It is not everyday that an astronaut opts to land in a college instead of the moon.
The seventh annual Onizuka Space Science Day 2005 will take place at the Planetarium and science classrooms Saturday, April 2 from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. The event will feature a NASA astronaut as a guest speaker.
“El Camino has had a seven-year relationship with NASA. It’s their connection for us to get an astronaut every year,” Robin Dreizler, acting director of outreach and school relations, said.
NASA astronaut Lt. Col. Edward Michael “Mike” Fincke is this year’s designated speaker and will present a lecture to the audience, followed by a question-and-answer session.
Fincke has spent several months in space aboard the International Space Station last year, logging over 15 hours of spacewalk experience and also served as a Flight Test Engineer.
He has also as a result has logged over 800 flight hours in a variety of aircrafts, including the F-16 and F-15 aircrafts.
“We’ve had some fabulous astronauts in the past and I don’t doubt that Mr. Fincke will be fabulous as well,” Dreizler said.
After Fincke’s lecture, students will be invited to choose from about 15 various “breakout sessions” of science experiments and demonstrations presented by faculty.
Biology professor Jessica Padilla will participate in a demonstration called “Candy Science.” The demonstration involves dissolving the candy coating of different colored M&Ms and using chromatography, a method of separating elements, to separate the coating’s colors.
“Yellow and blue make green. We would dissolve a green M&M, for example, and then separate the green in the coating to make those two colors,” Padilla said.
Other presentations include rocket exploration, a Planetarium show and a traditional egg drop competition. Telescopes will also be set up to look at the sun; however, the weather determines whether or not the telescope presentation will be successful.
“(The telescope presentation) is really cool if it’s a clear day,” Dreizler said.
Space Science Day is designed for young minds at about grades 5-12, but is also open to the South Bay community, as well as college students.
“It’s a good experience and it’s good for the community,” Padilla said.
“I think it sounds really awesome,” Sarah Trefflich, 18, undecided major, said, “like ‘2005: A Space Odyssey.’ I’d love to go.”
According to the event website, the event is named in remembrance of astronaut Ellison S. Onizuka, who along with six other astronauts, died in the Challenger space shuttle when it exploded in January 1986, just one minute and 13 seconds from takeoff.
Reservations are requested for this event. The event, as well as parking and lunch, are free. For more information, students may call (310) 660-3487.
“I hope that this exhibition will make more people interested in science, so that they realize its importance,” Peter Tran, 18, biology major, said.
“If that happens, then maybe there can be more science classes open during fall semester, unlike the meager selection this semester,” he said.
