NASA at 50
Join us for a birthday celebration like none other!

November 13, 2008
November 14, 2008 in Asia pacific

2008 marks NASA's (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) 50th year. Schools from around the world will join together to wish NASA a happy birthday in the distance learning event of the year. Discovery Education, Polycom, Inc. and the United States Distance Learning Association (USDLA) join forces with NASA for the most extensive birthday party ever.

NASA's Digital Learning Network, USDLA, Discovery Education and Polycom, Inc. are thrilled to bring you the opportunity to participate in one of NASA's virtual birthday party sessions, which will connect classrooms around the globe in celebration of NASA's 50th anniversary. Twenty schools, ten from the United States and ten from other countries will be participating as live interactive videoconferencing sites. Other schools will be able to participate through watching the live stream at http://dln.nasa.gov/dln.

The 10-hour birthday event will start at 9:00am EST connecting to a different NASA Distance Learning Network site at the top of each hour. Each session will last approximately 30-35 minutes. During that time we will meet one of their experts and look at one unique topic surrounding NASA's history. Each of the ten sessions will be to a different DLN site and focused on a different topic. Topics include: the shuttle, Mercury, Gemini, Hubble Space Telescope, jet propulsion, icing tunnel, wind shear, Phoenix, Material International Space Station Experience, and Stennis Space Center history.
 

The schedule for each session is as follows:
Top of every hour: 9am - 6pm EST

:00 - :03	Distance Learning Network welcome with introductions (3 minutes)
:03 - :06	NASA at 50 video clip from Discovery Education Channel (2-3 minutes)
:06 - :09	Guest talk (designated scientist, engineer, or astronaut SME) (2 minutes)
:09 - :18	Q&A with host, guest, and live US & International school (9 minutes)
:18 - :23	U.S. School presents Happy Birthday NASA (5 minutes)
:23 - :28	International School presents Happy Birthday NASA (5 minutes)
:28 - :30	Presentation of NASA Portal & Discovery's NASA at 50 website resources (2 minutes)
:30 - :31	Conclusion

How To Participate
In preparation for the event, Discovery Education invites you to visit our NASA at 50 website, located at http://discoveryeducation.com/nasaat50. It features the video clips that will be part of the birthday parties, as well as teacher's guides that accompany each video clip. Your students can even download the video clips to portable media players to watch them at school, at home, or on the go.

For additional preparatory resources, check out NASA's 50th Anniversary website at http://www.nasa.gov/50th/home/index.html. Here you can learn more about NASA's rich history and find additional ways to celebrate NASA's anniversary.

Connections for each hour begin at 9:00am with the final connection at 6:00pm EST. Pairings of the various NASA DLN sites with interactive international school location are shown below by hour. Notice the EST time zone is listed on the left signifying each hour from 9-6. Next to the DLN site and country are the appropriate time zone (and date) for each site by location according to what time it will be for the participating site. Topic is also shown for each session.

Celebrate With Us
Please mark your calendars to participate on November 13th/14th. Those who are the interactive U.S. and international schools will be presenting a happy birthday wish to NASA during the session. If you are participating via watching the stream, consider making your own event by finding another school somewhere else in the world who is also participating via stream. Have a connection following and celebrate together! Celebrate in your own unique way! Make it a real party! Some suggestions:

• Have cupcakes or a party cake
• Share a Happy Birthday wish to NASA using your own unique style/traditions.
   (Ethnic costumes encouraged)
• Make cards or posters using some of the research you have done about NASA's
   50 year impact on our collective history

Contact Marci Powell, USDLA President and Polycom Global Director, Higher Education and Corporate Training, at marci.powell@polycom.com or Elaine Shuck, Polycom Global Director, Primary and Secondary Education at elaine.shuck@polycom.com to let us know what you plan on doing to celebrate. These plans must be received not later than October 13th for the twenty live videoconferencing sites and by October 30th by 4pm EST for those who are celebrating in their own way. We look forward to seeing you on November 13th!