Launching a Healthy Lunch

Have you ever visited NASA's Kid's Club site? You might expect to see tons of cool stuff about space and our solar system on it, but did you know there is also some really great information about the systems inside our bodies...including our digestive system and what types of food we need to eat each day to stay healthy? We've been playing a really fun game called 'Space Lunch' and we think you'd like it too! (As always, make sure you have a grown-up's permission before using the computer/internet!).

First, the game provides a neat interactive tool that shows the food pyramid and how our daily food amounts should be broken down. From fruits and veggies to meats and beans, this chart will help you see just how much of each food group to consume daily. After you have learned a thing or two about what foods your body needs, click on the play button to launch the game.

 

Now try to match sets of food that go together to reveal a funny picture. As you click on groupings of food, they will disappear to show the background image. There are more detailed instructions on the site, but the game is a fun and easy way to start thinking about eating healthier! Hope you enjoy it!

The Astronaut's Old Clothes

{image via Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum collection}

Have you ever heard the phrase, "the clothes make the man?" While education, experience and passion for space are all important aspects in the career of an astronaut, you can't get very far without the proper wardrobe. There's a neat interactive feature on the New York Times website that gives you a chance for a closer look at many different articles of clothing and gear used by NASA scientists.

Some of the items shown have never been to space, such as prototypes and test suits. Others played a much more important role, including the Apollo AL-7 suit worn by Buzz Aldrin when he stepped onto the moon. Some of these suits are on display at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, but if you can't visit there anytime soon, hop over to the NY Times feature and take a look. Click on any part of the image to zoom in and explore.

If you were designing a spacesuit, what would it look like? What features would you include? What color would it be? It's fun to think about!

Keep Trying, Even when things don't go as planned!

{Even Thomas Edison had over 1,000 unsuccessful attempts before finally inventing the lightbulb!}

Do you have a hobby that you really enjoy? Maybe you play a sport or are part of a team or group. From soccer to math club to piano, whatever it is that you do probably adds a lot of fun to your life. More than likely, your hobby or activity also requires some amount of practice. Through practice we can get better at something and learn about it in the meantime.

After weeks of practice, how great does it feel to win or succeed at something you’ve worked hard to do? This feeling of winning is like nothing else. No matter how hard we practice and try to do well, there’s always a chance that things won’t go as planned. We can’t win at every single thing, all the time. Did you know that even NASA scientists know what it feels like not to win?

This morning (Friday March 4, 2011), NASA’s Glory spacecraft launched from California, but it failed to reach orbit. So far the scientists think that the protective shell on top of the Taurus XL (the launching rocket) didn’t separate like it was supposed to. Scientists have been working on this project (practicing!) for a long time, but things still didn’t go quite right.

This can be a great reminder to us when we feel like things aren’t going quite the way we want them to. Maybe we get less than a perfect score on a test. Maybe our team loses the big game. The important thing is that we see what went wrong and keep on trying! That’s what the NASA scientists are going to do!

Image via National Records & Archives Administration