"Absolutely astounding", "Really fun and educational", "It blew my mind" - These were some of comments from Willow School students after they returned from a full day field trip to NASA. There was plenty to do and see for all K - 8 grade levels. Touching a moon rock, experimenting with centrifugal force and looking at the huge Saturn V rocket were some of the highlights that everyone was still talking about on the way home.

We began our visit with an hour in a classroom full of experiential activities. We held tight to a spinning bicycle tire to understand centrifugal force, looked at slides under powerful microscopes, saw our body heat with infrared cameras and watched as our instructor used ultra -cold nitrogen to turn air into liquid. These experiments and the technical explanations helped us better understand many of the scientific theories we have been studying in science class.

Next, our itinerary took us to the IMAX Theater. The 3-D movie about the moon landing in 1969 brought back exciting memories for the teachers and new insights about the history of space travel for the students. This certainly helped spark our interest in the new phase of moon landings that will begin in the next decade.

Our last stop, and probably the most interesting of all, was the Saturn V rocket center. This huge building contains the complete Saturn V rocket, along with a moon rover, and astronaut capsule. The sheer immensity of the rocket is something to behold. We all stood underneath its belly gazing up in amazement at its massive size. We were also surprised at the tiny capsule that the astronauts had to ride in all the way to the moon. Can you imagine being strapped into a car seat for three straight days? Well, that's the hard part of an astronaut's job. But we also recognized that these modern day explorers had lots of fun too; as we imagined driving around the moon in a solar powered rover or looking out the capsule window at the beautiful views.

All in all it was a fascinating day for everyone, and we all left with an appreciation for the astronauts and a deeper understanding of our flight and rocketry studies.