Item:
Title
Recognition of Local Teens’ Experiment Launching into Space as Part of Go For Launch! Durham, a Partnership Between Higher Orbits, Durham County Library, and the Durham Library Foundation (10min)
Body
Date Of BOCC Meeting: January 28, 2018
Request For Board Action:
Agenda Text
The Board is requested to recognize the successful launch of local teens’ experiment into space as part of Go For Launch! Durham, a partnership between Higher Orbits, Durham County Library, and the Durham Library Foundation.
Higher Orbits is a nonprofit with the mission of promoting Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM), along with leadership, teamwork, and communication through the use of spaceflight. Go For Launch! is Higher Orbits’ flagship STEM experience designed to promote space exploration for aspiring students through interactive, hands-on activities delivered by experienced industry professionals.
In 2017 and 2018, Durham County Library and the Durham Library Foundation sponsored Go For Launch! Durham to give area students the opportunity to participate. Higher Orbits typically costs $250 per student, but with the generous support of the Durham Library Foundation, the library was able to offer the first event for $25 per student and then to bring the cost all the way to zero for five additional events. About 200 teens were able to participate.
Students worked in teams to design and present science experiments to a panel of judges in the space and STEAM fields, including an astronaut. The judges chose a winning team at each Durham event. Those teams then competed for the chance to see their experiment launched to the International Space Station.
Team Orion’s “Radiotrophic Fungi: A Possible Radiation Barrier” experiment won and launched to the International Space Station (ISS) on Wednesday, December 5, 2018 on the SpaceX CRS-16 mission. Triangle high school students and team Orion members Graham Shunk, Srikar Prasad Kaligotla, Xavier Gomez, Jamison R. Fuller, and Finn Poulin developed their experiment to address the ever-present problem of high radiation levels in space travel and habitation. The teens were on-site at Kennedy Space Center, Florida to watch their winning experiment launch to the International Space Station aboard a Falcon 9 rocket on the SpaceX CRS-16 mission. In partnership with Space Tango, their experiment will be executed inside the International Space Station within Space Tango’s TangoLab.
Special recognition goes to Matthew Clobridge, the library’s Technology Management Administrator, who took the lead on bringing this program to Durham, to Higher Orbits founder, Michelle Lucas, former International Space Station Flight Controller and Astronaut Instructor, and to the generous contributions that made it possible to offer this program at no cost to so many young people.
Visit www.DurhamCountyLibrary.org/goforlaunch <http://www.DurhamCountyLibrary.org/goforlaunch> to view photos. Visit http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?m=1109927824486&ca=a08c428d-3135-477d-8655-ba8a2994fd78 <https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fcampaign.r20.constantcontact.com%2Frender%3Fm%3D1109927824486%26ca%3Da08c428d-3135-477d-8655-ba8a2994fd78&data=02%7C01%7C%7Cf931471a59124a4e598408d6613e3388%7Cc16a00a3560947c0b2c272d8635e3423%7C0%7C0%7C636803317128605067&sdata=lNqJIXPqvsLNKY3zWiKV27VXkAjgRftDQ%2FxhEgTmHQE%3D&reserved=0> to see the project featured by the Urban Libraries Council along with a video of the project and launch.
Alignment With Strategic Plan: This program furthers Goal 1 of the county’s Strategic Plan: Community empowerment and enrichment by providing access to educational, vocational, economic and cultural opportunities while empowering citizens to choose pathways for their own success.
Resource Persons: Tammy Baggett, Library Director, and Matthew Clobridge, Technology Management Administrator.
County Manager’s Recommendation: The County Manager recommends that the Board recognize the successful launch of local teens’ experiment into space as part of Go For Launch! Durham, a partnership between Higher Orbits, Durham County Library, and the Durham Library Foundation.
Signature
County Manager: ____________________________