BEVIS — Astronauts eat with Velcro lunch trays and they strap their heads to pillows to sleep in space. Those were just two of the things students at St. John the Baptist School learned about astronauts last week.

        Jim Fitzgerald, an aerospace education specialist with NASA's John H. Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field, made the presentation for more than 500 students, grades K-8.

        Mr. Fitzgerald, a certified teacher at the Cleveland research center, travels Ohio and Michigan as part of the Aerospace Education Services Program (AESP), which began in 1961.

        NASA contracts with Oklahoma State University to help bring the free AESP education experiences to schools nationwide.

        Steve Marks, AESP director, said that the program, which has 35 education specialists nationwide, reaches more than 2,000 schools and nearly 1 million students each year.

        Using rocket models, freeze-dried food, a space sleeping bag and a replica space suit that students were able to climb into, Mr. Fitzgerald kindled interest for NASA at St. John's. Students gasped at a video of a shuttle launch and giggled at the revelation that astronauts wear “diapers” under their spacesuits. Glenn Research Center requires schools to enroll teachers in a free, four-hour workshop on how to apply NASA research in the classroom before the school can host a presentation.

        “(The program) was absolutely fantastic,” said Judy Beavers, a second-grade teacher at St. John.
       

        Learn more about AESP at Mr. Fitzgerald's Web site, http://aesp.nasa.okstate.edu/miohaesp/michigan&ohio/
       

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