groundcontrol, Author at The Mars Generation®

Press Release: The Mars Generation Names Ken Buckler As Student Space Ambassador Board Chair

October 12, 2018 By groundcontrol Leave a Comment

The Mars Generation (TMG) is pleased to announce the selection of Ken Buckler as the new chair of the Student Space Ambassador Leadership Program Advisory Board. The board members represent a partnership between students and professional leaders from the nonprofit, education and business sectors.

Ken Buckler graduated from Mount Saint Mary’s University in 2006 with a Bachelor’s in Computer Science. With a career focused on cyber security and risk management, Ken currently holds a CompTIA Advanced Security Practitioner certification.

Over the past ten years working for several contracting businesses in the United States, Ken has provided information technology and cyber security services to multiple Federal agencies, including system engineering, application security, and continuous monitoring services. He specializes in analyzing and reporting security information for large, distributed enterprises.

“Mars is a critical stepping stone in a much larger journey we must eventually embark upon to leave our solar system.” states Ken, “While in the short-term space exploration has resulted in many beneficial advances in technology on Earth, in the long-term it is absolutely critical to our survival as a species. Today’s students and young professionals will be the leaders of tomorrow, paving the road to Mars and beyond. We must inspire them and help them discover themselves and their leadership potential.”

The focus of the advisory board will continue to be the growth and enhancement of the Student Space Ambassador Leadership Program (SSA). The SSA Advisory Board will help lead efforts to build a stronger tomorrow by energizing youth today about science, technology, engineering, arts, math (STEAM) and space while also educating youth and adults about the importance of both to humankind.

About The Mars Generation Student Space Ambassador Leadership Program

The Mars Generation Student Space Ambassador Leadership Program was created to inspire, support and mentor the next generation of leaders in science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM) and the space-related industries. The program serves as a mentorship and leadership program for students as well as a workforce development and recruiting program for both STEAM and space industries. The Mars Generation Student Space Ambassador Leadership Program has been credited as a major force for bringing forth our future leaders in STEAM and Space.

About The Mars Generation

The Mars Generation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in the United States. The organization is volunteer-driven with a board of directors that includes astronauts, engineers, scientists and professionals from the nonprofit and business communities. With a reach of more than 40 million people in the organization’s first three years of operation, over one million followers on social media, over 1500 students from around the world participating in its Student Space Ambassador Leadership program, over 600 donors, 1200 members and several space industry sponsors in place, the organization continues to grow and offer programs to excite and educate students and adults about the importance of human space exploration and STEAM education.

For more information on The Mars Generation go to: TheMarsGeneration.org

Yvonne Hundshamer
The Mars Generation
612-670-0337
email us here

HALLOWEEN SPECIAL: How To You Make An Astronaut Costume? | #AskAbby Space and Science Show | The Mars Generation

October 8, 2018 By groundcontrol Leave a Comment

Season 2, Episode 1 of The Space and Science Show #AskAbby series
Presented by TheMarsGeneration.org

How to make an astronaut costume for Halloween?

Subscribe to our YouTube channel here so you don’t miss an episode!

We’re back! In the Season 2 premiere of #AskAbby, Astronaut Abby answers the question: “How do you make an astronaut costume for Halloween?” Are you looking for inspiration for your trick-or-treating costume? Do you know you want to be an astronaut, but don’t want to spend a ton of money? Looking to excite your child’s interest in space? Find out how to make an amazing astronaut costume that’s easy, fun, as well as inexpensive to make by watching the Season 2 premiere of the #AskAbby Space and Science Show!

Includes answers to questions including: How do you make a paper mache astronaut helmet? How can you make a jetpack out of soda bottles? Do astronauts really have jetpacks? How much does the typical NASA EVA (extravehicular activity suit) suit cost? How can you make an inexpensive EVA suit for Halloween? Whats a manned maneuvering unit? What’s the most important part of an astronaut costume? Lots of space puns included…as always!

If you’ve built the costume, tweet, post, or send a picture or video of your costume to @AstronautAbby or with the hashtag #AskAbby for a chance for your costume to be FEATURED on our page.

Tune in for new releases of The Space and Science Show #AskAbby series and don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel here so you don’t miss an episode!

Transcription of HOW TO MAKE AN ASTRONAUT COSTUME

Hi everyone and welcome to Season 2 of #AskAbby! We’re kicking things off with something extra fun and dare I say…space-tacular!

I’m going to show you how to make the best astronaut costume ever! — based on an EVA suit, which is an Extravehicular Activity Suit — or the big white ones that you see astronauts wearing when they’re doing spacewalks.

So this will actually be the first time that I’ve made an astronaut costume. Crossing my fingers that it goes stellar. And that I’ll be the star of my neighborhood when I go trick-or-treating.

*Show Intro*

Hi everyone, I’m Astronaut Abby, an aspiring astronaut with the goal to be the first person to walk on Mars. Welcome to AskAbby, where I answer all of your questions about space and science.

Since Halloween is right around the corner, we’re all probably thinking about costumes, right?

