SPECIAL AWARDS! 

Sarah Perkins was named EBR's Elementary Student of the Parish.

Bertha Hinjosa was selected as Teacher of the Year by Baton Rouge Symphony!

Mrs. Wilson, 2nd grade teacher, was selected as Buchanan's Teacher of the Year!

Buchanan Elementary School's third grade gifted classes under the direction of Mrs. Brady and Mrs. Wilson earned honors for naming the space node for NASA.  The name was chosen from an academic competition involving more than 2,200 kindergarten through high school students from 32 states. The Node 2 Challenge required students to learn about the space station, build a scale model and write an essay explaining their proposed name for the module that will serve as a central hub for science labs.


Six different schools submitted "Harmony." A panel of NASA educators, engineers, scientists and senior agency management selected "Harmony" because the name symbolizes the spirit of international cooperation embodied by the space station, as well as the module's specific role in connecting the international partner modules. 

Harmony was built for NASA in Europe. It is approximately 21 feet long and 14 feet in diameter. The pressurized module will act as an internal connecting port and passageway to additional international science labs and cargo spacecraft. In addition to increasing the living and working space inside the station, it also will serve as a work platform outside for the station's robotic arm.

"This module will allow all international partner pieces of the station to connect together, so it's really wonderful that kids recognize that harmony is necessary for space cooperation," said Bill Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for Space Operations.

Harmony joins three other named U.S. modules on the station: the Destiny laboratory, the Quest airlock and the Unity node. This is the first U.S. piece of the space station named by people outside of NASA.

Using space shuttles to finish construction of the International Space Station is a key step in America's long-term exploration strategy, which includes plans to venture beyond Earth orbit for purposes of human exploration and scientific discovery. The space station is a crucial test bed for those future exploration missions.                                      

Harmony is scheduled to be launched October 23, 2007.  For more information on the upcoming event follow the links below.

http://www.trekunited.com/community/index.php?showtopic=13799

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/elements/node2.html