The woman who gave ‘book launch’ a new meaning
Inspired by a childhood love of science, Canadian educator devised the idea of having astronauts read to kids from space
Gazing up at a starry sky, Patricia Tribe feels a chill.
“I look at the stars every night, and it’s almost surreal knowing that friends are looking down on you,” says Tribe, referring to the crew on the International Space Station, currently on a yearlong mission. “As human beings, it’s important to stop and take in that people are living in space.”
It’s why Tribe, 48, often follows the station’s schedule online so she can track it from her backyard in Penticton, B.C.
“Every time I look into the universe, I’m dumbfounded,” says the former education director at Space Center Houston. “There’s so much there . . . How do you comprehend it all?”
Tribe worked in Houston alongside NASA astronauts and scientists, designing and developing conferences for teachers and education programs for children.
Her passion for the final frontier remains strong, and so does her connection. This week, the Orbital 4 ATK Cygnus cargo craft launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla., then docked with the International Space Station.
The cargo craft carried seven children’s books, to be read by astronauts to kids on Earth — the latest step in fulfilling Tribe’s vision.
She still remembers the thrill of a longdistance phone call from her friend, NASA astronaut Col. Alvin Drew, while he was aboard the final flight of Space Shuttle Discovery in 2011.
“He called to say hi,” she says with a laugh.
The other reason Drew rang up was to let her know he had launched her idea to have astronauts in space read aloud to elementary schoolchildren on Earth, as a way to spark interest in science and literature.
During that test pilot, Drew read an e-version of Max Goes to the Moon, about the adventures of a dog in space.
Modestly, Tribe — who says she was cooking pasta when she had the eureka moment — calls it “one of my better ideas.”
“I decided that it would be a good idea to have astronauts reading from space combining literature and science, because one should complement the other.”
Tribe and Drew joined forces on the project and approached award-winning American astronomer, teacher and author Jeffrey Bennett, whose popular children’s books fit the bill.
But while watching the first event, Tribe put on her educator’s hat, realizing that reading from a laptop computer wasn’t the way to go.
She says it quickly became clear that astronauts needed to be reading old-school — from books in their hands — as they float in the space station copula, with a rotating Earth in the background for kids of all ages to see. (The readings were videotaped, edited and then made available free online.)
“Every time I look at one of the readings, I smile and giggle,” says Tribe.
“It’s so neat to see something you believe in done in such a unique way with unique people.”
In some ways, for Tribe, it’s just the latest experiment in a long list. ‘If you’re blissfully naive, everything is possible’ When it comes to creating power from produce, Patricia Tribe is an expert.
Wiring a spud to light a bulb was among her favourite experiments as a student at W.C. Howe elementary school in Regina, where Tribe’s mind was filled with curiosity about the world and how things worked.
“I was always outside exploring and looking at bugs,” Tribe recalls of her childhood. For her, science is “one big mystery you can keep solving.”
Even the most routine experiments gave her the opportunity to tap into her creative side, making it easy to understand the concepts.
Some of the lessons were learned at the side of her father, an engineer, who had encouraged Tribe and her brother, David, to study science.
“I remember helping him when he was working in the rumpus room installing the electrical,” Tribe says, adding that her father and mother lived through the Depression and the Second World War “and looked at things practically.”
Tribe says science — “determined by fact and not emotion” — in turn nurtured her love of teaching.
While she had grown up in a household where technology, engineering and math were part of daily con-
The Wizard Who Saved the World, versation, Tribe soon discovered she was a rarity. At the University of Regina, she was among only a few female students in a scientific field. “It was lonely there,” she recalls.
“Back in our day, females were not encouraged to go into science. In fact, I remember being discouraged by others to do so.
“It’s sad that our innate instinct to explore as kids — even as adults — sometimes gets lost.”
Tribe forged ahead in her studies, majoring in science, and earned a degree in education, which opened doors to a creative career that began at the Saskatchewan Science Centre. Among other projects there, she was responsible for the development of school and camp programs. As a member of the national science fair committee, she succeeded in bringing that prestigious event to her province.
The experience led to an unexpected path.
When Tribe heard the new Space Center Houston was looking for an educator to organize a conference for teachers, she wrote to NASA, offering her services. “If you’re blissfully naive, everything is possible,” she says.
She spent 13 years as education director at the space centre, where she established programs for students as well as professional development series for teachers.
“I never dreamed I would be working at NASA,” Tribe admits. She worked with scientists and space explorers, which fuelled her interest in what lay beyond Earth.
An adventurer at heart, Tribe said she got her pilot’s licence while in Houston. If she were to be asked to travel in space, she would answer “yes” in a heartbeat.
But it wasn’t until after she’d left Houston in 2008 to care for her ailing mother in B.C. that Tribe came up with the idea of having astronauts read aloud to children from space.
Today, Tribe works in Penticton as an educational consultant. For a challenge, she has taken up Ironman competitions.
But her childhood love of reading, from Curious George to Nancy Drew, has remained. (A biography of Hillary Clinton is currently on her bedside table.)
The seven books that docked this week on the space station bring the hard-copy total to 12 for kids to follow along.
Max Goes to the Space Station.