For all of those future space travelers out there, being an astronaut is probably pretty high on your list.

So for less than $50, some household items, and about 2.5 hours, I’m going to show you how to make the most out-of-this-world astronaut costume on your block (and dare I say on the internet)!

And parents, instead of just buying a costume, this is a great way to continue to ignite your child’s passion for STEM while having a fun and educational experience making it together.

Here are the materials that you’ll need to make this costume:

Silver, red and black duct tape
Black pipe-cleaners
A black pom pom
A balloon — and you want to make sure that your balloon is bigger than the head of the person who’s going to be wearing this costume because this is going to become their helmet
White paint
Fire-colored tissue paper
A white protective Tyvek suit
A bowl to do your paper mache in
Poster-board
Scissors, of course
Newspaper
Plain white paper
A paint brush
A glue gun
White glue
Two 2-liter soda bottles — empty
Paper towels for cleanup
And some water
And of course we can’t forget the most important part of a space suit, which is patches.
You’ll probably want to go and get some cool space patches, and then also some NASA patches, or whatever other space agency you want to support. And of course, remember to go to TheMarsGeneration.org and pick up one of our Mars Gen patches to put on your costume.

The first thing that we’re going to make is a helmet because there’s no oxygen in space. And that’s a little bit important.

The first step in making our helmet is to blow up the balloon so that we have a base for it. You’re going to want to blow your balloon up to slightly larger than the head of the person who will be wearing the costume.

Now we’ll prop our balloon up in a small bowl to keep it still while we’re doing our paper mache.

Now that we have the base for our helmet, we’re going to go ahead and make the helmet out of paper mache. For our mixture we’ll be using equal parts water and glue, and then dipping the strips of newspaper into it.

So you’ll just want to pour a little bit of glue into a bowl, and then pour an equal amount of water into the bowl. And go ahead and mix it up really well. You want to mix it until you can’t really see any more lumps of glue. Alright, there we go.

And then we’re going to take our strips of newspaper and soak them in our paper mache mixture. Make sure to get the paper totally covered, nice and gooey and soggy, and place it over your helmet balloon.

Once you have two or three layers of newspaper paper mache on your balloon, you’ll want to go ahead and take some strips of white paper and do the same thing, and cover your balloon in one layer of white paper strips, like so. This will make sure that it’s a lot easier to paint your white paint on without the newspaper showing underneath. Once you finish your paper mache, you have to wait for it to dry, which could take up to six hours.

Once your paper mache has dried, you’re going to go ahead and paint it white. Just get a nice layer of white paint over your entire helmet.

Now that we’ve painted it, we have to wait for the paint to dry. While we wait for that, I’m going to go shave my beard.

Now that all that the paint on our helmet has dried, we’re going to go ahead and cut a faceplate out so we can see out of it.

Since I’ll be using an exacto knife or a sharp pair of scissors, I’m going to need some adult help. Can I get an adult in here?!

NICOLE
*appears out of thin air*
Abby!

ABBY
Woah, Mom! How did you get here so fast, all the way from Minnesota?!

NICOLE
It was magic of course!

ABBY
Aww, wow! Well will you go ahead and cut this for me.

NICOLE
*grabs balloon and with a puff of smoke the helmet is cut*
Ta-da! I did it! And I added a microphone using a pipe-cleaner and pom pom.

ABBY
Wow, Mom! You’re the best!

NICOLE
I know!

ABBY
Now go away.

NICOLE
*leaves*

ABBY
This is AskAbby, not ask Mom!

So now that we have the mouthpiece on our helmet that’s really important so that we can talk to ground control.

*Into microphone* Uh, excuse me, Houston? I think we have a problem. This costume is just too awesome.

Now we’re going to make our rocket-fueled jet pack — which isn’t completely accurate. When astronauts are in space, they don’t actually use rockets to move around. They use something called an MMU, or a Manned Maneuvering Unit, which is like a backpack that they wear that’s full of compressed gas. And when they expel that compressed gas, it propels them in the direction that they want to go.

However, fire looks so cool, so we’re going to use that instead for this costume. To do so, I’ve got three layers of tissue paper here, our red, orange and yellow — or whatever colors you want to use for your fire. And I’m going to go ahead and just roll ‘em up like this. Doesn’t matter if they’re particularly tight. Once they’re rolled up, roughly in the middle, take that and scrunch it together. Take your scissors and cut each of the sides of your jetpack flames.

Now that we’ve got our flame strips cut, we’re going to go ahead and put them into our 2-liter bottle. And you can just separate out your flames a little bit if you want.

Okay, so that’s how we’re going to make the fire on our jetpacks. But now we need to make our jetpacks look cool and futuristic, and to do that, we’re going to use silver metallic duct tape. So you’ll want to cut strips of silver duct tape off, and then wrap them around your bottle. So you’ll keep doing that, wrapping strips of duct tape around your bottle, until you have a fully covered product like this one.

Once you’ve finished covering your rockets in silver duct tape, we’re going to connect them to our poster board using black duct tape. Ta-da!

