Morris County School of Technology Teacher Attends NASA Space Launch

Published on March 02, 2017

SpaceX Launch at Cape Canaveral Carried MCTS/CCM Student-Built Locker for NASA

Emily Bohn-Drake, a social studies teacher at the Morris County School of Technology in Denville, was invited by NASA to see the recent SpaceX Launch at Cape Canaveral in Florida. She was one of 30 people selected out of 1,000 applicants.

Emily Bohn Drake(JPG, 138KB) Emily Bohn Drake in front of NASA countdown clock at Cape Canaveral

Emily was largely selected for how she makes learning about space interdisciplinary, and how it relates to the social studies curriculum. She was also approved by NASA a few years ago in January 2015 to be one of their social media reporters for the launch of a satellite at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

This has been such a wonderful experience with a personal connection, said Bohn-Drake. "Students in our Engineering Design and Advanced Manufacturing program are part of NASA HUNCH (High Schools United with NASA to Create Hardware) Program and designed hardware that was on the space craft. This symbolizes everything learned about in school from the connection of the scientific revolution to technology and human progress.

Bohn-Drake had the opportunity to take a backstage tour of the Kennedy Space Center and meet people directly involved with the launch. She attended a NASA Press Briefing and was able to ask a question at the briefing (Watch the entire briefing or see Bohn-Drake at 28 minutes into the briefing). Also, Emily was interviewed by NASA TV.

The students were tasked with fabricating metal sleeves and nuts for a stowage locker for the space station. The locker scheduled to be sent to the space station this month will provide a safe and secure housing for hardware required for plant studies. The biggest benefit of being a part of this program is that, not only do the students get to apply what they learn in the classroom and see their work come to fruition, they get to be a part of technological history, said Tom Roskop, assistant professor of engineering technologies at CCM, who has been teaching the students and overseeing their work through various stages of machining and finishing.(JPG, 1MB) High school students from the NASA HUNCH program at CCM signed the stowage locker that is now at the International Space Station
Credit: John Hester

Morris County School of Technology shared-time students who participated in the Engineering Design and Advanced Manufacturing (EDAM) program at County College of Morris worked on parts for a stowage locker that was sent to the International Space Station aboard SpaceX-10.

They were tasked with fabricating metal sleeves and nuts for the stowage locker which will provide a safe and secure housing for hardware required for plant studies.

The biggest benefit of being a part of this program is that, not only do the students get to apply what they learn in the classroom and see their work come to fruition, they get to be a part of technological history, said Tom Roskop, assistant professor of engineering technologies at CCM.

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