Bring Our Children to Work Day 2014 inspires, captivates little explorers

On Aug. 14, explorers of the mini variety arrived at Space Center Houston bright and early for a day filled with innovation and exploration at Johnson Space Center’s Bring Our Children to Work Day. About 700 JSC team members and their children were welcomed to the event by JSC Associate Director Melanie Saunders, followed by a presentation from astronaut Mike Fincke about life and work aboard the International Space Station. Each child was given a goodie bag filled with items, including their very own mission patch to complete as they participated in different activities. After an exciting welcome and presentation, the children were then sent off to multiple breakout sessions around the visitor center to learn about the latest research on the space station, Orion’s first test flight and space travel to Mars. Children, elementary- to high-school-aged, were able to check out astromaterials captured from the Apollo missions, get an up-close look at space food and touch a real spacesuit designed by NASA engineers. To top it off, children got hands-on experience “designing” their own flat astronaut suits, competed in a "Designed to Make a Difference" engineering challenge and learned how the Orion spacecraft parachutes will work to bring astronauts to a safe landing after future human spaceflight missions.

Throughout the day, kids learned about the hard work that happens at JSC to accomplish NASA missions and met those who make it happen on a daily basis, all while exploring Space Center Houston and visiting their parents’ workstations to see them in action. NASA career panels, exhibit booths, hands-on activities and subject-matter experts made it simple for JSC team members to inspire our future-generation leaders and trailblazers—and keep them entertained before the start of the new school year.