Today our group had a fun day at the Kennedy Space Center. We started out on a bus at 7:30 am and shipped off toward our destination with a large group of other VIPs. When we first arrived, we were all herded into a small auditorium and went around the room introducing ourselves and talking about why we were here. We then watched a short slideshow about the mission of STS-130 and heard about the experiments that would be on board.

Next, we piled back onto the buses and went to the ISS visitor center where we learned about the station and how it works. The next building we toured was the VAB(vehicle assembly building). This 36 story building can be seen from many miles away and was even more impressive in person. Here, we got to see the bell of a shuttle engine and the areas where the shuttle, SRBs and ET are all put together. We also caught a glimpse of the back up set of SRBs and ET that is ready to go incase of an emergency.

After touring the VAB, we hopped back on the bus and drove past the landing strip where the shuttle will glide to safety after its 13-day mission. Along the way to the Visitor’s Complex, we also saw a few alligators along the side of the road! Once we arrived at the Visitor’s Complex, we took a ride on the launch simulator and at lunch at the Orbit Café. Then we took a few minutes at the largest space store in the world and caught the bus to the Astronaut Hall of Fame. After a speedy run at the Hall, our tired group of girls came back to the hotel and ordered in pizza. It was a long, fun and educational day, but we can’t wait to see the launch tomorrow morning, bright and early!

- Maddie

So. Day three. So far we’ve spent hours in a plane, hours in an airport, hours in Disneyworld (OK, that wasn't so bad), and hours in our hotel rooms. I’ve got a “decent” amount of homework, which means more like a lot. Got a lot of it done, though.

Anyway. Yesterday in Disneyworld we had a lot of fun wandering around through EPCOT. I think the Japanese section was the best, mainly due to the fact that there was an EPIC taiko line there. Drumsdrumsdrumsdrums. They also had these little awesome crystal puzzles in the shop and I got one and it took a while to figure out that I was putting it together wrong but after that it was really fun :D

I think the best part of the Disneyworld trip so far would have to be the fact that they lit a whole freakin’ barge on fire. Like, not just little streams of fire coming out of it. The whole darned thing was flaming. We felt the heat from it, and it was halfway across the lake. It was awesome.

Fiery and awesome.

At the beginning of when we were in the park, we went on the Mission: Space ride and took the intense route. We’re not chickens, after all. It was outrageously fun, and now I know what it feels like to have your face pulled to smithereens by above-average Gs. I don’t know how they do that; I think it has something to do with spinning the assembly so that you experience artificial Gs. I remember in physics we were talking about centrifuges, and how centrifugal force doesn’t actually exist and instead you’re being forced into the wall by the fact that your body wants to move tangentially instead of circularly. Real-life application, I guess. Hah, I did learn something during this trip, Mr. Burns.

Oh, and for dinner we stopped at a restaurant in the UK (or at least the Disneyworld version of such) and had a very good meal there. Our waiter was one of the funniest I’ve ever had, and the food was pretty good, too. Well, ok, it also helped that Heather was paying. Heheh.

-Stephanie

The Endeavour

We've spent the last couple of weeks keeping an eye on the launch schedule and the possibility that the launch might be postponed. Now that we are here we are even more anxious about the possibility that the launch might be scrubbed. Just after 1pm EST we found out that NASA managers have said that the "Super Shuttle" Sunday launch is a "Go." According to the press release the weather is 80% favorable for the launch.

You can follow NASA's launch information at the following NASA sites:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/index.html

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html

http://twitter.com/NASA

http://www.facebook.com/pages/NASA-2Explore/24257241459

Disney World, Homework, and Planes! Oh my!!

As everyone who has read this so far knows, we had an agonizingly long flight from Oakland to Houston. My ears didn't pop until after I had fallen asleep and then they had the nerve to plug back up! I swear. You can't get good ears these days. It probably did not help that I had already been congested due to a slight cold that I had gotten a couple days earlier. Anywho, my ears still plug up and pop sporadically, it really is pretty frustrating. But onto the day after we arrived here in the sunshine state.

Yesterday we all had decided to go the Disney World resort. We spent all day in the Epcot park. It only had informational rides, which Wendy and Heather quizzed us on afterwards. (Of course.) Despite the quizzing and actual learning at one of the most massive theme parks on the east coast it was really fun. There was some really strange geography for the park. Mexico was next to Norway and Norway was followed by China. China of course was next to Germany, that does make a bit of sense. Kind of. I think Disney needs to refresh on their world geography. Although I did have a cold and, by the time, we got back to the hotel, a jammed ankle a day in Disney World is better than doing your homework.

Speaking of homework, that dreaded thing, is what we're doing today aside from walking down to the beach and sitting there for awhile. Most of the girls dove right into their work to get it over with. I, on the other hand, need to use the internet to get some assignments. Besides I do work better at night anyway :] I'm avoiding doing my work as I type. Thank you blogs!!! My head is killing me every time I sneeze or blow my nose, which is alot. My cold has steadily been getting worse. It's pretty annoying. Especially paired with the pain in my left ankle. Man, I am just the disaster kid on this trip. I hope I can go the rest of this trip without getting seriously sick and/or injured. Knock on wood. Ha ha. This blog has turned into an essay practically. Although my English teacher would have my hide for all of the personal pronouns and the contractions scattered throughout. Well I probably should wrap up this blog. Thank you for reading! Bye.

Cat.

Fun Day

One of the important parts of this trip is to teach the girls to plan their own travel. During the pre-trip meetings girls selected other activities that they want to participate in while in Florida. Their choice for today? Check back tonight for pictures and reports!

Travel to Florida

Yesterday, after a solid day of travel from Oakland, 6 girls and 2 adults arrived in Cocoa Beach, Florida for the launch. Overall, the travel went well. The girls spent most of the time on the plane doing homework and sleeping. The only hitch was when the rental car place tried to give us a smaller car than we requested. Maybe they just didn't understand that 6 girls + 2 adults + luggage = needing the car we reserved, not a smaller one. After waiting over 1.5 hour for our car, we headed out to Cocoa Beach.

The Trip

Late last year the W Foundation approached Girl Scouts of Northern California with an offer to help arrange a trip for girls to see the launch of the shuttle Endeavour at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The W Foundation has worked with NASA to offer this opportunity to kids throughout the past several years. Through the hard work of Mark Annis with the W Foundation, Wendy Holforty with NASA, and Heather Vilhauer with Girl Scouts the trip was planned and six girls from throughout Girl Scouts of Northern California were selected to attend. The girls attended two pre-launch meetings before the trip began to get to know each other, to learn more about NASA, and to plan the logistics of the trip. After the trip the girls will be preparing a video about the launch to show to Girl Scout groups about their experience.