NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Former NASA astronaut Rick Chappell, who directs Vanderbilt University’s Office of Science and Research Communications, will discuss the impact of the Columbia shuttle disaster on the future of America’s space program during a series of videoconferences on Feb. 21 with K-12 students in Texas and Tennessee.
Students in Arlington, Bronte and Burleson, Texas, as well as in Hendersonville, Tenn., will have the opportunity to question Chappell, who was an alternate payload specialist for a 1992 space shuttle mission. He also served as chief scientist at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.
Videoconferencing technology at Vanderbilt’s Virtual School and a partnership with Diversified Information Assistance Network Education enable Chappell and other Vanderbilt professors to enhance the classroom experience for students across the globe. Chappell will speak from Vanderbilt’s Virtual School in the Baker Building at 110 21st Ave. S., suite 850.
Reporters who would like to cover the videoconferences are asked to call Ann Marie Deer Owens at (615) 322-6397. The following videoconferences are scheduled on Feb. 21:
·10:15 a.m. – Nola Dunn Academy and Burleson High School, Burleson, Texas; Young Junior High School and Foster Elementary School, Arlington, Texas.
·11 a.m. – Boles Junior High School, Arlington, Texas; Bronte High School, Bronte, Texas; Burleson High School, Burleson, Texas; and Lakeside Park Elementary School, Hendersonville, Tenn.
Media contact: Ann Marie Owens, 615-322-NEWS, annmarie.owens@vanderbilt.edu