Using the Excitement of Space to Engage Girls in Science
NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson floats through the Unity module onboard the International Space Station.
Media Credit: NASA
This Sunday, NBC Nightly News, which airs at 6:30 p.m. Eastern Time, is expecting to feature a segment on how space-based research and exploration are being used to spark an interest in science among girls.
The segment highlights an event this past fall in which retired NASANational Aeronautics and Space Administration astronaut Peggy Whitson met with students at Sacred Heart Greenwich, an all-girls K-12 school in Greenwich, Connecticut. At the event, Whitson—who was the first female commander of the International Space Station (ISSInternational Space Station) and holds the record for the U.S. astronaut with the most days spent in space (665 days)—spoke with students about her science career and what it’s like to work in space.
NBC Nightly News journalist Kate Snow, who also attended the event at Sacred Heart, spoke with students and interviewed Whitson and ISS National Lab Senior Education Manager Dan Barstow about the value of using space exploration and the ISS to engage girls in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education, including the opportunity for students to design and launch their own experiments.
Learn about the Space Station Explorers consortium, a growing community of ISS National Lab partner organizations working to leverage the unique platform of the ISS to provide valuable educational experiences, in the video below and at www.spacestationexplorers.org.