Some Background on NASA's Spaceward Bound

Here is some information about NASA's Spaceward Bound program. This information is also available on the NASA website.



Spaceward Bound is an educational program organized at NASA Ames in partnership with The Mars Society, and funded by the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate (ESMD) at NASA Headquarters. The focus of Spaceward Bound is to train the next generation of space explorers by having students and teachers participate in the exploration of scientifically interesting but remote and extreme environments on Earth as analogs for human exploration of the Moon and Mars. 2006 is the first year of the program.
The program is comprised of two expeditions per year. The focus of one expedition is to involve teachers in authentic fieldwork so that they can bring that experience back to their classrooms and assist in the development of curriculum related to human exploration of remote and extreme environments. In June 2006, seven middle school teachers from around the U.S. teamed with seven teachers from Antofagasta, Chile to work alongside scientists in exploration of the Mars-like soils in the Atacama Desert in Northern Chile. Click on Field Expeditions to learn more about these expeditions.
The focus of the second expedition is to enable students at the upper undergraduate and graduate level (including teachers) to participate as crew members in two-week long immersive full-scale simulations of living and working on the Moon and Mars at the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS), established and operated by The Mars Society. The Spaceward Bound 2006 crew rotations at MDRS will take place between November 2006 and January 2007. Click on MDRS to learn more about these expeditions.

Information regarding the Mojave Expedition can be found at http://quest.nasa.gov/projects/spacewardbound/mojave2007/index.html
Dan Wray's Spaceward Bound profile can be viewed at http://quest.nasa.gov/projects/spacewardbound/mojave2007/bios/wray.html