Now we’re going to put the decorations onto our EVA suit. But, instead of using a real EVA suit, which would cost two to twelve million dollars, we’re going to go ahead and use this white personal protection garment from Amazon.

EVA suits usually have red lines around the waist and the arms of the astronaut, so that’s what we’re going to put on ours. We’re going to use our red duct tape to simulate that. So just cut off some strips of red duct tape, and we’ll go ahead and put those on the arms of our suit, and also around the waist.

And now for the most important part of our astronaut costume, which isn’t the life support or the helmet or the jetpack. No, it is patches.

So we have some cool patches here, and we’re going to just use a hot glue gun to stick ‘em on. Alternatively, if you don’t have patches, which you can order pretty easily online, you can color them on with markers or with paint.

Now that we’ve finished all the pieces of our costume, we just need to assemble it. This costume is easiest to put together if someone is already wearing the white part of the suit. If only I had someone wearing it. Huh.

EMILY
*Jumps on screen wearing the space suit* Ta-da!

ABBY
Hey Emily!

EMILY
Hey Abby!

ABBY
Oh perfect! Alright, so I’m going to go ahead and put the jetpack on Emily using our silver duct tape.

*Abby tapes jetpack onto Emily*

The great thing about the silver duct tape is that putting it on makes it look like you have straps of your jetpack. There you go!

EMILY
Yay!

ABBY
And now for the last piece, we’re going to put the helmet on! You ready?

EMILY
Yeah, I’m ready!

ABBY
*Places helmet on Emily*
There you go! Awww, isn’t she so cute?! You’re so cute!

EMILY
Glad to know. It’s so kawaii.

*Emily models costume*

So now we are done making our astronaut costume, which I think is pretty great. If you go ahead and make this costume, make sure to Tweet it at me, or Instagram it to me or Facebook it to me. So basically just tag me and the hashtag #AskAbby, and who knows, I might feature you on my page!

It was a lot of fun to make and it looks pretty darn cool, which we all know the cooler you look on Halloween, the more candy you get, right?

EMILY
Totally.

ABBY
This is true.

EMILY
How it works.

ABBY
So I think this is a pretty astronomical costume. Would you say so?

EMILY
*Laughs* I can’t with the puns.

ABBY
You might even say that it’s “out of this world.”

EMILY
Nooo.

ABBY
You want to know how you make a costume this cool?

EMILY
Noooo!

ABBY
You “plan-et”!

That’s all the time we have today for AskAbby. If you liked this segment, go ahead and click the thumbs up button and “like” us. And also subscribe to make sure that you see all of our future episodes coming out.

And if you have a question that you want to see answered on AskAbby, you can do so by Tweeting it to me with the hashtag #AskAbby, or by submitting it at TheMarsGeneration.org/AskAbby, which is linked below as always.

Want to join me in our goodbye catchphrase?

EMILY
I’d be glad to.

ABBY and EMILY
Until next time, farewell fellow travelers of spaceship Earth!

TMG Turns Three Membership Campaign: Get Your Limited Edition Patch Today!

August 28, 2018 By groundcontrol Leave a Comment

Become a member of The Mars Generation and help us reach our goal of 1500 members. Don’t miss this opportunity!

It’s The Mars Generation’s third anniversary membership campaign! Hurry and sign up today to get one of our limited edition 3rd anniversary patches! When they are gone they are gone! So don’t delay – sign up now to make sure you get one!

We have a goal of reaching 1,500 members by November 15th, 2018! We only need 615 more people to reach this goal, and you can help us make this happen! Sign up today!

To reach our 1,500 member goal we need your help NOW! Become a valuable member of this inspirational, educational non-profit and join us today to receive an exclusive member t-shirt and our limited edition patch (when they are gone they are gone)!

Why join The Mars Generation as a member TODAY?

GET AWESOME SPACE SWAG NOW FOR SIGNING UP INCLUDING:

TMG 3rd Anniversary Limited Edition patch
Exclusive Dream Big! TMG Member T-shirt (super soft ringspun cotton)
TMG magnet and stickers
TMG coloring book

YOU ALSO GET A BUNCH OF AWESOME PERKS YEAR ROUND (CLICK HERE TO LEARN ABOUT THEM!

Your membership supports our outreach work and programs that have already reached millions and will continue to grow. We work to inspire today’s youth to become tomorrow’s leaders in science, technology, engineering, art, and math (STEAM) and space exploration as well as inspire everyone to Dream Big, Act Big and Inspire Others. We are also working, through our mass outreach, to educate and excite people about human space exploration and teach them why we need to send humans to Mars. This outreach is essential to driving public interest and funding for all space exploration.

Press Release: 24 Under 24: Leaders and Innovators in STEAM and Space Annual Awards Program Now Accepting Nominations for 2019 Awards

June 27, 2018 By groundcontrol Leave a Comment

The Mars Generation is now accepting nominations for the class of 2019 24 Under 24: Leaders and Innovators in STEAM and Space Annual Awards.

