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AFJROTC cadets track NASA's moon spacecraft

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Melissa Copeland
  • Air University Public Affairs
APPLE VALLEY, Calif. --  Air Force JROTC cadets at the Lewis Center for Educational Research's Academy for Academic Excellence can now say they have made history by being some of the first American children to venture to the moon.

The students at AAE in Apple Valley, Calif., represent the largest number of youth from schools around the world to track NASA's Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, or LCROSS, throughout its 110-day mission.

The satellite aimed to record and gather evidence of water ice at the south pole of the Moon by impacting the Moon's surface with the Centaur upper stage attached to the LCROSS spacecraft. Immediately after the spacecraft's crash, the LCROSS stewarding spacecraft would travel through the impact plume to measure and relay data to Earth prior to its own impact shortly after.

"From launch to impact, LCROSS received commands from the Goldstone Apple Valley Radio Telescope, or GAVRT, antenna array that AAE controls," said retired Col. George Armstrong, the Senior Aerospace Science Instructor for the AAE AFJROTC unit. "NASA only controlled the spacecraft for two hours out of every 72 hours of flight. That means that a high school student, sometimes an AFJROTC cadet, controlled and monitored LCROSS for 97 percent of its mission."

More than 400 AAE students, faculty and family members gathered in classrooms Oct. 9 in the early morning hours to watch the live viewing of the impact.

"I think being at important events such as this, being with other kids and people, has an impact on students and may encourage their interest in science or math careers," said Ms. Cheryl Thompson, the Development and Media Relations manager for the Lewis Center. "I believe that being here in person to watch the impact is a wonderful way to see a mission to its end."

Although the impact was complete, some students still had tasks to accomplish - though still exciting.

"Of course compiling the [more than] 400 images into a short video for NASA and then analyzing them closely ourselves to see the plume of the impact was great too," said Cadet Ariel Bluy, a 12th grade AAE student and AFJROTC cadet who also tracked the mission via radio telescope and photographed the impact to produce some of the first images sent to and observed by NASA.

"The excitement from that night still has me pumped up and ready to go do some more," she shared.

Cadet Emilie Rizzo, also a 12th grade AAE student and AFJROTC cadet who helped track LCROSS, said she enjoyed being part of something that will have a lasting effect on future generations.

"The average high school student rarely has the opportunity to do something of such importance, something that will have repercussions well outside of my tiny sphere of influence," Cadet Rizzo shared. "It is truly amazing to see a room full of elementary children at 4:30 in the morning brimming over with excitement about LCROSS, asking questions and participating in discussions; I remember that was me not so long ago, sitting cross-legged on the floor, transfixed by the magic of science."

Colonel Armstrong shared that AAE cadets should expect to see another space project, like LCROSS, in the future.

"Our cadets will be involved anytime [GAVRT] is involved in a space mission," the colonel shared. "Moreover, any high school with AFJROTC can partner with AAE, allowing cadets all over the world the opportunity to be actively involved in a space mission."

The Lewis Center is the parent organization for the AAE and the Norton Space and Aeronautics Academy. In addition, the center operates the GAVRT in partnership with NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for students in kindergarten through 12th grade. The GAVRT program has reached more than 32,000 students in 37 states, 14 countries and three U.S. territories since 1996 and is located in the Mojave Desert.

"GAVRT is how we are able to help NASA track the LCROSS mission," Ms. Thompson said. "Students are jazzed that they get to operate the telescope themselves and record the data on the screen. Knowing they are gathering data from deep space is exciting."

The AFJROTC cadets were given the opportunity to participate in the project due to the school's ease of access to the 110-foot diameter, nine-story high GAVRT, which also weighs one million pounds.

"Being a part of the mission has required a certain amount of maturity, as well as skills in communication and teamwork - all character traits that we strive for in AFJROTC," Cadet Rizzo said. "Successfully dealing with challenges both physical and academic in AFJROTC has also prepared me to deal with situations we have encountered in GAVRT and LCROSS."

Cadet Bluy also expounded on her feelings of being involved in the project leading up to the impact event.

"Working with the GAVRT team was definitely a large amount of the thrill of this project, but going up to the Mount Wilson Observatory and working with astronomers and members of Northrop Grumman was by far the most exciting," she said. "Sitting around the 16-inch and 60-inch telescopes, learning about them, their histories and uses, and most of all listening to the clicking of the camera as the Centaur Spacecraft impacted the moon [was the best part]."

With students from Oregon, Idaho, Hawaii, Alabama, Texas, England, Germany, Puerto Rico and Chile connecting to the Lewis Center's Mission Control via internet, the project has become a vital asset to the space education of today's youth.

"Without science the world would be sitting still and going nowhere," Cadet Bluy shared. "There would not be theories and other such things that are the most thought-provoking in the universe. Science is important because someone took the time to ask and figure out why."

The AFJROTC program has more than 102,000 ninth through 12th grade cadets enrolled in school spanning 48 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Italy, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Japan, Korea, and Guam.

The program aims to develop the youth of today into citizens of character through air and space education and training in citizenship, community service, responsibility, character and self-discipline.

Cadet Bluy shared that the knowledge and integrity you gain from being a part of the AFJROTC program proves incalculable regardless of which path you take.

"We are out there gaining just as much book knowledge as worldly knowledge, and using it to our full extent," she continued. "Having the ability to take on leadership roles is another huge chunk of the cake. While every other high school student is sitting in class absorbing knowledge, we are being given immense and huge responsibilities that make us grow rapidly in character and values."

The foundation of the AFJROTC program is the Air Force core values of integrity first, service before self and excellence in all we do. The curriculum emphasizes the Air Force heritage and traditions, the development of flight, applied flight sciences, military aerospace policies and space exploration, according to the AFJROTC Web site.

"Leadership is also a key factor because that is what gets things done, she continued. "AFJROTC has given me the ability to have utter respect for my leaders, and the knowledge to be able to step up and take a leadership position if I have to. Everything about the program is amazing."

Cadet Rizzo added her sentiments on the AFJROTC program.

"The things I enjoy most about Air Force JROTC are much the same as what has brought me to be a part of GAVRT and the LCROSS mission," she shared. "Being a part of a team, facing challenges and gaining the knowledge and tools with which to make an impact in the world are what has kept me a part of JROTC through to my senior year, and have me seriously considering the Reserve Officers' Training Corps in college. I would highly advise all motivated students to join their school's JROTC program, just as it was once recommended to me to discover my potential in AFJROTC."

For more information on the AFJROTC program, visit www.au.af.mil/au/holmcenter/AFJROTC/AboutJROTC.asp or for more information on the Lewis Center, visit www.lewiscenter.org/.