1. Rob Schupbach
CRIN E06 Elementary Science Curriculum and Instruction
Dr. Juanita Jo Matkins
October 2, 2011
Judith A. Resnik
As the second female astronaut and the first Jewish-American in
space, Judith Resnik broke down boundaries and left a legacy of
inspiration for all.
Judith Arlene Resnik was born April 5, 1949, in Akron, Ohio.
The daughter of Dr. Marvin Resnik, a respected Akron optometrist, and
Sarah Resnik, Judy was brought up in the Jewish religion and attended Hebrew school. In 1966,
Judith graduated from Firestone High School. She was an accomplished classical pianist and
excelled in mathematics. While a student at Firestone, she achieved a perfect score on the SAT.
Judith went on to attend Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and received a
Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering in 1970. She also attended the University
of Maryland, College Park and was awarded a Doctorate in Electrical Engineering in 1977.
Upon graduation, Resnik worked at numerous jobs before entering the space program.
She first worked with the RCA Corporation in Morristown, New Jersey. There she worked on
circuitry for specialized radar control systems. She authored a paper on design procedures for
special-purpose integrate circuitry. While working on her doctorate, Resnik was a biomedical
engineer and staff fellow in the laboratory of neurophysiology at the National Institute of Health
in Bethesda, Maryland, from 1974 to 1978. She also worked for the Xerox Corporation in El
Segundo, California.
Judith was recruited into the astronaut program in January of 1978 by actress Nichelle
Nichols, who played Lt. Uhura on Star Trek and who was working as a recruiter for National
Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Judith completed her one-year training
2. Rob Schupbach
CRIN E06 Elementary Science Curriculum and Instruction
Dr. Juanita Jo Matkins
October 2, 2011
evaluation period in August 1979. NASA assigned her to work on a number of projects in
support of the Orbiter development, including experiment software, the Remote Manipulator
System, and training techniques.
Judith was the first American Jewish astronaut to go into space, the first Jewish woman,
and only the second Jew to go to space (after Boris Volynov of the Soviet Union). She would be
the second American woman to fly in space (after Sally Ride in 1983), and the fourth woman
worldwide. On her first trip into space, Resnick was a mission specialist on the maiden voyage of
the space shuttle Discovery, STS-41-D. During this mission she helped to deploy three satellites
into orbit. She was also involved in biomedical research during the mission. Images of Judith’s
first space mission caused some notoriety. In weightlessness she displayed an enormous halo of
hair.
Judith’s next space travel was scheduled to be on the Challenger space shuttle. In
addition to Judith, the crew on board the Challenger included two other mission specialists Dr.
Ronald McNair and Lieutenant Colonel Ellison Onizuka (U.S. Air Force), two civilian payload
specialists, Gregory Jarvis and Christa McAuliffe, also of the Teacher in Space Project;
3. Rob Schupbach
CRIN E06 Elementary Science Curriculum and Instruction
Dr. Juanita Jo Matkins
October 2, 2011
Commander Michael J. Smith (U.S. Navy), the pilot; and Dick Scobee, the spacecraft
commander. Challenger, STS 51-L was launched from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, at
11:38:00 EST on January 28, 1986. 73 seconds later, at an altitude of 48,000 feet, the right solid-
fuel rocket booster, which was leaking flame from one of its joints, broke loose and slammed
into the external tank. The Challenger Space shuttle exploded and spun wildly out of sight. The
entire crew perished in the explosion.
Judith once said, "I think something is only dangerous if you are not prepared for it, or if
you don't have control over it or if you can't think through how to get yourself out of a problem."
References
Judith Resnik. (2011). In Jewish Virtual Library. Retrieved October 1, 2011, from
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/Resnik.html
Judith Resnik. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved October 1, 2011, from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judith_Resnik
Judith A. Resnik Elementary School. (1995). Retrieved October 2, 2011, from
http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/schools/resnikes/
Challenger Astronauts Memorized on the Moon. (2011). In Universe Today. Retrieved October
1, 2011, from
http://www.universetoday.com/82948/challenger-astronauts-memorialized-on-the-moon/
Judith A. Resnik. (2011). In Challenger Project. Retrieved October 1, 2011, from
http://www.challenger.org/about/history/resnik.cfm
NASA. (2003). Retrieved October 1, 2011, from
4. Rob Schupbach
CRIN E06 Elementary Science Curriculum and Instruction
Dr. Juanita Jo Matkins
October 2, 2011
http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/resnik.html
What aspects of Judith Resnik’s story could be used to teach students about the nature of
science?
