Blast Off with NASA Astronaut Rex Walheim: Launching ACMI’s Star Voyager Exhibition
On Thursday 22 September, the Department, in partnership with the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI), hosted a once in a lifetime opportunity to learn from an astronaut. This event, presented by NASA Astronaut Rex Walheim, launched ACMI’s Star Voyager: Exploring Space on Screen exhibition, and gave students a chance to ask questions about space.
Fifty lucky students met Mr Walheim in the ACMI studio, and more than 5000 students from 113 schools registered to participate online via the Department’s Virtual Conference Centre (VCC), asking questions on a variety of topics including life in space, taking a shower in space, how to become an astronaut, space food, and the role of robots in space.
Through the magic of green screen, students watching the event online saw Mr Walheim ‘blast off’ in an ACMI spacecraft, walk them through a space ship, talk about being in space and show images and footage from space. Mr Walheim answered questions from ACMI Mission Control, from students watching the event live at their schools, and from Victorian students ‘somewhere in space’.
More information
This free event streamed via the Virtual Conference Centre (VCC) and was available to any interested Victorian schools.
Recordings of this event are available in the following locations:
- To view a recording of the VCC event, see: Blast Off with NASA Astronaut Rex Walheim recording
Some relevant FUSE resources:
- NASA Images - Resource ID 29L59M
- Andy Thomas describes his first flight into space, 2008 - Resource ID 9EH6RM
- Catalyst - Planet of the Rings, 2005: The end of an era - Resource ID TH4ZAT
- Radio telescope, 1998 - Resource ID L8YUAK
- The wonders of our universe: space traveller - Resource ID Y9CY8C
- Physical science: orbital motion: Kepler's Laws - Resource ID UF3QRV
Related resources: