Students Won 2006 Contest to Name a Piece of the International Space Station

Baton Rouge- Students from Buchanan Elementary School will be the special guests of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on October 22-23, 2007.  Francis Brady and Sue Wilson’s 2006-2007 third grade gifted classes received an invitation to the launch of the Space Shuttle Discovery. 

The students made history when they won a NASA competition to name a piece of the International Space Station.  They competed against 2,200 students in Kindergarten through 12th grade from 32 states.  Buchanan Elementary was among six schools to choose the name “Harmony” for the Node 2 module.  Their winning entry made the students among the first people outside of NASA to name a U.S. piece of the space station.

Part of the criteria for entering the challenge included the students creating a model of the Node 2 with dimensions that have same proportions of the real module.  Students also researched the purpose of the Node 2 on the space station and wrote an essay supporting the use of the “Harmony”.

The purpose of Discovery’s shuttle mission is to install the Node 2 module, called “Harmony”, as part of the U.S. segment on the International Space Station.  NASA invited all the students who named the module to this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to witness the human space flight program.  “This trip will be something our students will remember for the rest of their lives,” said Buchanan Elementary Principal Patrice Hudson.

NASA is not covering travel or hotel expenses, so the school and parent organizations are working to raise funds for this opportunity.  23 students are expected to travel to Florida.  The cost per student is $550.  Anyone who would like to sponsor a student can make a check payable to Buchanan Elementary/NASA Trip.  Checks may be mailed to Buchanan Elementary School, 1222 East Buchanan Street, Baton Rouge, LA 70802.