I was in Kindergarten when the Challenger disaster happened. I was five years old in
January 1986 (I turned 6 in June). After a few years, ten years later, my fellow classmates and I
reflected on the tragedy in our 10th grade U.S. History class. Some had very vivid memories of
the explosion. I, thank the gods, do not. But, we all remember being ushered back to our
classrooms from the auditorium as our teacher plopped us down in front of the TV to watch
Sesame Street. I also remember going home that evening. I lived right across the street from the
elementary school and our family business was right in front of our house. I remember my
mother being very upset. I knew that she had been crying. Dad and my grandparents were glued
to CNN. In the years that followed, I discovered the severity of the situation and that my mother
and grandmother had saved all of the news clippings and periodicals that covered the disaster.
Also, my brother, who was in 7th grade at the time, remembered seeing the explosion live. How
traumatic for such young children.
When broaching the nature of science with students, I don’t think we should shy away
from the dangers that involved. Precaution is the key. When in undergraduate school studying
theatre, my mentor professor had a sign on his door that read: Pryor Proper Planning Prevents
Piss Poor Performance. I think I would use this in the classroom (sans the piss part!).
Also, I think that students should be introduced to discovery. There is so much about this
planet, our environment, our solar system, our bodies, etc…that we still don’t know about.
Shouldn’t we explore the facts and delve into the unknown? Some things in science, and in life,
5. Rob Schupbach
CRIN E06 Elementary Science Curriculum and Instruction
Dr. Juanita Jo Matkins
October 2, 2011
are so unpredictable. But, that doesn’t me our curious nature about the physical, biological,
mechanical, and various other scientific disciplines must be subdued.
How I plan to use the article in the classroom.
Challenger Astronauts
Craters (33.84 S, 210.54E)
08.15.2011 - Twenty-five years have passed
since seven brave astronauts lost their lives in
the Challenger accident. As the Shuttle
program comes to an end, we are reminded of
those who lost their lives in the pursuit of
human exploration. Shortly after the accident,
the Challenger astronauts were memorialized
by having lunar craters named after them.
These seven craters, located on the far side of
the Moon in the Apollo Basin, expose deep
portions of the lunar crust.
This LOLA image reveals that the depths of McNair and Jarvis craters, in particular,
reach nearly 7 km below the lunar datum (the Moon's equivalent of 'sea level'). The
depth of McNair and Jarvis is due to their placement within the large Apollo Basin (an
existing topographic low) as well as the Apollo Basins location in the even larger South
Pole-Aitken Basin. When combined with data from other LRO instruments such as
LROC and Diviner, and instruments aboard other spacecraft such as the Moon
Mineralogy Mapper (M3) aboard Chandrayaan-1, the complex nature of the Challenger
craters is revealed. Data from the M3 instrument reveal that Jarvis crater's composition
may represents a deep portion of the lunar crust.
References:
1. Steigerwald, B. (2010) "Biggest, Deepest Crater Exposes Hidden, Ancient Moon," 02
June 2011.
2. Robinson, M. (2011) "Challenger Astronauts Memorialized on the Moon," 28 January
2011, LROC Featured Image..
3. Petro, N. et al. (2011) "Lower Crustal Materials Exposed in the Apollo Basin
Revealed Using Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) Data," 41st Lunar and Planetary
Science Conference, Abstract 1802, March 1-5, The Woodlands, TX.
6. Rob Schupbach
CRIN E06 Elementary Science Curriculum and Instruction
Dr. Juanita Jo Matkins
October 2, 2011
After discussing the Apollo missions to the moon, I would have students explore the moon in
various different ways. An activity might be the following:
7. Rob Schupbach
CRIN E06 Elementary Science Curriculum and Instruction
Dr. Juanita Jo Matkins
October 2, 2011
Meteoroids and
the Craters They
Make
About this Activity
This activity investigates the
formation of craters. You'll
see how the size, angle, and
speed of a meteorite's impact
affects the properties of
craters. In addition, your
family will become familiar
with the terms meteor, Image of unnamed crater on the
meteoroid, and meteorite. far side of the moon courtesy of
NASA.
