By Lee Ann Sides Garrett
news@salisburypost.com
The students scratched their heads, trying to find ways to assemble the clear plastic lids, containers and objects in front of them.
The project ó to assemble a lunar plant growth chamber ó was part of a celebration held Saturday at Horizons Unlimited marking the 50th anniversary of the NASA space program. Science Specialist Anne Ellis directed students in the activity, which is part of a challenge by NASA.
“The challenge is to find a way to grow food in space,” Ellis said. “If a student creates a chamber that grows a plant successfully, NASA wants to know about it.”
Students planted cinnamon basil seeds in their chambers that had been in space for three months. The chambers must be self-contained, provide both food and water for the plant and take into consideration plant needs and moon conditions.
“The whole point is to see if it works,” Ellis said. “It’s okay to be right or wrong.”
As part of the celebration, students and their families were treated to exhibits such as Cosmic Trivia, Evolution of the Spacesuit, Tip the Planetary Scales, View the Lunar Lander, a lunar photo booth and space books and magazines in addition to the planetarium’s other exhibits.
A special show in the planetarium itself featured a look at the 50 years of the space program and the progress made. Observers sat in reclining chairs and watched the events of the space program unfold among the stars on the planetarium ceiling. Afterward, Patsy Woodson showed onlookers individual pictures and constellations in the stars projected on the ceiling.
“Our star projector is almost as old as the space program itself,” Woodson said. The Spitz A3P was put into use in 1968.
Woodson and Ellis agreed the space program is one of the more interesting programs provided by the planetarium. Ellis, a former Rowan-Salisbury School System teacher, said the Space Seeds program is one of the more requested. The original program was designed for fifth- to eighth-graders, but Ellis said she modified it for third-graders.
“People love seeing all the discoveries we’ve made in space,” Woodson said.
That sentiment was echoed by the narrator of the NASA film:
“The biggest discovery was within ourselves. We left our earthly cradles and were forever changed.”