Keep the shuttle flying: Fwd: China astronauts float water blob in kids' lecture

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From: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Date: June 20, 2013 2:17:57 PM GMT-06:00
To: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Subject: FW: China astronauts float water blob in kids' lecture

China astronauts float water blob in kids' lecture
Associated Press

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Associated Press - Elementary school students are reflected on the screen of a television showing a lecture delivered by Chinese female astronaut Wang Yaping onboard the Tiangong 1 prototype space station, …
BEIJING (AP) — Astronauts struck floating martial arts poses, twirled gyroscopes and manipulated wobbling globes of water during a lecture Thursday from China's orbiting space station that's part of efforts to popularize the space program among young people.
Wang Yaping demonstrated principles of weightlessness and took questions live from among the 330 grade school kids gathered at a Beijing auditorium during the 51-minute class from aboard the Tiangong 1 space station. Her fellow crew members Nie Haisheng and Zhang Xiaoguang answered questions about living, working and staying fit in space.
"I want to know how you know which way is up," said one student.
During one playful moment, Nie adopted the mythical cross-legged lotus position familiar to all fans of Chinese martial arts films.
"In space, we're all kung fu masters," Wang remarked.
In a later demonstration resembling a magic show, Wang injected droplets into an increasingly larger suspended ball of water, drawing exclamations of "wow" and polite applause from the students, another 60 million of whom were watching the live TV broadcast in their classrooms. The astronauts also spun gyroscopes and swung a ball on its tether to show how weightlessness affects objects in motion.
The lesson was "aimed at making space more popular," Zhou Jianping, designer-in-chief of China's manned space program, was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua News Agency. "The spirit of science among youth is an important drive for the progress of mankind," Zhou said.
China's second female astronaut, Wang smiled her way through the carefully rehearsed class, which more closely resembled a children's TV science program than Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield's recent free-wheeling YouTube videos from the International Space Station.
The lectures come as China's human space program enters its second decade, after going from a simple manned flight to space lab link-ups in a series of methodically timed steps in just 10 years. China launched its first crewed mission in 2003, becoming the third nation after Russia and the U.S. to achieve that feat.
The current Shenzhou 10 mission is the second crewed trip to the Tiangong 1, launched in 2011 and due to be replaced by the larger, three-module permanent station, Tiangong 2, seven years from now.
The future station will weigh about 60 tons, slightly smaller than NASA's Skylab of the 1970s and about one-sixth the size of the 16-nation International Space Station. China was barred from participating in the International Space Station, largely on objections from the United States over political differences and the Chinese program's close links with the military.

Copyright © 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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China Daily
Shenzhou X astronaut gives lecture today
Updated: 2013-06-20 10:56
( chinadaily.com.cn)

Video grab shows astronaut Wang Yaping delivers a lesson.

A special lecture began Thursday morning, given by a teacher aboard a space module about 340 km above her students on Earth, the first such attempt by Chinese.
Female astronaut Wang Yaping, one of the three crew members of Shenzhou-10 spacecraft, greeted about 330 primary and middle school students at a Beijing high school, through a live video feed system.
"Hello, everyone. I am Wang Yaping. I will host the lecture today," she said, smiling towards the camera, on board of the space module Tiangong-1.
Wang and her crew members set off to the space aboard the Shenzhou-10 spacecraft on June 11 and the spacecraft docked with the Tiangong-1 on June 13.
The students on her class included children from migrant workers' families, of ethnic minorities and from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. They are gathering at the High School Affiliated to Renmin University in Beijing.
"I have been very excited since I learned that I could come to this class," said Luo Jiangyuan, in his first year of high school, who planned to study science in college.
"When I learned about those laws of physics and weightless condition at classes before, I needed to imagine what would happen. But, at today's class, I am able to see what really happens. It is thrilling," he said.
More than 60 million students and teachers at about 80,000 middle schools across the country are also watching the live broadcast on TV.
The first section of the class was all about weight.
Nie Haisheng, commander of the crew, made a bit show of crossing his legs into a meditation sitting posture in the air, which only a martial art master can do in the movies but is impossible for real people on the Earth.
"Thanks to the weightless condition, we are all masters," Wang joked.
Ms Wang raised the first question to her students about how the astronauts measure their weight in the weightless orbiter, and showed them how normal scales, working under the influence of gravity, did not work inside the orbiter.
Then, she introduced the special scale on board of the orbiter, which was designed on basis of the Newton's second law of motion, or measuring the mass of an object through the net force and the acceleration.
Born in east China's Shandong Province, the hometown of China's most famous educationist Confucius (551-479 BC), the 33-year-old Wang is the second Chinese female astronaut after Liu Yang, who entered the record books in the Shenzhou-9 mission in June last year.
The world's first teacher in space was Christa McAuliffe, a 37-year-old middle school teacher from the United States, but the Space Shuttle Challenger she was aboard disintegrated after 73 seconds in flight on January 28, 1986. McAuliffe and her other six crewmates were killed.
Barbara Morgan, McAuliffe's backup in that mission who became an astronaut later, completed the teaching lesson in space in 2007, when she was sent to the International Space Station with Space Shuttle Endeavor. Via a video feed, she showed students how to exercise and drink water in space.
The lesson is aimed at making space more popular, as well as inspiring enthusiasm for the universe and science, according to Zhou Jianping, designer-in-chief of China's manned space program, who added that the lesson will also accumulate experience for similar larger activities.
"The spirit of science of the youth is an important drive for the progress of mankind," said Zhou. "Space activities can help them build up the spirit of seeking science and facing challenges."
Wang Yaping [Photo by Zou Hong/Asianewsphoto]

