Look Up! Educator Network

The suborbital commercial tourist spaceship VSS (Virgin Spaceship) Enterprise-also known as SpaceShipTwo-owned by Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic company completed its first unpowered glide test Oct. 10. A video of the flight is on Virgin Galactic's website. Space tourism pioneers to speak at Summit The spacecraft was released from its launch aircraft, WhiteKnightTwo also known as Eve, at 45,000 feet and spent 11 minutes testing systems (including the release mechanism), making a practice approach at a high altitude, and landing at Mojave Air and Space Port in California.

Engineering Air Traffic lesson explores the engineering and principals behind radar and air traffic control systems. Students explore how radar and computer technology is used to provide critical data in an efficient way to air traffic controllers. Students work as a team of engineers to evaluate a current ATC system, virtually act as traffic controllers, and then develop guidelines to improve the engineered interface between the radar and the human controller. "

Engineered Sports - TryEngineering - Lesson focuses on how the principles of aerospace engineering have impacted golf ball design, along with equipment used in other sports. Students analyze the use of dimples on golf balls, and work as a team of engineers to determine whether adding dimples to airplanes would increase fuel efficiency for the airline industry.

Press releases, Build a Plane Brochure download PDF, High-Resolution Images

"Aviation Dictionary. Here we provide a comprehensive, list type, aviation dictionary with many images. We tried to include the most common terms found in most flight training curriculums, as well as not so common terms. Student pilots, flight instructors, and even aerospace engineers should find this aviation dictionary useful."

List of 100s of math resources for teachers and students

Research-based and standards-aligned free educational math games and language arts games will engage, motivate, and help teach students.  Play free multi-player and single-player games

more than two thousand educational games for middle school and high school age students. If that library doesn't have what they're looking for, teachers can create custom games using twelve different templates provided by What 2 Learn.

aviation-related charities receive grants during 2010. All of those that were nominated are already doing "good" for aviation. We want to come along side to help build awareness and increase funding opportunities. And, we want to mobilize the pilot community to learn more about them and get involved.

Lessons and activities for topics including Geospatial Science Projects, Materials Science, Museum of the Earth

3nd annual NEW SMYRNA BEACH BALLOON AND SKY FEST coming April 8-10, 2011 - Education zone, activities

Aeronautical Calculations: What's with All Those Coefficients Anyway? When aircraft designers decide on the design specifications for a new aircraft, they develop a model that is tested in a wind tunnel. The data collected from wind tunnel tests are used to develop a comparison to how the aircraft will fly at full scale. They make these and other comparisons by using proven aeronautical equations using dimensionless coefficients.

The front edge of the pterosaur wing is bone. in wind tunnel experiments this caused drag, making it aerodynamically less efficient than the wings of birds - which use feathers to create a smoother leading edge.  pterosaurs flew in a slow, controlled way, in particular when they came in to land. That would be important to pterosaurs because they had very thin bones which, according to Mr Palmer, could break on landing.

Teaching about the atmosphere?  Here are a few ideas for the classroom. Activities about the atmosphere are particularly well suited for talking about air pressure, since air pressure is essentially the weight of the atmosphere pushing down on us.  At the Exploratorium we had a couple of really great activities to get at this idea.

Teaching about the atmosphere?  Here are a few ideas for the classroom. Activities about the atmosphere are particularly well suited for talking about air pressure, since air pressure is essentially the weight of the atmosphere pushing down on us.  At the Exploratorium we had a couple of really great activities to get at this idea.

Curtiss JN-4D "Jenny."  went into production in 1915.  It became the most important Army training aircraft of World War I.  More importantly, the Jenny was the airplane that gave aviation a beginning in America.

Piper built almost 20,000 Cubs between 1938 and 1947. The Cub turned out to be the perfect training aircraft.  The airplane was economical to operate, easy to fly, and easy to maintain.  Spare parts were plentiful and the A-65 engine was the most common light airplane engine of the era.