STUDENT POWER

The Sally Ride Earthkam program is unique in giving students direct control of an instrument on a working spacecraft. Four times each year the program provides a rare window of opportunity for students to request photographs of specific features or locations beneath the International Space Station’s orbit. After the requests are processed and accepted by NASA’S space centre in Houston, an onboard computer handles the picture-taking. Within hours of being taken, images are uploaded to the Earthkam website and made publicly available. Now approaching 60 missions, the program has engaged more than 500,000 students from 78 countries. Pictured: South Africa 28.25° S, 23.66° E