Announced today, The Mars Generation is now accepting nominations for their second annual 24 Under 24: Leaders and Innovators in STEAM and Space Awards Program. The awards aim to recognize exceptional students and young people under the age of 24 around the world who are making a difference through science, technology, engineering, arts, mathematics (STEAM) and/or space.

Hayley Lewis, a 23-year-old engineering professional at Boeing, is the chair of the 24 Under 24 Planning Committee. Committed to expanding STEAM outreach, Lewis stated, “Last year, the committee received stellar nominations and our judging panel of professionals were impressed with the activities and causes being championed by young people all around the world.” Lewis continued, “I am excited to continue this work as we begin to search for the 2019 Class of 24 Under 24 Leaders and Innovators.”

The awards program serves to highlight the efforts of students who are also furthering the mission and goal of The Mars Generation: To excite young people and adults about human space exploration and STEAM education while fostering an understanding of the importance of these two elements to the future of humankind on Earth. Lewis explained that the goal of The Mars Generation’s outreach is to advance public interest in human space exploration and to advocate for NASA’s journey to Mars. Lewis commented, “We hope that recognizing the work being done by young people around the world will inspire others to support STEAM and Space education and outreach in their own communities.”

The 24 Under 24 Class of 2018 winners were involved in everything from STEAM-focused coloring books to finding new ways to generate clean energy to assisting the development of their nations space program.

“We are excited to continue our partnership with The Mars Generation of building up the next generation of space explorers,” said Tory Bruno, CEO of United Launch Alliance and TMG Advisory Board member. “United Launch Alliance is proud to support the 24 Under 24 awards program to help inspire and empower the students and young professionals poised to join STEAM industries at this critical time.”

Nominations for the class of 2019 will be accepted through November 1, 2018. Nomination forms and further information about the awards can be found at: https://themarsgeneration.org/steam-space-awards

All students and young people are encouraged to join the TMG Student Space Ambassador Leadership program at no cost.

About The Mars Generation
The Mars Generation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in the United States founded by Abigail ‘Astronaut Abby’ Harrison. The organization is volunteer-driven with a board of directors that includes astronauts, engineers, scientists and professionals from the nonprofit and business communities. With a reach of more than 25 million people in the organization’s first two years of operation and more than 1,500 students from around the world participating in its Student Space Ambassador program, over 600 donors, 1,200 members, and several space industry sponsors in place, the organization continues to grow and offer programs to excite and educate students and adults about the importance of human space exploration and STEAM education.

For more information on The Mars Generation go to: TheMarsGeneration.org

Yvonne Hundshamer
The Mars Generation
612-670-0337
email us here

Press Release: Mediaplanet Teams up with Letitia Wright, Abigail Harrison and More to Launch STEM and Education Technology Campaign

June 15, 2018 By groundcontrol Leave a Comment

The Mars Generation is pleased to share the following press release published today June 15, 2018 by Mediaplanet. To read the article featuring our founder Astronaut Abby please click here. The complete STEM and Education Technology issue (containing Astronaut Abby’s interview) can be found in in the Chicago, San Francisco, Houston, Seattle, Boston, New York and Washington DC/Baltimore editions of USA Today June 15, 2018. Find the original press release here.

The Mediaplanet STEM and Education Technology campaign, found within USA TODAY and online, helps shed light on the importance of investing in STEM education in and outside of the classroom.

NEW YORK (PRWEB) JUNE 15, 2018

Ahead of several key education conferences this summer, Mediaplanet today announces the launch of its June edition of “STEM and Education Technology.”

This campaign dives deep into several key issues affecting equity in education and access to STEM learning resources in thousands of schools and communities across the nation, spotlighting leaders in education, after-school programs, and industry who are nurturing STEM learning both in and outside of the classroom, as well as providing support to educators and students to strengthen the STEM career pipeline.

Astronaut. Marine biologist. Web developer. Biomedical engineer. These are just a few of the ever-growing career paths that an education in STEM (science, tech, engineering and mathematics) can lead to. In fact, 80% of all future jobs will require STEM literacy and skills, and what’s amazing is that some of these jobs don’t even exist yet! Yet as 54 percent of high school juniors and seniors report a lack of proper support to help match their occupational interests to available careers, this campaign maps out solutions for educators and industry leaders to bridge that gap.

The print component of “STEM and Educational Resources” is distributed within today’s edition of “USA Today” in Chicago, San Francisco, Houston, Seattle, Boston, New York and Washington DC/Baltimore markets, with a circulation of approximately 250,000 copies and an estimated readership of 750,000. The digital component is distributed nationally through a vast social media strategy and across a network of top news sites and partner outlets. To explore the digital version of the campaign and more stories, click here.

Leading the charge in inspiring educators, parents and future STEM leaders, STEM advocate Abigail Harrison and “Black Panther” star Letitia Wright bring some serious star power to the print and digital publication. Letitia Wright’s role as Shuri in the international blockbuster has already sparked interest in STEM among millions of young women and girls, leading to a new calling the actress has embraced wholeheartedly. Since the film’s groundbreaking release, Wright has been vocal about supporting STEM education in underserved communities and is urging parents and teachers to join in on the effort.

