From space to the SCV

Students participate in an out-of-this-world experience

Aboard a space shuttle, astronaut Shanelle Lim, 13, prepares for her first moon walk as she slips into a hazmat suit and puts on her moon shoes.

Nearby, fellow astronaut and pilot Christine Rieo, 13, designs the team’s NASA mission patch with help from the mission specialists and flight directors on the ground.

“There are a lot of responsibilities and a lot of things you have to do,” Rieo said.

The young teens were not aboard a shuttle in outer space, but were in a shuttle simulator complete with working dials and switches, landing simulators, cameras, communication headsets, flight manuals, a working command center and even an alien.

Created and designed by Rancho Pico Junior High School eighth grade science teacher Liz Virnelson, the Shuttle Simulator Project gives students a glimpse into the work of aerospace engineers and astronauts as they finish scheduled activities and complete their mission.

“I’m hoping that through this they might get turned on to a career in aerospace and engineering,” Virnelson said. “That’s why I put in all the time to run it and train the kids because, one, it’s something they’ll never forget and, two, maybe it’ll lead to a career.”

Fifteen years ago, Virnelson sent her first group of student astronauts to “space” with support from parent volunteers who helped build the space shuttle, mission control station and outer space structure.

Virnelson said they arrived with sheet metal, used wood, gauges, wires, dials and switches to create the first space shuttle simulator.

Today, the project has grown in both size and scale, with more activities and work stations for the students to experience.

“It’s taken on a life of its own,” Virnelson said.

A month before the project beings, Virnelson begins setting up the different elements of the space simulator. The last phase of construction is the dark room, designed to imitate outer space with dark curtains, black lights and glowing planets.

“When they come out of the hatch, I want them to have this feeling that they’re really in space,” she said.

Students also apply for various positions within the space simulator before it is constructed. This year, a total of 12 eighth graders, six boys and six girls, were selected as

Katharine Lotze/The Signal (See additional photos at signalscv.com) “Alien” Kelly Fink, right, prepares to help out a fellow student-turned-astronaut, not pictured, during a simulated moonwalk as teacher Liz Virnelson gives instructions at Ranch Pico Junior High on Tuesday.