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Xinhua News Agency

First space lecture opens new horizons for China

English.news.cn 2013-06-20 15:52:49

This TV grab taken on June 20, 2013 shows female astronaut Wang Yaping, one of the three crew members of Shenzhou-10 spacecraft, demonstrating gyroscopic motion in space during a lecture to students on Earth aboard China's space module Tiangong-1. A special lecture began Thursday morning, given by Wang Yaping aboard China's space module Tiangong-1 to students on Earth. (Xinhua)
BEIJING, June 20 (Xinhua) -- A special lecture began Thursday morning, given by a teacher aboard a space module about 340 km above her students on Earth.
Female astronaut Wang Yaping, one of three crew members aboard the Shenzhou-10 spacecraft, greeted about 330 primary and middle school students at a Beijing high school through a live video feed.
"Hello everyone. I am Wang Yaping. I will host the lecture today," she said, smiling toward a camera onboard the space module Tiangong-1.
Wang and her crew members set off for outer space aboard the Shenzhou-10 spacecraft on June 11. The spacecraft docked with the Tiangong-1 on June 13.
The students she addressed were gathered at the High School Affiliated with Renmin University.
"I was very excited after learning that I could come to this class," said Luo Jiangyuan, a high school freshman who said he plans to study science in college.
"When I learned about the laws of physics and weightless conditions in class, I had to imagine what would happen. But in today's class, I've been able to see what really happens. It is thrilling," he said.
More than 60 million students and teachers at about 80,000 middle schools across the country also watched the live broadcast on TV.
Nie Haisheng, commander of the crew, made a show of putting his legs into a meditation position while floating in the air. Such a show can only be seen in martial arts movies but unable to be achieved by any Kungfu masters in reality on Earth.
"Thanks to the weightless conditions, we are all masters," Wang joked.
Wang showed the students how astronauts measure their weight in the orbiter using a special scale, as normal scales operating under the influence of gravity do not work in outer space.
She also conducted several demonstrations to show how "gravity" works in space, using both fixed and mobile gyros to demonstrate physics concepts.
She demonstrated how zero gravity magnifies the surface tension of water by using a metal ring and a bag filled with water to create a ball of water that was suspended in the air.
"I like all these demonstrations, the gyro and water ball ones particularly. They are all impossible on Earth. How wonderful," said Qian Jianghao, a 10-year-old primary school student.
The students raised a number of questions for the astronauts, asking them how they can tell up from down in space, as well as inquiring about their water recycling system and their view of Earth from the orbiter.
"Through the front windows, we can see Earth and many stars. But we haven't seen any UFOs," Wang said.
The stars in space are brighter, but do not twinkle, she said.
"I tell you a wonderful phenomenon: we can see sunrises 16 times a day, as we circle the Earth every 90 minutes," she said.
At the end of the class, the three astronauts extended their regards to the students.
"I hope all of you will study hard, learn more and contribute to the Chinese dream," said Nie.
"Outer space is deep and has numerous mysteries. Exploration is limitless and we should work together in this regard," said Zhang Xiaoguang, one of the crew.
Born in east China's Shandong Province, the 33-year-old Wang is China's second female astronaut after Liu Yang, who entered the record books after participating in the Shenzhou-9 mission, which took place in June 2012.
The world's first teacher in space was Christa McAuliffe, a 37-year-old middle school teacher from the United States. She was aboard the space shuttle Challenger when it disintegrated 73 seconds after takeoff on Jan. 28, 1986. McAuliffe and her other six crewmates were killed.
Barbara Morgan, McAuliffe's backup for the mission, taught the first lesson in space in 2007, when she was sent to the International Space Station via the space shuttle Endeavor. Via a video feed, she showed students how to exercise and drink water in space.
Millions of ordinary Chinese were as excited as children in the classroom.
Nineteen-year-old Lu Huihui watched the TV live broadcast at the hair salon where she worked as an assistant.
"All the demonstrations are really wonderful and interesting. But, to be honest, I do not get what the teacher talked about, such as those laws of physics," said the young girl from a rural family who dropped out in her third year at the junior middle school.
"After the lecture, it struck me that I could search a bit about the knowledge of the space on line when I am off," she said.
Professor Zhang Chunli from Beijing Normal University said Wang's space lecture is a landmark achievement.
"Space programs used to be hush-hush projects involving only scientists and astronauts. But today, ordinary people, especially young people, turned from spectators to participants, which is of great significance," she said.
She said she expects the lesson to encourage more young people to engage in scientific exploration.
The space lesson is aimed at making astronomy more popular, as well as inspiring enthusiasm for science, said Zhou Jianping, designer-in-chief of China's manned space program, who added that the lesson will also help to build experience for similar activities in the future.
"The spirit of science of the youth is an important drive for the progress of mankind," said Zhou. "Space activities can help them build up the spirit of seeking science and facing challenges."
Editor: Yang Yi

Copyright ©2013 Xinhua News Agency. All rights reserved.

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