Wright says, “Everybody should just be open to what their kid wants to do. Let them know that they can make a difference.”

Harrison, also known as Astronaut Abby, was inspired her to start the nonprofit, “The Mars Generation,” when she was only 15. She has since played a role in sending 36 students in poverty and young women to Space Camps on full scholarships. She notes, “One of the biggest problems we have with recruiting young women and minorities into STEM fields is that they often don’t feel supported — and even more than that, they often feel unwelcome in STEM careers. Her biggest piece of advice is, “Be loud and be proud about your dreams.”

This campaign was made possible with the support of the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, Microsoft, Education Development Center (EDC), FIRST, CompTIA, Klutz, McGraw Hill Education, DK Publishing, Boxlight, Wonder Workshop, Quaver Music, Pai Technology, National Math and Science Initiative, and editorial and distribution partners, STEMConnector, National PTA, ASCD, U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, TCEA, International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), National Girls Collaborative Project, National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC), and Million Women Mentors.

About Mediaplanet
Mediaplanet specializes in the creation of content marketing campaigns covering a variety of industries. We tell meaningful stories that educate our audience and position our clients as solution providers. Our unique ability to pair the right leaders with the right readers, through the right platforms, has made Mediaplanet a global content marketing powerhouse. Our award-winning stories have won the hearts of countless readers while serving as a valuable platform for brands and their missions. Just call us storytellers with a purpose. Please visit http://www.mediaplanet.com for more on who we are and what we do.

Press Contact:
Victoria Borkowski
victoria.borkowski(at)mediaplanet.com
Phone: (646) 755-7949

2018 #TrainLikeAMartian Day 5 Challenge: Explore and Discover!

May 18, 2018 By groundcontrol 1 Comment

It’s Day 5 of the #TrainLikeAMartian Challenge! Friday May 18, 2018

To view all challenges and prize winners please check out our Live Blog Post updated daily here.

To view fun photos and videos from the challenge so far check out the event hashtag here!

This is the last day of this 5-day challenge! The focus is to raise awareness for the importance of STEAM, space and fitness and also to help raise funds for The Mars Generation programs including sending students who lack financial resources to Space Camp.

Every day during the challenge we will post the #TrainLikeAMartian fitness challenge, STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math) activity and a bio-hack challenge. You can participate in any or all of the challenges. Join us today and let’s all have some fun!

You must sign up here and follow the challenge rules to qualify to win prizes.

For every $25 donated, donor gets one entry in the daily prize drawing for #TrainLikeAMartian! Please make a donation today to help us reach our fundraising goal of $10,000.

You do not need to donate to participate and be entered for a chance to win prizes.

Day 5 Fitness Challenge: Explore and Discover

Our focus today is to improve your agility, coordination and speed! For this challenge you be carrying weighted objects from the Exploration area back to your Base Station to improve Anaerobic and Aerobic fitness. This could be done with lifting weights, or setting up a course with heavy household objects. Remember to lift carefully and check out the mission briefing below for more tips and advice on this activity.

See how you do with getting up and down and how fast you can finish your own course. Want some instruction on how to complete these activities? Watch the video here or Click here for awesome NASA* resources from their Train Like An Astronaut program. Resources include detailed educational guides for teachers, including adaptations for all of their Train Like An Astronaut program activities.

Day 5 STEAM Challenge:

Use the Mathematical Grid Method to draw an image of your choice. Who knew math could help you learn how to draw?! For instructions on how to use the Grid Method, click here.

Day 5 Bio-Hack:

Rebound (jumping up and down on a trampoline) for ten to fifteen minutes today. This can stimulate every single cell in your body. Rebounding helps circulate oxygen throughout the body to increase energy. It also improves balance by stimulating the vestibule in the middle ear. Don’t have a trampoline? Mama called the doctor and the doctor said “Increase bone mass by jumping on the bed”. NASA uses rebounding exercises to help astronauts combat bone mass loss during long-duration missions.

How to Win Be Entered to Win Cool Space Prizes

Complete the challenge activity or any physical activity and share photos on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram using our event hashtag #TrainLikeAMartian to be entered in our daily drawings. You can be entered multiple times:

Every photo (up to 3 photos per day) = 1 entry/ photo
Every video (up to 3 videos per day) = 2 entries/ video
Every post asking your followers to donate to The Mars Generation that includes both #TrainLikeAMartian and TheMarsGeneration.org/donate = 2 entries for each social media post
You may enter on multiple social media channels for even more chances to win!

Sign up for the Train Like A Martian Challenge here to qualify for prizes and also to receive email updates about the challenge.

Challenge your friends to join you for #TrainLikeAMartian, click here to find out how.

*NASA does not endorse nor is affiliated with The Mars Generation or the Train Like A Martian Challenge.

2018 #TrainLikeAMartian Day 4 Challenge: Building An Astronaut Core!

