Jigsaw
04-April-2005, 07:34 PM
You go, guys. (http://www.herald-review.com/articles/2005/04/03/news/local_news/1006987.txt) The only Illinois high school in the contest, and they're from...Downstate! Yeah! =D>
[thumbs nose at Greater Chicago Area]
Saturday, April 2, 2005 11:55 PM CST
... eight industrial technology students who've spent a year building their very own moon buggy in study hall periods and free time.
The full mission team is Brittney Craig, Jamie Sexton, Colton Crowe, Joseph Wright, Maison Kile, Michael McDowell, Kyle Smart and Sawyer Kile. They're all commencing countdown, engines on, for the Great Moon Buggy Race, sponsored by the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., on Friday, April 8.
The whole crew will travel down for the event, but the rules say only two can ride the pedal-powered buggy. After much discussion, those with the right stuff turned out to be Jamie, 17, in charge of navigation and steering, and track standout Sawyer Kile, 16, providing the main propulsion unit.
< snip >
It's hard to imagine any rivals have a cooler buggy than Pana's, however. It has three off-road bike wheels and is 7 feet long, 4 feet high and 4 feet wide. Welded out of aluminum, the seven-speed vehicle weighs either 120 pounds or only 20 pounds, depending if you go by Earth or moon gravity.
The school got a government grant to help build it and, just like the original moon shots, a bunch of others lent a hand. Tom Ade and Jake Phillips from National Greenhouse in Pana gave lots of welding assistance while their company provided materials. Other adult volunteers, such as machinists Richard Garber and Stanley Elvers, contributed heavily, too, and Decatur's Caterpillar Inc. plant made a cash donation towards overall project costs of about $9,000.
Industrial technology teacher J.V. Eckley, who supervises the students, said there had also been masses of boost from mission control (the school administration) and the Pana community.
"I've been teaching for 36 years," said Eckley, 64. "And I've never seen support like this for something. It's overwhelming."
http://moonbuggy.msfc.nasa.gov/
http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/9-12/features/moonbuggy_2005.html
[thumbs nose at Greater Chicago Area]
Saturday, April 2, 2005 11:55 PM CST
... eight industrial technology students who've spent a year building their very own moon buggy in study hall periods and free time.
The full mission team is Brittney Craig, Jamie Sexton, Colton Crowe, Joseph Wright, Maison Kile, Michael McDowell, Kyle Smart and Sawyer Kile. They're all commencing countdown, engines on, for the Great Moon Buggy Race, sponsored by the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., on Friday, April 8.
The whole crew will travel down for the event, but the rules say only two can ride the pedal-powered buggy. After much discussion, those with the right stuff turned out to be Jamie, 17, in charge of navigation and steering, and track standout Sawyer Kile, 16, providing the main propulsion unit.
< snip >
It's hard to imagine any rivals have a cooler buggy than Pana's, however. It has three off-road bike wheels and is 7 feet long, 4 feet high and 4 feet wide. Welded out of aluminum, the seven-speed vehicle weighs either 120 pounds or only 20 pounds, depending if you go by Earth or moon gravity.
The school got a government grant to help build it and, just like the original moon shots, a bunch of others lent a hand. Tom Ade and Jake Phillips from National Greenhouse in Pana gave lots of welding assistance while their company provided materials. Other adult volunteers, such as machinists Richard Garber and Stanley Elvers, contributed heavily, too, and Decatur's Caterpillar Inc. plant made a cash donation towards overall project costs of about $9,000.
Industrial technology teacher J.V. Eckley, who supervises the students, said there had also been masses of boost from mission control (the school administration) and the Pana community.
"I've been teaching for 36 years," said Eckley, 64. "And I've never seen support like this for something. It's overwhelming."
http://moonbuggy.msfc.nasa.gov/
http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/9-12/features/moonbuggy_2005.html