NASA astronaut, Christina Koch, who became the first woman in history to circle the moon this week as part of the four-person crew of the record-breaking Artemis II mission, had a hand in Alta Loma Christian School’s Orbital Experiment Mission 3 (OEM-3) during her historic time aboard the International Space Station in 2019-2020.Literally.
During her long-term and record-setting mission aboard the ISS, the American engineer educated at North Carolina State University helped place and position the ALCS OEM-3 experiment to the exterior of the space station utilizing the station’s robotic arm.
Launched on November 2, 2019, the NanoRacks External Payload Platform (NREP) was the hardware to facilitate the groundbreaking Quest for Space ISS External Platform Mission in Extreme Space Environment experiment being jointly conducted by Valley Christian Schools and Quest for Space of San Jose, including ALCS’ SpaceEagles OEM-3 portion of the experiment.
Once the NREP arrived at the ISS, the special experiment platform was placed on the exterior of the ISS by astronaut Koch, directly exposed to space. Once the NREP was in place and successfully installed, ALCS’ and VCS’ software to run the experiment was transmitted to the NREP.
At that time, ALCS and VCS were the first and only two schools in the world to ever attempt such an experiment. Although the adult-built hardware portion of the experiment did not operate as designed, the ALCS and VCS student software performed perfectly.
“It is so exciting to have this connection to a pioneering astronaut like Christina Koch and the Artemis II mission,” smiled Dr. Vance Nichols, ALCS head of school. “You never know where a student’s involvement in an innovative adventure may lead.”