May 17, 2018 By groundcontrol 1 Comment

It’s Day 4 of the 2018 #TrainLikeAMartian Challenge! Thursday May 17, 2018

To view all challenges and prize winners please check out our Live Blog Post updated daily here!

To view fun photos and videos from the challenge so far check out the event hashtag here!

Remember, this is a 5-day challenge running from May 14-18 and the focus is to raise awareness for the importance of STEM, space and fitness and also to help raise funds for The Mars Generation programs including sending students who lack financial resources to Space Camp.

You must sign up here and follow the challenge rules to qualify to win prizes.

For every $25 donated, donor gets one entry in the daily prize drawing for #TrainLikeAMartian! Please make a donation today to help us reach our fundraising goal of $10,000.

You do not need to donate to participate and be entered for a chance to win prizes.

Day 4 Fitness Challenge: Building An Astronaut Core

For today’s challenge we are focusing on building an astronaut core.

The fitness activity requires you to complete both crunches and a plank. See how you do with these activities! Challenge your friends to a planking competition and see who can hold their plank the longest. Want some instruction on how to complete these activities? Watch the video here or click here for awesome NASA* resources from their Train Like An Astronaut program. Resources include detailed educational guides for teachers, including adaptations for all of their Train Like An Astronaut program activities.

Day 4 STEAM Challenge:

Draw, paint, or build how you imagine a Mars colony would look! Get creative! What will you need? How will you generate energy? What will your agricultural system look like? Will you have a recreational center? Check out how to build a Mars Colony in your living room.

Day 4 Bio-Hack:

Start today with a high-fat breakfast. Try having an avocado on toast, or a full-serving of grass fed yogurt topped with macadamia nuts and raspberries. Healthy fats like monounsaturated (coconut oil, olive oil, avocados, butter or milk from grass fed cows) can have cardiovascular benefits as they have been linked to reducing LDL cholesterol, help our immune system fight off intruders, contribute to healthy brain and hormone formation, and are an excellent source of energy. When you substitute a high-carbohydrate breakfast for a high-fat breakfast, you are also changing your body’s metabolic functioning which leaves you feeling full. Feeling full is a plus when you’re an astronaut living in space or on Mars and have limited food options.

How to Win Be Entered to Win Cool Space Prizes

Every photo (up to 3 photos per day) = 1 entry/ photo
Every video (up to 3 videos per day) = 2 entries/ video
Every post asking your followers to donate to The Mars Generation that includes both #TrainLikeAMartian and TheMarsGeneration.org/donate = 2 entries for each social media post
You may enter on multiple social media channels for even more chances to win!

Sign up for the Train Like A Martian Challenge here to qualify for prizes and also to receive email updates about the challenge.

Challenge your friends to join you for #TrainLikeAMartian, click here to find out how.

*NASA does not endorse nor is affiliated with The Mars Generation or the Train Like A Martian Challenge.

2018 #TrainLikeAMartian Day 3 Challenge: Jump For The Moon!

May 16, 2018 By groundcontrol 1 Comment

It’s Day 3 of the 2018 #TrainLikeAMartian Challenge! Wednesday May 16, 2018

To view all challenges and prize winners please check out our Live Blog Post.

To view fun photos and videos from the challenge so far check out the event hashtag here!

This is a 5 day challenge running from May 14-18. The focus is to raise awareness for the importance of STEM, space and fitness and also to help raise funds for The Mars Generation programs including sending students who lack financial resources to Space Camp.

You must sign up here and follow the challenge rules to qualify to win prizes.

For every $25 donated, donor gets one entry in the daily prize drawing for #TrainLikeAMartian! Please make a donation today to help us reach our fundraising goal of $10,000.

You do not need to donate to participate and be entered for a chance to win prizes.

Day 3 Fitness Challenge: Jump for the Moon

Our focus today is on building bone strength and heart and muscle endurance by jumping for the moon! For this challenge you will jump rope or you can jump up and down or do jumping jacks or jump up and down stairs or…you get the picture!

See how many times you can jump in 30 seconds, 60 seconds or longer! Can you do 3 sets of 30 seconds each? How about skipping around while you jump rope? Want some instruction on how to complete these activities? Watch the video here or click here for awesome NASA* resources from their Train Like An Astronaut program. Resources include detailed educational guides for teachers, including adaptations for all of their Train Like An Astronaut program activities.

Day 3 STEAM Challenge:

Today, go outside and explore the plant life in your neighborhood! Try to identify a plant of which you don’t know the name. Click here for a step-by-step guide to help you identify your plant.

Day 3 Bio-Hack Challenge:

Eliminate refined sugar from your diet today. Refined sugars can be found in food items like soda, sweets, pastas and even white breads. Though the jury is still out for some, refined sugars have been linked to high cholesterol, crankiness, fatigue and other negative health benefits. Tooth decay has also been linked to sugar intake and that poses a serious risk for astronauts who partake in missions that extend past Earth’s orbit, as they will have a greater lapse in time since their last terrestrial dental exam and will need to rely on limited resources and personnel who may not have had extensive dental training. So for today’s bio-hack, if you need to use a sweetener today, try to use raw honey or Stevia instead of sugar.

