There was a launch party Dec. 3 at the Boeing Building in
Crystal City. Hundreds of St. Thomas More Cathedral School
students, parents and teachers filled a conference room to
watch the launch on large TV monitors hung from the walls
showing the United Launch Alliance V 401 rocket ready to go.
Students and parents were excited.
“It’s good for the school. It’s a once in a lifetime thing,”
said parent Michelle Potter.
But there was a problem – a problem not uncommon for
launches.
Liftoff was scheduled for 6:03 p.m. But around 5 p.m., there
was an announcement that the launch may not happen. Weather,
especially strong winds, gave the launch only a 30 percent
chance of happening.
There was a 30-minute window for any launch to occur, but at
6:25 p.m. the launch was scrubbed. They would try again
Friday evening.
The children and their parents took the delay in stride.
Some students said they were not surprised.
“It’s kind of what I expected,” said fifth-grader James Pohl.
“There was a 70 percent chance it wouldn’t go.”
Science experiment payloads created by students and launched
into space are not uncommon. But those experiments usually
are built by university graduate students. According to NASA,
this is the first time a U.S. grade school, St. Thomas More
Cathedral School in Arlington, built a CubeSat, a
four-cubic-inch package weighing less than three pounds,
packed with a payload of scientific experiments.
The satellite is named St. Thomas More Cathedral School
Satellite-1 or STMSat-1. The payload will rendezvous with the
International Space Station (ISS), where astronauts will
place the satellite into orbit.
The project began in April 2012, when Joe Pelligrino, the
father of a student and a NASA Goddard engineer, saw the
Cathedral School students form the image of the space shuttle
in the parking lot of the school when the Discovery shuttle
flew piggy-back over Arlington on a modified 747 from Florida
to its final home at the Smithsonian’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy
Center in Chantilly.
About 400 students had a hand in designing, building, testing
and launching the satellite. Every class from pre-K to
eighth-grade was involved. Every student had a job with a job
description.
The main payload component is a small camera that will take a
photograph every 30 seconds and transmit them to earth
stations that will be shared by schools around the world. The
satellite also will measure temperature in space. NASA
provided the school with a special antenna to track the
satellite.
There were some objects aboard that are not usually included
in rocket launches – a Pope Francis medal blessed by the pope
and donated by Sister Bernadette McManigal, diocesan
superintendent of schools; a crucifix blessed by Father
Robert J. Rippy, rector of the Cathedral of St. Thomas More;
and a small metal container that holds personal items from a
family who made a large donation to the satellite project.
Children were given gift bags and parents received Boeing
hats, and everyone had an afternoon to remember.
Friday’s launch also was scrubbed because of weather. Ditto
Saturday’s attempt.
Finally, at 4:44 p.m. Dec. 6, the rocket successfully took
off from Cape Canaveral, Fla., for a rendezvous with the ISS.
The CubeSat will be deployed in late January.
“I’m just so excited for all the students, teachers and
parents (who) supported this mission,” said Nelda D. Thomas,
assistant principal. “This wouldn’t have happened without the
support of our community.”
Thomas said that the photographs and measurements taken by
the St. Thomas More CubeSat will benefit scientists and
students around the world.
There was another reason for her enthusiasm about the launch.
“I’m excited that we had a religious payload.”
