We are four students from Tuskawilla Middle School in Oviedo, Florida. We developed this website for the Thinkquest 2001 competition. We decided to do space exploration as our topic because it was something that we were ALL interested in. During this project we learned many interesting things about space and NASA. We learned about the planets and famous space explorers that we had never heard of before. 

We also learned how to develop a website. We learned how to use Inspiration, Frontpage 2000, Photoshop, Microsoft PhotoDraw, StageCast and other programs. We learned about how much time goes into making a quality website. Also, we discovered a lot about how to work with others, and  that if you don't manage your time well, then you have to work really hard to get things done in the end.  

OUR FIRST TRIP--A Shuttle Launch

We went to a  shuttle launch on February 7th, 2001 to the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral Florida. We had a spectacular time! There were many people there. We ate hotdogs that were huge! When the launch finally came, it caught us off guard. "It was the best site I've ever seen" said Stephen. There was a  bright glow where the shuttle had launched. Then the shuttle turned into what looked like a big ball of red hot fire. We saw a ray from the moon that shown many different colors. The ray hit perfectly on the smoke and made the smoke turn many brilliant colors like blue, orange, red, and purple.

This shuttle was the Discovery. The purpose of the mission was to bring a piece of the international space station to the ISS. 

OUR FIRST TRIP--NASA and our Astronaut Encounter

We went to NASA on February 17, 2001. We had a packed day! We went on an Up Close tour where we went into restricted areas and got to see many rockets as well as the launching pad/blockhouse for the first American manned mission into space--the Mercury Redstone. We were lucky enough to not only get an interview with astronaut, Rick Searfoss, but we were also able to see ANOTHER rocket launch. This time we saw the a Titan launch. Our tour bus driver pulled up beside the VAB (Vehicle Assembly Building) and let us out a few minutes before launch. This launch was different from the first in that we saw it during the day and it was louder than the shuttle launch.