How to Win Be Entered to Win Cool Space Prizes

Every photo (up to 3 photos per day) = 1 entry/ photo
Every video (up to 3 videos per day) = 2 entries/ video
Every post asking your followers to donate to The Mars Generation that includes both #TrainLikeAMartian and TheMarsGeneration.org/donate = 2 entries for each social media post
You may enter on multiple social media channels for even more chances to win!

Sign up for the Train Like A Martian Challenge here to qualify for prizes and also to receive email updates about the challenge.

Challenge your friends to join you for #TrainLikeAMartian, click here to find out how.

Find out about the cool rewards you can earn through fundraising for The Mars Generation by clicking here.

*NASA does not endorse nor is affiliated with The Mars Generation or the Train Like A Martian Challenge.

2018 #TrainLikeAMartian Day 2 Challenge: Do A Spacewalk

May 15, 2018 By groundcontrol 2 Comments

It’s Day 2 of the 2018 #TrainLikeAMartian Challenge! Tuesday May 15, 2018

To view all challenges and prize winners please check out our LIVE blog post updated daily here!

To view fun photos and videos from the challenge so far check out the event hashtag here!

This year we have a few different challenges to participate in for added fun! Every day during the challenge we will post the #TrainLikeAMartian fitness challenge, STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math) activity and a bio-hack challenge. You can participate in any or all of the challenges. Join us today and let’s all have some fun!

You must sign up here and follow the challenge rules to qualify to win prizes.

For every $25 donated, donor gets one entry in the daily prize drawing for #TrainLikeAMartian! Please make a donation today to help us reach our fundraising goal of $10,000.

You do not need to donate to participate and be entered for a chance to win prizes.

Day 2 Fitness Challenge: Do a Spacewalk!

For today’s challenge,we are focusing on building muscular strength and coordination by doing the spacewalk! For your spacewalk, you will perform a “crab walk” and “bear crawl.” Yup, you heard us! For the little kids, this will be easy – for us big kids it may be a bit more challenging!

See how you do with these activities. Can you move forward and backward? How far can you travel for each? We are guessing we will be getting some great photos and videos of this challenge! Want some instruction on how to complete these activities? Watch the video here or click here for awesome NASA* resources from their Train Like An Astronaut program. Resources include detailed educational guides for teachers, including adaptations for all of their Train Like An Astronaut program activities.

Day 2 STEAM Challenge:

Our second STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, math) challenge is to see what has been happening with the Mars Curiosity Rover Mission on NASA’s website: Curiosity Rover Mission. Let us know something you learned!

Day 2 Bio-Hack Challenge:

Eat raw vegetables today and skip the commercial dressing, which can have unhealthy oils or chemicals that usually contain MSG (monosodium glutamate). Raw vegetables keep more of their vitamins and minerals intact and they maintain more of their enzymes. The body uses enzymes to digest food and repair itself. Astronauts can use raw foods grown in space for treatment of allergic, rheumatic and infectious diseases. Astronauts on the International Space Station are currently utilizing deployable plant growth units for both nutrition and for a means of recreation and relaxation.

You can make your own dressing by blending;
½ avocado
2 tablespoons of coconut oil
2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar
½ lemon
Fresh cilantro
Salt to taste

How to Be Entered to Win Cool Space Prizes

Every photo (up to 3 photos per day) = 1 entry/ photo
Every video (up to 3 videos per day) = 2 entries/ video
Every post asking your followers to donate to The Mars Generation that includes both #TrainLikeAMartian and TheMarsGeneration.org/donate = 2 entries for each social media post
You may enter on multiple social media channels for even more chances to win!

Sign up for the Train Like A Martian Challenge here to qualify for prizes and also to receive email updates about the challenge.

Challenge your friends to join you for #TrainLikeAMartian, click here to find out how.

Find out about the cool rewards you can earn through fundraising for The Mars Generation by clicking here.

*NASA does not endorse nor is affiliated with The Mars Generation or the Train Like A Martian Challenge.

2018 #TrainLikeAMartian Day 1 Challenge: Mission: Control!

May 14, 2018 By groundcontrol 1 Comment

It’s Day 1 of the 2018 #TrainLikeAMartian Challenge! Monday May 14, 2018

To view all challenges and prize winners please check out our LIVE blog post updated daily here!

To view fun photos and videos from the challenge so far check out the event hashtag here!

This year we have a few different challenges to participate in for added fun! Every day during the challenge we will post (both on our blog and on our social media channels) the #TrainLikeAMartian fitness challenge, a STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math) activity and a bio-hack challenge. You can participate in any or all of the challenges. Join us today and let’s all have some fun and be entered for a chance to win prizes too!

Remember for every $25 donated, donor gets one entry in the daily prize drawing for #TrainLikeAMartian! Please make a donation today to help us reach our fundraising goal of $10,000.

You do not need to donate to participate and be entered for a chance to win prizes.

