The program for students in the 3rd and 4th grades consists of both a mission to the Moon, or Mars, or to a Comet, and a hands-on space-science activity. The one-hour mission and one-hour group activity are designed to give students the opportunity to improve their critical-thinking, decision-making, and communication skills. During the simulated space mission, students will use scientific instruments such as microscopes, balances, scales, and computers, as they work at navigation, life support, robotic, probe and medical stations. In both their mission and group activity the students will be using skills involving measuring, weighing, classifying, sorting, and identifying.

1. Choose A Mission Scenario

Return to the Moon
The year is 2020, and a crew of astronauts is returning to the Moon in order to deliver supplies and join an established settlement that will eventually become a stepping-stone for planetary exploration by humans. On the spacecraft, the crew must work together to prepare for living on the moon, but will they be able to solve the emergencies they encounter along the way?

Voyage to Mars
The year is 2076 and a now special voyage to Mars has brought the latest crew into orbit around the red planet to deliver a special probe to the research team on Mars while conducting scientific tasks and experiments aboard the Mars Transport Vehicle (MTV). Will the crew's mission be jeopardized by the dust storms that plague the red planet?

Rendezvous With A Comet
The year is 2036 and a crew of astronauts aboard a small and maneuverable spacecraft is performing the tasks necessary to rendezvous with and collect material from the comet Encke. Since it orbits the sun every 3.3 years, the comet Encke is observed often from earth, but will the crew be ready to respond to the perils of space travel and reach comet Encke in time?

2. Choose An Activity

• Constructing a telescope - students will learn about the science of optics by constructing and using a simple refracting telescope.
• Magical Dry Ice - students will become active participants in experiments and demonstrations as they learn about the states of matter.
• Exploring the Sun - students will observe the Sun safely with special solar-filtering glasses, and will learn about the Sun’s energy as they perform experiments using a bracelet of Ultra Violet (UV) beads they construct.
• Astronaut Food - students will learn about some of the problems astronauts face when preparing for space travel, and they will learn the science involved with space food as they prepare and taste their own dehydrated meal.

The two-hour program can accommodate a class of up to 32 students. A class of more than 16 students will be split into two groups and each group will experience both the mission and the group activity. Depending upon the size of the class, it is recommended that 2-4 teachers/chaperones accompany the students on their visit to the Challenger Center .