Wednesday, December 01, 2010

NASA offering heat shield tiles to schools

Your school could get a piece of a space shuttle.

NASA is offering 7,000 shuttle heat shield tiles to schools and universities.

The lightweight tiles protect the shuttles from extreme temperatures when the orbiters re-enter the Earth's atmosphere.

Recipients will be responsible for a shipping and handling fee of $23.40.

Tiles will be given out on a first-come, first-served basis. Only one tile will be given per institution.

Schools can request the tiles at this website.

Click on the tile icon to log on to the request page.

A login ID and password may be obtained by registering on the link provided.

A Department of Education statistics tracking number (NCES for schools or IPEDS for universities) is needed to register.

Hyperlinks are available to these sites to find a specific institution's tracking number.

Will your school try to get one of the heat shield tiles? If so let us know. Send an e-mail to mspitzer@floridatoday.com.

IMAGE: Inside Orbiter Processing Facility 2 at Kennedy Space Center in July 2008, a United Space Alliance technician held one of the Boeing Replacement Insulation 18, or BRI-18, tiles that wouuld be installed on space shuttle Endeavour during processing activities. Photo credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

don't you have to be a specially trained, highly technical, highly paid government worker to touch one of those things. recent reports of the soon-to-be unemployed indicate the $77,000 job will not have an equivalent in the private secton.

Anonymous said...

Wonder how long the typical one will last when the kids start handling them?

Anonymous said...

3:19...judging by your ignorant post, that would elimimate you touching any tile...

Anonymous said...

They will all end up on ebay for sale. This will be your chance to privately own a piece of the space shuttle program, just give it a couple of months and then checkout ebay or craigslist under NASA spacecraft parts for sale, right next american space worker for hire. IT'S YOUR SPACE PROGRAM TAKE IT BACK and FIX IT.

Anonymous said...

This is yet another example of government waste. Many people would pay good money for a tile (that other governments sell on ebay).It continues to amaze me the unique ways our government throws away PUBLIC money.

Anonymous said...

The Department of Education asks students to provide copy machine paper for the office staff to print out progress reports & report cards. Hardly think "shuttle heat shield tiles" is something school boards should spend their so-called inadequate lottery funding on something one of their well-paid administrators will most likely SELL on E BAY for PERSONAL PROFIT. Use the money to provide decent teachers who know how to teach. The idiotic school board has laid off hundreds of good senior teachers to hire cheap substitutes that "only" put on Disney movies for the students to watch in NECESSARY Math & Reading Classes. American Education has Failed the Children of tomorrow because of political Budget Cuts & Wasteful Spending. No wonder Americans are considered Failures in Education as only the rich can afford a real education and some even pay for their degree that they never earned. If taxpayers can only see what really goes on behind closed doors of our educational system-they would be really shocked. Give the heat shield pieces to the laid of shuttle workers. Maybe they won't whine so much about losing their 6-figure salaries.

Anonymous said...

Where is WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange when we need him? He can show taxpayers & the world what really goes on in American educational institutions. A whole lot of waste gets an "A" grade while education is teetering on D's and F's in many areas. Good teachers are being laid off while parents get notices that their students teachers aren't qualified to teach the courses because they didn't complete the required continued education they're supposed to. Colleges are doing the same hiring people not qualified to teach important courses while laying off teachers who earned their higher pay for working over 20+ years. Sell the damn tiles and give the money to educate our children Or Wiki Reports might be next.

Anonymous said...

Don't waste more on space junk. This is just another wasteful scheme of government spending.

Unknown said...
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