Texas 4-H Council and Orion Spacecraft Essay Contest Winners to Visit Johnson Space Center

News provided by

Oct 02, 2014, 01:56 ET

HOUSTON, Oct. 2, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA's Summer of Innovation is partnering with the Texas 4-H Youth Development Program and the Texas A&M University Department of Geology and Geophysics to bring Texas student essay winners to Johnson Space Center on Wednesday, Oct. 8, for 4-H National Youth Science Day (NYSD) 2014.

Media are invited to attend the student rocket launch demonstration at Johnson's rocket field at 3:30 p.m. CDT, and should contact Ashlé Harris at [email protected] or 281-792-7257.

Thirty Texas students were selected as winners from the Texas 4-H essay contest to visit Johnson. Students answered questions about aerospace exploration, rocketry and NASA's new deep space exploration spacecraft, Orion, which is set to make its first test flight in December. The 4.5-hour uncrewed flight will take Orion 3,600 miles above Earth – farther than any spacecraft built for humans has been in more than 40 years.

During the visit, the students and 4-H representatives will have the opportunity to meet with NASA scientists and engineers, take guided tours of the center, as well as build their own "Rockets to the Rescue" rocket with NASA Education Specialists, then launch them with the NASA Houston Rocket Club.

On October 8, thousands of young people across the country will participate in NYSD and engage in an educational and interactive learning experience by completing the 2014 science project. The national 4-H NYSD event will take place in Washington, D.C.

Summer of Innovation leverages the expertise and reach of NASA's 10 field centers, national academic and industry partners and smaller, non-traditional collaborators to engage and challenge middle school students across the United States in scientific discovery and space exploration through unique, NASA-related science, technology, engineering and mathematics opportunities.

For information about NASA's education programs, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/education

To follow social media updates from Education, visit:
https://twitter.com/NASAedu

For more information on Orion, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/orion

To follow social media updates from Orion, visit:
https://twitter.com/NASA_Orion
https://www.facebook.com/NASAOrion

NASA Johnson Space Center news releases and other information are available automatically by sending an Internet electronic mail message to [email protected]. In the body of the message (not the subject line) users should type "subscribe hsfnews" (no quotes). This will add the email address that sent the subscribe message to the news release distribution list. The system will reply with a confirmation via E-mail of each subscription. Once you have subscribed you will receive future news releases via e-mail.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO

SOURCE NASA