Earth as a Classroom - Team Blogs

Our team will visit Devon Island to conduct 5 days of webcasts and other instructional activities spanning the period of 16-20 July 2007. This activity is sponsored by the Mars Institute and the Challenger Center for Space Science Education with additional assistance from The Explorers Club and SpaceRef Interactive, Inc. and from the team itself.

We will conduct these webcasts from the Haughton-Mars Project Research Station and nearby locations to illustrate how NASA and other space agencies are learning to live on the Moon and Mars here on Earth. These webcasts will be combined with other materials to provide a unique educational opportunity for students participating in Challenger Learning Center activities. The audience will be focused at junior high/high school students, but will also be designed to reach a more general audience as well.

We currently plan to have twelve Challenger Learning Centers participate in these webcasts. During these activities, participating centers will be able to interact live with our team - and other participants - on Devon Island. At the present time these live webcasts will be provided only to participating Challenger Learning Centers. Material presented on these webcasts will be archived for public viewing shortly after their initial presentation. Should we be able to broaden distribution of these webcast further we'll update this website accordingly.

Our team consists of 4 individuals: veteran astronauts William Readdy and Leroy Chiao, horticulturist/space researcher Matthew Reyes, and space biologist Keith Cowing (who is also the team lead for this project).

We will also have the distinction of carrying a flag on our "Flag Expedition" from the Explorers Club (Cowing, Chiao, and Readdy are Fellows of the Explorers Club). A formal report will be presented to the Explorers Club upon our return.

As we prepare for our trip, we were all very pleased to get the following note from STS-118 Astronaut Barbara Morgan: "Best wishes to Leroy, Reads, Matt, and Keith on their Teaching Expedition to Devon Island. I look forward to learning all about it when I return from space."

Dr. Chiao studied Chemical Engineering, earning a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of California at Berkeley in 1983. He continued his studies at the University of California at Santa Barbara, earning his Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in 1985 and 1987. He is involved in entrepreneurial business ventures in both the US and China and is the Executive Vice President of Space Operations and a Director of Excalibur Almaz Limited, a private manned spaceflight company.

Leroy is also the first Raborn Distinguished Chair Max Faget Mechanical Engineering Professor at Louisiana State University. Active as a consultant and public speaker, he also serves as the Chairman of the National Space Biomedical Research Institute User Panel, which is attached to the Baylor College of Medicine.

Leroy is currently co-chair with Keith Cowing of "Risk and Exploration: Earth As A Classroom", an event focusing on all facets of exploration to be held at Louisiana State University in October 2007.

Dr. Chiao left NASA in December, 2005 following a fifteen-year career with the agency. A veteran of four space missions, Dr. Chiao most recently served as Commander and NASA Science Officer of Expedition 10 aboard the International Space Station. He has logged over 229 days in space - over 36 hours of which were spent in Extra-Vehicular Activity (EVA, or spacewalks).

Additional information on Leroy Chiao

Leroy's Official NASA Bio

Shooting for the Heart: Astronaut Finds Passion for Photography in Space

Leroy Chiao's Blog

Bill Readdy is a decorated naval aviator who served as a test pilot and instructor between carrier deployments to the North Atlantic, Caribbean and Mediterranean in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Readdy joined the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in 1986, but continued his military service in the Naval Reserve, attaining the rank of captain before retiring in 2000.

Note: At the last minute a medical issue has forced Bill to drop out rather than potentially risk compromising our mission to Devon Island given its remote location. Bill was instrumental in arranging the participation of the Challenger Center for Space Science Education in our activities on Devon Island. Bill will be participating from the Challenger Center in Alexandria, Virginia and will also assist with post-mission outreach after we return from our trip.

He was flying as a research pilot at Johnson Space Center in Houston when NASA tapped him for the astronaut corps in 1987. In the next nine years, Readdy logged more than 672 hours in space on three shuttle missions. He commanded his third flight, docking space shuttle Atlantis at the Russian space station Mir in 1996 and overseeing the first exchange of American astronaut researchers living aboard the Russian outpost. 

Between shuttle missions, Readdy served in a variety of engineering support and management roles. One of his most important contributions was a five-month tour as director of NASA operations in Star City, Russia, where he implemented activities and fostered cooperation in the first, critical phase of the international space station partnership.

In 2001, Readdy was appointed as NASA’s associate administrator for space operations and moved to Washington. Over the next three years while at NASA Headquarters, he led a $6 billion-a-year enterprise comprising five major programs, four field installations and more than 40,000 civil servant and contractor employees.

