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Preface

Imagine viewing our world from space; a world astronauts have described as "bright and vivid" with "no borders or boundaries." Then consider how much can be learned by studying Earth from this unique vantage point.  The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) began a three-year pilot program in 1995 designed by a team of scientists, engineers, educators, and high school and college students, to share astronauts' unique view of Earth with middle school students.  This pilot program is called KidSat.  Its primary objective was to merge real-time professional space flight with middle school education by providing students with equal access and direct contribution to the United States space program for the exploration of Earth.  The long-term goal of KidSat was to produce higher student achievement in science, math, technology, and geography, and to promote an interactive understanding of Earth as an integrated system.

Students around the nation performed duties similar to those of astronauts, scientists, and engineers.  They planned observations and captured images to study Earth's dynamic, fragile environment, using custom flight software, the Internet, NASA's infrastructure, and a remotely operated high-resolution color digital camera onboard the space shuttle.  Using the accompanying curriculum, students determined which areas of Earth they wanted to explore and photograph along the shuttle's flight path.  The Internet and orbiting communications satellites transmitted commands, telemetry, and images to and from the classrooms.  Via the shuttle cargo bay video cameras, NASA Television (NTV) carried video images of the mission and the Earth for simultaneous viewing in classrooms.

The KidSat pilot program was conceived in November 1993 and ended in December 1997.  This report documents the results of this program and serves as a manual for those interested in using the KidSat images at home or in school.  The diagrams and images are easy to copy and can be used for presentations in the classroom.  We encourage such use of this document.

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