From April 27-‐29, 2017, STEM+C and students from Spring Grove, Illinois and Gilbert, Arizona will be bringing “Project Blackbird” to Spaceport America’s horizontal launch area for the first of a series of STEM educational launches over the next two years.
The students of Spring Grove have participated in a 6 week course covering subjects from meteorology to basic electrical theory. They have assembled the “RvJets”, learned how to fly RC airplanes via FPV (first person view), and also learned their responsibilities and duties expected while conducting each mission. The project is an attempt to break the world record for “Highest RC Airplane Flight”.
“Project Blackbird is my attempt to inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers. My goal is to get the students excited about those career fields,” said Paul Kaup, CEO of STEM+C.
The first launch and flight will be Saturday April 29 at 10:00am. A weather balloon will tow the first RvJet001 up to 50,000ft. At 50,000ft the students will send a release command, which will cause the vehicle to separate from the weather balloon tether. The students will then fly the aircraft back to Spaceport America for a landing.
“Spaceport America is always delighted to work with and support organizations like STEM+C who are dedicated to sparking the imagination and creativity of the next generation of future aerospace professionals,” said Dan Hicks, CEO of Spaceport America.
About STEM+C Inc.:
STEM+C is an educational company. The goal of STEM+C is to bring STEM+C (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math + Creativity) into classrooms across the USA and help raise a generation of Science and Math literate students. Big projects inspired our Nation to do great things in the 1960’s during the Space Race. STEM+C takes challenging projects into the classroom to anchor all areas of study to a common goal. The event is designed to inspire creativity, develop problem solving skills, critical thinking and bring awareness to the inter-‐relatedness of all things. STEM+C uses hands-‐on projects to anchor STEM concepts to the teaching curriculum in the school. Anchoring all areas of study to a common goal gives cross-‐relevance between subject matter. This has proven to be very effective at enhancing critical thinking and problem solving skills. For more information: http://www.stemplusc.com
About Spaceport America:
Spaceport America is the first purpose-‐built commercial spaceport in the world. The FAA-‐licensed launch complex, situated on 18,000 acres adjacent to the U.S. Army White Sands Missile Range in southern New Mexico, boasts 6,000 square miles of restricted airspace, low population density, a 12,000-‐foot spaceway, and 340+ days of sunshine and low humidity. With 39 vertical launches and 7 horizontal missions to date, some of the most respectedcompanies in the commercial space industry are customers at Spaceport America: Virgin Galactic, SpaceX, UP Aerospace and EXOS. Visit http://spaceportamerica.comand https://gatewaytospace.comfor more information. Spaceport America is #NewMexicoTRUE.