Following the tragic loss of space shuttle Columbia in February 2003, Readdy chaired NASA’s Space Flight Leadership Council, overseeing the agency’s recovery from the accident and the shuttle’s successful return to flight in July 2005. 

Readdy was honored as a Meritorious Rank Executive by President Bush in 2003 and in 2005 Readdy was awarded NASA’s highest honor, the Distinguished Service Medal for the second time.  He has also been the recipient of NASA’s Outstanding Leadership Medal three times and the Exceptional Service Medal twice.  In addition he is the recipient of numerous national and international aviation and space awards, and has been recognized for his contributions to aerospace safety. 

Bill's Official NASA Bio

Discovery Partners International

In 1999, Matthew received a B.S. in Environmental Horticulture with a specialization in Agricultural & Natural Resource Ethics and Policy from the University of Florida. As an undergraduate, Matt worked with the UF Radio Observatory for NASA Goddard's RadioJove and INSPIRE projects. His work produced the first live internet streaming of radio astronomy data (Jovian Decametric, Solar, & Earth Very Low Frequency radio emissions) to schools and amateur radio astronomers across the globe.

While pursuing graduate studies at UF in Plant Molecular Biology with Robert Ferl's lab, Matt helped analyze plant responses to microgravity and astronaut training protocols aboard NASA's KC-135. Additionally, Matt also conducted experiments studying plants at high altitude Earth and Martian pressures at the University of Guelph's Controlled Environment Systems Research Facility.

In 2000, Matthew was selected as a Research Associate for the Astrobiology Academy at NASA Ames Research Center, where he created a remote-sensing device to study hyper-gravity's effects on plant physiology and animal behavior. Subsequently, Lockheed Martin hired Matt as an Associate Scientist, with the intention to further develop an hyper-gravity imaging device for the shortly thereafter defunct ISS Centrifuge Accommodations Module.

That same year, Matthew also developed a successful sample-return mission that analyzed bio-geological samples from Mars-analogous alluvial features on Devon's Island. The purpose of the project was to assist in understanding the biological potential of the then-recently discovered Martian gullies. Although unable to travel to Devon's Island with that experiment, Matthew is excited to finally witness first hand where the action took place.

Additional Information on Matt Reyes

Matt's blog

Keith is editor and webmaster of the somewhat notorious NASA Watch, an online publication devoted to the free and uncensored exchange of information on space policy and NASA operations. This website is read regularly within NASA, Congress, and the global space community. Keith is also editor of SpaceRef.com an online space news and reference resource.

Keith donated his time to serve as an organizer and later, as the proceedings co-editor, for the NASA Administrator's Symposium "Risk and Exploration: Earth, Sea, and the Stars" which was held at the Naval Postgraduate School in September 2004. Keith is currently co-chair with Leroy Chiao of a successor to this event, "Risk and Exploration: Earth As A Classroom", to be held at Louisiana State University in October 2007.

Keith has been involved with the Haughton-Mars Project (HMP) since the mid 1990's. Keith and his SpaceRef business partner Marc Boucher donated an experimental greenhouse which they constructed on Devon Island in the Summer of 2002. A journal of Keith's month-long experiences on Devon Island during 2002 can be found online here. Keith returned to Devon Island for another month in 2003 (journals). This trip in 2007 will be Keith's third trip to Devon Island.

Additional Information on Keith Cowing

Keith's Blog

I live in a world of green. This year was especially so with all the rain we had been getting in Virginia this Spring and Summer. This all changed as I ventured north once again to the Canadian high arctic where green is a rarity and rock and snow are the norm.

The place I lived in for nearly a month was chosen for its similarities to Mars. Those who visit the place call it "Mars on Earth" - the Haughton Mars Project - Devon Island, Haughton Crater.

Unlike last year, this was my second 'mission'. I have already endured the long flights and the hardships, and learned what to do - and not to do - what to bring and what to leave behind. As such, this year would be less of an unknown adventure - but, an adventure, none the less it was.

In the summer of 2002 I had a unique opportunity: I had the chance to visit another planet - or at least the closest thing to such an experience one can have without leaving this planet.

I was a participant in the Haughton-Mars Project - a international multidisciplinary research project led by Pascal Lee, managed in cooperation with NASA. My company is also a financial sponsor of this project. In addition, I was a journalist documenting the various research projects underway here.

While I wore many different hats as I set foot on this amazing island, they all soon merged into one: I was a witness to a close approximation of what it would be like to explore another planet: specifically, Mars. As such, the only way to convey my experiences is to do so from a personal perspective.