Educator Astronauts
Published on Nov 5, 2007 at 2:42 pm.
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Filed under astronauts.
In 2003, NASA created a new category of astronaut: the Mission Specialist-Educator. These were to be K-12 teachers who were trained as astronauts. Three were selected for the Astronaut Candidate Class of 2004. They were Joe Acaba, Ricky Arnold, and Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger. Earlier today, I read on Spaceports that two of these mission specialists, Acaba and Arnold, are scheduled to fly on STS-119, scheduled for launch about one year from now.
The Mission Specialist-Educator program is a successor to NASA’s Teacher in Space project of the 1980s. These programs are designed to promote interest in space and science among K-12 students. Now, clearly, selecting one of these teachers would be exciting to his or her students, and to the students of the teacher’s school, and even their school district. The plans are for them to conduct lessons from space. Personally, I think that is more of a gimmicky than educational. What can the teacher teach from space that can’t be taught in person? Also, do you really need a teacher to do the teaching? After all, when I was growing up, ordinary NASA astronauts did television spots from space, and they did teaching lessons. I remember Apollo 15 astronaut David Scott doing the classic experiment of dropping a feather and a hammer in a vacuum and seeing that they fall at the same rate if there is no air resistance. He did this from the surface of the Moon. He was not a certified teacher, but he certainly was teaching! Click on the image below to see a clip of that experiment posted on YouTube.
Now, this does not mean that I have anything against the Mission Specialist-Educator program, but I think that it is more public relations than education. At least these candidates do have science backgrounds. All three have science degrees, with Acaba and Arnold holding graduate degrees (Arnold’s undergraduate degree was accounting, but he has a master’s degree in marine science). In fact, I think that the program is a good idea. However, let’s be realistic. NASA is hurting for money, and the budget is very tight. They are trying to do more with less money. So far, they are managing, but that can’t go on forever. Ordinary astronauts could do the job of educating from space. It seems to me that this putting teachers into space is a publicity move. The stated goal is to promote science education, but more likely it is an attempt to garner public support and possibly to leverage more money out of Congress. Now, I don’t begrudge NASA doing that. They need more money if they are going to do everything that they are charged with doing.
And, of course, I’d probably support the educator in space idea even more if they were to open it up to college faculty. 
Of course, these educators do have a background that would help them perform as regular astronauts, so they are not just going along for the ride. When they are not teaching from space, they can do the things that the other astronauts do. And, of course, if they do happen to inspire some students who otherwise would not have been interested in science, then that is good. I just feel that perhaps this is an expensive way to inspire students. I have other thoughts on the matter, and I will probably come back to them in a later posting.
-Astroprof