What You'll Need
1 or 2 - shallow What to Do
basins at least 1 square To begin the
foot (30 centimeters), cat activity, fill one of
liter boxes work well the basins with
flour about 1 1/4
1 or 2 - bags to 1 1/2 inches
ofunbleached flour (3-4 centimeters)
deep.Sprinkle a
1 - box of instant little cocoa on the
cocoa surface. This will
Several pebbles,various make the changes
sizes, caused by the
1/3 to 1 1/2 inches (1 to 4 pebbles more
centimeters) visible. Gather the
various pebbles;
1 - old newspaper they will be the
"meteoroids."
1 - ruler
1 - pen or pencil EXPERIMENT 1
Testing the Size of the Meteoroid
1 - data sheet
Pick out one of the smallest pebbles
and have a family member volunteer to
drop (not throw) the pebble from about
eye level into the basin.
Describe what you observe, and try to
predict the appearance of a crater
formed by a larger pebble dropped
8. Rob Schupbach
CRIN E06 Elementary Science Curriculum and Instruction
Dr. Juanita Jo Matkins
October 2, 2011
from the same height.
Things to Talk
About Then have your volunteer drop a
medium size pebble from about the
Discuss these terms same height. What is different about
before beginning the the crater?
activity.
Have the volunteer drop the largest
A meteoroid is a pebble from the same height.
particle or rock Record the results on your data sheets.
traveling through
space. The size of a
meteoroid can range
from microscopic to
many meters across.
Meteor Crater near Winslow, Arizona
was formed by an impact that
Image of Meteorite photo by
Ron Hipschman, courtesy of
happened 50,000 years ago. An
California Academy of explosive force greater than 20
Science million tons of TNT left a crater 700
feet deep (210 meters) and over
4,000 feet (1,200 meters) across.
A meteor is a streak
of light seen in the
night sky caused by EXPERIMENT 2
a meteoroid entering
Testing the Speed of the
the Earth's
atmosphere and Meteoroid
vaporizing in a flash
Pick out three or four pebbles of
of light. The light is
roughly the same (medium) size.
produced by the heat
Smooth over the flour and sprinkle on
of friction between
a little more cocoa. For a test
the meteoroid and
comparison, have the smallest family
the atmosphere. The
member drop one of the pebbles from
average size
eye level.
meteoroid, which
causes the meteors Try to predict the appearance of a
that we see at night, crater formed by a pebble of the same
is probably no larger size dropped at a higher level.
than a grain of sand.
Speeds can be as Have the next person drop pebbles in
great as 50,000 at successively higher levels.
miles per hour
Have the tallest family member drop
9. Rob Schupbach
CRIN E06 Elementary Science Curriculum and Instruction
Dr. Juanita Jo Matkins
October 2, 2011
the pebble from as high of a distance
(80,000 kilometers- as he/she can. Make sure that all
per-hour) or more. trajectories are vertical for consistency
in the test.
A meteorite is a
meteoroid that has Record the results on your data sheets.
struck the Earth. On
impact, large
meteoroids leave
craters and may EXPERIMENT 3
bury themselves Testing the Angle of Impact
deep underground.
Meteorites of any Smooth the flour and sprinkle on more
size can be quite cocoa. Have someone throw a medium-
valuable. sized pebble with moderate force
vertically into the basin. Then try to
predict the appearance of a crater if
the meteoroid strikes the ground at an
angle.
The next person should throw a similar
sized pebble at about the same speed,
but at a slight angle. Discuss the shape
of the new crater and predict how the
shape of the crater will change as the
angle of impact increases.
Continue throwing pebbles into the
basin, taking care to throw the same
sized rocks at the same speed, but at
varying angles. Discuss further the
shape of the craters.
Record the results on your data sheets.
What's Going On
The results of this test are often very
surprising. One would normally expect the
crater to have an oblong shape on extremely
wide-angle impacts. In fact, all craters that
we have seen on the Moon and Earth are
pretty much circular. The reason is that an
explosion occurs on impact and the forces
associated with an explosion are always
spherically symmetrical.
