United We Roll at Stardust Radio

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2012/apr/HQ_12-106_Spaced_Out_Sports.html

BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. -- Three school student teams in the fifth through eighth grades have been selected as the winners of NASA's second annual Spaced Out Sports challenge. The students designed science-based games that will be played by astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

The games illustrate and apply Newton's laws of motion by showing the differences between Earth's gravity and the microgravity environment of the space station. The challenge is part of a broader agency education effort to engage students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) activities.

To design their game, students use up to five items from a two-page list of objects aboard the ISS. The list includes such items as socks, exercise putty, bungees, cotton swabs, tape, rubber bands, zipper-top bags, chocolate-covered candies and drink bags.

Students at Pierremont Elementary MOSAICS Academy in Manchester, Mo., earned the top prize with their game "Starfield." In this activity, astronauts will travel through a course to gather "power stars" and throw them through a "black hole target."

Second-place honors went to students at East Brook Middle School in Paramus, N.J., for their "Outstanding Obstacles" game. It calls on astronauts to race through obstacles including "hair band shooting" and "ring toss."

The third-place winners are students at Tyngsborough Middle School in Tyngsborough, Mass., for their "Learning Takes You Around the World" game, in which astronauts will propel through rings, collecting slips of paper.

"Congratulations to the 2012 Spaced Out Sports winners," said Leland Melvin, associate administrator for education at NASA Headquarters in Washington and two-time shuttle astronaut. "By combining solid STEM skills with imagination and teamwork, these students have demonstrated that they have what it takes to be our next generation of engineers and designers."

The Spaced Out Sports challenge is a NASA Teaching from Space activity and was first offered in 2010. Using an accompanying curriculum, teachers lead students through a study of Newton's laws, highlighted by hands-on activities and video podcasts featuring NASA scientists and engineers explaining how the laws are used in the space program.

"The three top games were selected but everyone really is a winner in this challenge," said Katie Wallace, director of NASA's Stennis Space Center Office of Education near Bay St. Louis, Miss., where the challenge and accompanying curriculum were developed. "Every student involved wins by learning more about science and establishing an educational foundation that will serve them well throughout their careers and life."

For information about Teaching from Space, visit:
www.nasa.gov/education/tfs

For information about NASA's Science and Sports curriculum and related resources, visit:
http://education.ssc.nasa.gov/spacedoutsports

For information about NASA education programs, visit:
www.nasa.gov/education

For information about Stennis, visit:
www.nasa.gov/stennis
- end -

Welcome Home Cpl Patrick R. Glennon. May you rest in peace.

IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 250-12
April 09, 2012

________________________________________

Soldier Missing in Action from Korean War Identified

The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office announced today that the remains of a serviceman, missing in action from the Korean War, have been identified and will be returned to his family for burial with full military honors.

Army Cpl. Patrick R. Glennon of Rochester, N.Y., will be buried April 11, at Arlington National Cemetery. On Nov. 1, 1950, Glennon, and the G Company, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, were holding a defensive position along the Nammyon River near Unsan, North Korea, when they were attacked by Chinese forces. Glennon was listed as missing in action following the heavy fighting.

In April 2007, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) handed over six boxes of remains of American service members to New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson and former U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Anthony Principi, who were visiting North Korea. The remains had been recovered from areas near Unsan, where Glennon had been lost.

Metal identification tags bearing Glennon’s name, and other material evidence were included with the remains. To identify the remains, scientists from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory used circumstantial evidence and forensic identification tools such as dental records and mitochondrial DNA -- which matched Glennon’s cousins.

Today, more than 7,900 Americans remain unaccounted-for from the Korean War. Identifications continue to be made from the remains that were returned to the United States, using forensic and DNA technology.

For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for missing Americans, visit the DPMO website at http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo or call 703-699-1169.