant
because it is given to the team that most exemplifies the hard work and
dedication of the crew from Apollo 13. The Isle of Hope “BIGS” were also
presented that award by Commander Robert Shane Kimbrough (Commander of ISS 49
and 50, Mission Specialist Endeavor).
To see photos from the competition, follow
this link for the SCCPSS SmugMug Gallery:
https://sccpss.smugmug.com/Isle-of-Hope-Fiddlernaughts-Astronaut-Competition-February-4