Day 1 Fitness Challenge: Mission Control

To kick off the #TrainLikeAMartian Challenge we are starting with NASA’s Mission: Control! Exercises from their Train Like An Astronaut program*.

This activity requires you to throw and catch objects on one foot to improve your balance and spatial awareness. See how long you can balance! Want some instruction on how to complete this fitness challenge? Watch the video here or Click here for awesome NASA* resources for this activity. Resources include a detailed educational guides for teachers, including adaptations for all of their Train Like An Astronaut program activities.

Day 1 STEAM Challenge:

Our first STEAM (science, technology, education, arts, math) challenge is to perform a water refraction experiment. See if the size of the water jar makes a difference on how the image is refracted. Want some instructions for how to perform a water refraction experiment? Click here for instructions.

Day 1 Bio-Hack Challenge:

Drink 64 oz of water today. Whether you’re living on Earth or Mars, hydration is very important for a healthy body. Dehydration can lead to disorientation, fatigue, muscle cramps, fever and more. These are all things that could not only jeopardize your own well-being but the success of an astronaut’s mission. For today’s biohack, try to skip soda or coffee all day as they can lead to dehydration when consumed in large quantities. Shoot for drinking 64 oz of water instead. You can even try adding apple cider vinegar or a slice of lemon to your filtered water.

More About The #TrainLikeAMartian Challenge

Our Train Like A Martian Challenge runs for 5 days from May 14 – May 18, 2018. Every day we will post a new fitness, STEAM and bio-hack challenge on our social media channels right here on our blog and on our social media channels. Complete the challenge activities or any physical activity and share photos on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram using our event hashtag #TrainLikeAMartian to be entered in our daily prize drawings.

You can be entered multiple times:

Every photo (up to 3 photos per day) = 1 entry/ photo
Every video (up to 3 videos per day) = 2 entries/ video
Every post asking your followers to donate to The Mars Generation that includes both #TrainLikeAMartian
and TheMarsGeneration.org/event-donate = 2 entries for each social media post
You may enter on multiple social media channels for even more chances to win!

Sign up for the Train Like A Martian Challenge here to qualify for prizes and also to receive email updates about the challenge.

Challenge your friends to join you for #TrainLikeAMartian, click here to find out how.

Find out about the cool rewards you can earn through fundraising for The Mars Generation by clicking here.

*NASA is not affiliated with The Mars Generation or our #TrainLikeAMartian Challenge
Filed Under: Train Like A Martian

Press Release: The Mars Generation Names Ken Buckler As Student Space Ambassador Board Chair

Become a member of The Mars Generation and help us reach our goal of 1500 members. Don’t miss this opportunity!

Why join The Mars Generation as a member TODAY?

Read more about this membership opportunity on our TMG Membership page and sign up today!

It’s Day 5 of the #TrainLikeAMartian Challenge! Friday May 18, 2018

For every $25 donated, donor gets one entry in the daily prize drawing for #TrainLikeAMartian! Please make a donation today to help us reach our fundraising goal of $10,000.

Day 5 Fitness Challenge: Explore and Discover

Day 5 STEAM Challenge:

Day 5 Bio-Hack:

How to Win Be Entered to Win Cool Space Prizes

It’s Day 4 of the 2018 #TrainLikeAMartian Challenge! Thursday May 17, 2018

For every $25 donated, donor gets one entry in the daily prize drawing for #TrainLikeAMartian! Please make a donation today to help us reach our fundraising goal of $10,000.

Day 4 Fitness Challenge: Building An Astronaut Core

Day 4 STEAM Challenge:

Day 4 Bio-Hack:

How to Win Be Entered to Win Cool Space Prizes

It’s Day 3 of the 2018 #TrainLikeAMartian Challenge! Wednesday May 16, 2018

For every $25 donated, donor gets one entry in the daily prize drawing for #TrainLikeAMartian! Please make a donation today to help us reach our fundraising goal of $10,000.

Day 3 Fitness Challenge: Jump for the Moon

Day 3 STEAM Challenge:

Day 3 Bio-Hack Challenge:

How to Win Be Entered to Win Cool Space Prizes

It’s Day 2 of the 2018 #TrainLikeAMartian Challenge! Tuesday May 15, 2018

For every $25 donated, donor gets one entry in the daily prize drawing for #TrainLikeAMartian! Please make a donation today to help us reach our fundraising goal of $10,000.

Day 2 Fitness Challenge: Do a Spacewalk!

Day 2 STEAM Challenge:

Day 2 Bio-Hack Challenge:

How to Be Entered to Win Cool Space Prizes

It’s Day 1 of the 2018 #TrainLikeAMartian Challenge! Monday May 14, 2018

Remember for every $25 donated, donor gets one entry in the daily prize drawing for #TrainLikeAMartian! Please make a donation today to help us reach our fundraising goal of $10,000.

Day 1 Fitness Challenge: Mission Control

Day 1 STEAM Challenge:

Day 1 Bio-Hack Challenge:

More About The #TrainLikeAMartian Challenge