One of the most frequently asked questions of astronauts is about how and what they eat while in space. Expedition 26 Commander Scott Kelly recently made an informative video aboard the space station showing the food and beverage area, how food is prepared, menu options, and how they eat.
Have you ever wondered what various geographic locations on Earth would look like from space? 
Each year, NASA produces a publication that highlights NASA spinoff technologies. Its articles show ways NASA research and technology have impacted our world. NASA Explorer Schools teachers can use these very interesting features when presenting NES modules. Students looking for a research topic or possible project area may find one of the spinoffs to be the perfect topic.Link to the NES Virtual Campus home page.
On the clear autumn night of Nov. 19, approximately 250 students and parents at Dr. Albert Einstein Academy, School #29, circulated among four activity stations relating to astronomy. The stations included telescope viewings of the moon, Jupiter and its moons, a virtual night sky tour in the planetarium, and two learning activity tables.To learn more about how NASA Explorer Schools educator Tracy Espiritu and the teachers at the academy pulled off this successful astronomy night, read the Astronomy Night at School 29 post in the Ideas for family night events post in the ~Other NASA-related Activities I’ve Done forum in NEON.
As a result of student interest generated by a recent NASA downlink at Johnston Middle School, NASA Explorer Schools educator Lanena Berry reports the school has instituted a Space Explorer’s Club. So far this year, club members have researched the SPHERES satellites on the International Space Station. Students have been introduced to NASA’s website and participated in the NES module, Engineering Design Challenge: Spacecraft Structures (must be logged into the NES Virtual Campus website).
International Space Station EarthKAM is a NASA-sponsored project that provides stunning, high-quality photographs of Earth taken from the space shuttle and the space station. Since 1996, EarthKAM students have taken thousands of photographs of Earth by using the World Wide Web to direct a digital camera on select spaceflights and, currently, on the space station. 
Wouldn’t it be great to have a stop-action camera that could document the growth of your students’ plants in the NASA Explorer Schools module, Lunar Plant Growth Chamber? What might be other possible classroom uses for such a camera?
NASA is researching ways to incorporate “green technology” into new airplane designs. One new design uses a blended wing body, which has the potential to enable cleaner, quieter and higher performance in air transportation. This unique aircraft is called the X-48B and is being tested right now at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center in California.
What is the future for this type of technology? Could the design be used in the near future for commercial air flight? Watch this episode to learn more about green technology, test flights and the future.
Link to the NES Virtual Campus home page.
NASA and the American Association for the Advancement of Science have teamed up to create a website for students in support of the MESSENGER mission to Mercury. In the Make a Mission module, students design a spacecraft capable of completing several mission goals as it explores the planet closest to the sun.
Sixth-grade mathematics and science teacher and NASA Explorer Schools educator Chick Knitter and the staff of Hobgood Elementary School in Murfreesboro, Tenn., have developed a unique and exciting challenge for their 400 students — walk to the moon!