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Teacher-in-space candidate Pam
Leestma in her 2nd grade classroom at Valley Christian
Elementary School in Bellflower, California. |
Teacher In Space Candidate Completes Proficiency
Flight
For pilot Bob Ray, it was a routine proficiency flight, but
for teacher Pam Leestma, it was the flight of a lifetime and
the first step toward realizing her lifelong dream of traveling
into space. Ray and Leestma, a 30-year-veteran teacher from
Valley Christian Elementary School in Bellflower, California,
took off from Reno Stead Field at 12:15 pm in a two-seat MiG-21UM
supersonic jet trainer owned and operated by commercial spaceflight
company X-Rocket, LLC. Leestma was selected as a spaceflight
candidate in X-Rocket’s Teacher in Space program.
The former Czech Air Force MiG-21UM, now dubbed Maching Bird
1, is one of the highest performance civilian aircraft in the
US and the first step in X-Rocket’s plan to open space
to all Americans. Leestma’s flight was no tourist ride,
like the MiG flights sold to American tourists in Russia. “During
today’s flight, Pam filled important crew functions,” said
pilot Bob Ray, “including helping to monitor instruments
and perform traffic watch.”
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Maching
Bird 1 takes off from Reno’s Stead Field, with
X-Rocket pilot Bob Ray at the controls. The former Czech
Air Force MiG-21UM trainer is now owned and operated
by commercial spaceflight company X-Rocket, LLC. |
For Pam Leestma, today’s flight seems only natural.
Her cousin, David Leestma, is a NASA Shuttle astronaut, and
she has had a long-time fascination with spaceflight. “This
is the adventure of a lifetime,” Leestma said. “To
see God’s Earth from such a vantage point makes me think
of the teachers who inspired engineers, scientists, and mathematicians
to achieve things such as this. I hope to continue to inspire
the next generation to find their dreams, achieve them, and
make a difference in our world.”
“X-Rocket’s Teacher in Space program will help
teachers like Pam Leestma realize their dreams,” said
company president Edward Wright. X-Rocket plans to operate
a fleet of suborbital aerospace trainers that will serve multiple
functions, from advanced test pilot training to adventure tourism
experiences to Teacher in Space flights. The company’s
motto is “Spaceflight for the rest of us.”
During the 1980’s, NASA created its own Teacher in Space
program, which was later replaced by the NASA Educator Astronaut
program. Problems with the Shuttle program have prevented NASA
from actually flying any teachers in space, however, and the
planned replacement of the Shuttle with a Crew Exploration
Vehicle will reduce the number of available flight opportunities
for all NASA astronauts. Newspaper articles have spoken of
possible layoffs in the NASA astronaut office, so opportunities
for NASA to fly educator astronauts will remain scarce.
“This is where private enterprise can play a role,” Wright
said. “Suborbital vehicles now under development will
carry people into space much more affordably than the Shuttle
or CEV. For under twenty million dollars, we could fly 200
teachers a year, four from every state in the union. Imagine
thousands of astronaut teachers in schools all across the country,
within the next decade. For decades, we’ve told students
that if they studied math and science, they could grow up to
become astronauts and go into space, but in reality, kids had
a better chance of growing up to become NBA basketball players.
What message does that send? Suppose we could turn that around,
and show kids that they have a realistic chance of going into
space? How cool would that be?”
X-Rocket is currently seeking sponsors to help make that happen.
Today’s flight is only the beginning. “Pam Leestma
has shown that America’s teachers have the ‘Right
Stuff.’ We don’t intend to let them down,” said
Wright.#
