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My name is Bethany Dixon from
Rocklin, California and I teach

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at Western Sierra
Collegiate Academy,

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a Rockland Academy Family
School, and this is NASA Now!

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Hi I'm Maria and
this is NASA Now.

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During the course of this season
we are going to take a look

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at some of the exciting career
opportunities available at NASA.

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In today's program we catch

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up with teacher turned astronaut
Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger

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and see what it takes to go

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from the classroom
to low Earth orbit.

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That's ahead, but first here's
what's happening at NASA Now.

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A lasting legacy on the moon.

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NASA's Gravity Recovery
and Interior Laboratory

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or GRAIL successfully completed
its mission to study differences

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in the moon's gravity.

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On December 17th 2012, GRAIL'S
two spacecraft, Ebb and Flow,

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successfully impacted
the lunar surface

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after their scheduled descent.

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The site was named the
Sally K. Ride Impact Site,

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in honor of late NASA
astronaut, Dr. Sally Ride;

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America's first female in space.

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Dr. Ride, who passed
away in July 2012,

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also led the mission's
MoonKAM program.

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The first camera on a planetary
mission dedicated entirely

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to education and
public outreach.

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MoonKAM took more than 115,000
images of the lunar surface.

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Imaging targets and the
spacecraft names were selected

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from student submissions
across the country.

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Following the mission,
images were returned

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to the students for
further study.

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She was a Mission Specialist on
the crew of STS 131 and spent

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over two weeks on board the ISS.

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So what was it like to go from
being a teacher to an astronaut,

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and how in the world
did she get there?

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Those are some of the
questions we will answer

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when Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger
shares her incredible career.

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Since I've been here at NASA
I've been living my dream.

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And it's been quite exciting.

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I've met many new
people, learned so much

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about our space shuttle
which is now retired

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about the International
Space Station.

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And I'm learning more now about
our international partners

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and the vehicles
that we're using

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to supply our International
Space Station.

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[ Music ]

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One day, when I was teaching
my high school class,

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one of my students
asked me, "How do you go

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to the bathroom in space?"

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It's a great question.

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I didn't know what that
toilet looked like.

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So I went to the NASA website.

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I found out just what the
shuttle toilet looked like,

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learned how you can use it.

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And at the same time
they were posting

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for teachers to become
astronauts.

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I thought this is a
perfect job so I applied.

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I knew that it would be very
unlikely that I'd get the job.

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But again, I set my goals
high and I worked hard.

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[ Music ]

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There's not one single day
that's ever the same whether

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we're in classes
learning about systems

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of the International
Space Station

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or how the new visiting
vehicles work, or whether we're

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in our Russian classes
learning the other language

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of the space station.

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Sometimes we're flying out in
a T-38 and practicing checklist

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and how to work as a team
in a very real environment.

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Sometimes we're in the
Neutral Buoyancy Lab

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and we're practicing 6-hour
long space walks underwater

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because it's the closest
that we can get to being

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in a simulated weightlessness.

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Other times, we're in front
of lots of video screens

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and practicing robotics
because the best way for us

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to do our robotics is
through simulators.

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And so all of those
things are ways

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that we have a different
daily schedule and then

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in between there, we
have desk jobs, too,

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where we're supporting those
people that are flying in space.

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[ Music ]

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When you're in space from the
very first moment that you start

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to feel this weightlessness, you
start to get this fluid shift

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and all the fluids start
to go up towards your head

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and to places that they normally
don't because, you know,

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here on earth, fluids
shift down due to gravity.

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And at first, this makes
you feel really stuffy,

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it can make you feel
a little bit nauseous

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because your stomach is floating
up where it's not normally at

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and it just takes some--

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a matter of a day or so before
you start to feel pretty normal.

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That's the amazing thing about
your brain is that it starts

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to recognize what the new
normal is and adapt to it.

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And then you have to figure
out some other things to do

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for your body, for
instance just taking care

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of like brushing your teeth,
putting your contacts in,

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washing your hair,
using the bathroom,

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all of these things take
a little bit more effort

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than they do here on earth.

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[ Music ]

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I want you to be just as
equally excited about science,

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engineering and math
and technology.

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And here's why, because
we're going places.

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NASA's got big dreams too
and I hope you do too.

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We're thinking about exploring
beyond low Earth orbit.

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We're trying to build
a spacecraft

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that will get us there.

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And so you guys are going to be
the ones that go explore for us.

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And we're going to be using
your minds and your dreams

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to propel us further and
further into our solar system.

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Did you know that space
is anything but empty?

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In fact there's a corrosive gas
called Atomic Oxygen that exists

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in low earth orbit and is
helping to restore artwork

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and clean surgical implants
right here on Earth.

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In an effort to learn
more about atomic oxygen,

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and the negative effects it has
on satellites and spacecraft,

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NASA scientists discovered that
this corrosive gas could help

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to restore fire-damaged artwork

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and remove bacterial
contaminants

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from surgical implants.

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Now you know.

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If you would like to join
the team at NASA just

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like astronaut Dottie
Metcalf- Lindenburger,

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there's no better time to plot
your career path than now.

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Teacher's you can point your
students towards a great career

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website where they
can explore a variety

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of opportunities
that exist at NASA.

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You can find it by checking
out the extension activity

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for this program on the NASA
Explorer Schools Virtual Campus.

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Well that's it for NASA NOW.

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Be sure to visit our facebook
page and leave a comment.

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We'll see you next
time on NASA NOW!

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