"We Are The Explorers" Video Showcases Legacy Of Exploration, Future NASA Missions

Michael Braukus
Headquarters, Washington                                   

Josh Byerly

Johnson Space Center, Houston

HOUSTON -- A new video produced by NASA and narrated by actor Peter Cullen of "Transformers" fame celebrates humankind's inherent need to explore through the past, present and future.

"We Are the Explorers" shows how humanity constantly has reached for new heights, broken new boundaries and taken steps that previously were considered impossible. The video highlights NASA’s tradition of exploration, from the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs, to the space shuttle and International Space Station. It looks ahead to vehicles being built now that will take humans farther than they ever have gone, including the new Orion crew vehicle and Space Launch System.

"NASA and its missions – historic, present and future – have the ability to inspire," said NASA Associate Administrator for Human Exploration and Operations Bill Gerstenmaier. "This video celebrates not only the historic steps we have made as an agency, but also the great journeys that await us as we operate the orbiting laboratory that is the International Space Station and build the vehicles necessary to expand human exploration beyond low-Earth orbit."

The video is available to view on a variety of NASA and social media Web sites. It also can be freely used by teachers and students for educational purposes.

To view the video, visit http://go.nasa.gov/wearetheexplorers or http://youtu.be/e7DEw70LVWs.

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NASA Invites Public To Vote On Optimus Prime Contest Student Videos

Sonja Alexander

Headquarters, Washington                                   

 

Rob Gutro

Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

GREENBELT, Md. -- NASA has opened online voting for the agency's OPTIMUS PRIME Spinoff Award student video contest. The public is invited to vote for its favorite videos, made by students in grades three through eight, developed to help educate America's youth about the benefits of NASA's technologies.

NASA is using the correlation between Hasbro's TRANSFORMERS property and commercialized agency "spinoffs" to help students understand how technology developed for space and aeronautics "transforms" into what is used on Earth.

More than 190 children from 31 states have submitted creative videos describing their favorite agency technology from NASA's 2009 Spinoff publication. The students also documented why their video should be selected to win the NASA OPTIMUS PRIME trophy.

The public can vote for its favorite OPTIMUS PRIME Spinoff Award videos at http://ipp.gsfc.nasa.gov/optimus/voting.php.

The top five submissions from each of two groups (third through fifth and sixth through eighth grades) will advance for final judging. The voting process is open until Feb. 6.

A panel of NASA judges will select the winners in each of the two grade categories. The winning students, associated spinoff companies and NASA innovators will be announced in February.

In addition to the trophy, the winners will travel to Colorado Springs, Colo., for an award ceremony during the 27th National Space Symposium on April 12.

NASA intends to make this an annual competition. Students can begin thinking about next year's competition by deciding which spinoffs they like best from NASA's recently-published Spinoff 2010.

For more information about the NASA OPTIMUS PRIME Spinoff Award, visit http://ipp.gsfc.nasa.gov/optimus.

For more information about NASA spinoffs and technology transfer, visit http://www.sti.nasa.gov/tto/.

For more information about the 27th National Space Symposium, visit http://www.nationalspacesymposium.org/.

NASA's Office of the Chief Technologist is responsible for facilitating the transfer of technology from the space program to the marketplace

and the American public. For more information about the Office of the Chief Technologist, visit http://www.nasa.gov/oct.

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