Association Of Space Explorers Usa

Education: Celebrating Diversity from Space: Operating under a federal grant from the ISS National Laboratory/Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), ASE recently completed "Celebrating Diversity from Space", an educational program for under-represented youth in Boys & Girls Clubs. Students explored diversity at three levels: 1) EARTH's global diversity for its physical features and human geography; 2) ASTRONAUTS whose diverse backgrounds, experience and expertise are essential for success of ISS; and 3) local COMMUNITY of each Boys & Girls Club, where students celebrated rich diversity among themselves, their neighborhoods and families. All three realms have the common theme - diversity is an essential element of success. The program emphasized hands-on and inquiry-based learning. Each club created a 30-minute video, conveying these core concepts, working directly with astronauts. The ISS National Lab provided two essential assets: 1) wealth of photographs taken by the ISS astronauts as they orbit Earth, showcasing rich complexity; 2) the experiences of astronauts themselves, as diverse crews, working as a team, managing complex tasks, and solving problems with creativity and collaboration. This project built on extensive prior work of "Windows On Earth" to establish the archive of photos and video creation tools. The 10 participating astronauts are members of Association of Space Explorers and have all flown in space.Community Days: At each Planetary Congress, ASE members dedicate a full day for outreach with the local and national communities in the country where the Congress is being hosted. The astronauts and cosmonauts reach thousands of students, teachers, parents, and members of the general public to inspire and promote education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. ASE member astronauts also engage with students and teachers throughout the year in the USA with school and university visits and lectures, as well as via partnerships with other educational organizations.

Planetary Stewardship:Windows on Earth: Windows on Earth features the vast collection of photos and movies taken by astronauts on the ISS. ASE, with support from NASA and the Crew Earth Observation facility, established and maintain ASE's own image library, provide a friendly public front-end (WindowsOnEarth.org), and use these photos in creative ways. Since 2005, this work has been funded by a series of NSF and NASA grants, creating museum exhibits, curriculum guides, teacher training and innovative technical development. Now ASE will take some bold steps to greatly expand public access and educational use of these resources, through an ambitious partnership with the University of California San Diego (UCSD) and its Supercomputer Center (SDSC). It builds on prior collaborations with UCSD, and their enthusiasm and expertise to take Windows on Earth to new levels of access and the potential for much larger reach. This partnership will also provide some powerful new tools for ASE members, as the original astronauts, artists and scientists who took these photos of Earth.Earth Music Theater: ASE manages an archive of images and photos of Earth taken by astronauts (from NASA, all images are in the public domain). ASE works with over 40 musicians, who provide their music for these movies. ASE works with the musicians to select Earth views that align with the music. ASE posts all movies at no cost on the Earthmusicheater.org website and ASE social media channels. ASE also partners with UCTV (University of California TV) to broadcast new movies each Friday. Similarly, the musicians can freely post their movie(s) for public enjoyment. ASE also works with musicians to do live performances of Earth music, at venues around the world, including Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, Boston Music of Science, BachFest Leipzig Germany, Imax in Leonberg Germany, and multiple other venues.Space Traffic Management / Orbital Debris: ASE's Committee on Space Traffic Management / Orbital Debris works with the United Nations Committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) and other stakeholders to develop best practices for the management and mitigation of space debris objects. In addition to UN COPUOS, the Committee engages with international space agencies, the Hague Institute for Global Justice, The Paris Peace Forum, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and other nonprofit organizations to promote the continued reduction of space debris, to Improve access to timely and accurate data on space objects down to the lethal debris limit and to improve information sharing on a routine basis to strengthen global space traffic coordination mechanisms.