Mount Gilead Public Library children’s librarian Jillian Lastoria asks two kids their plans for building a space station out of select items made available to them during the program.
Alberta Stojkovic | AIM Media Midwest
About 20 children from the Mount Gilead Public Library’s Summer Reading Program got to have an hour to dream about life in space with Armstrong Air and Space Museum educator Ellen Engle.
Engle began the hourlong program on July 14 talking about the life of astronaut Neil Armstrong. Armstrong’s hometown was Wapakoneta, Ohio, which is also the home of the Armstrong Air and Space Museum. Engle discovered there were a couple “space nerds” in the group who were excited to hear the story of Armstrong’s first flight in an airplane when he was just 6 years old.
Armstrong could fly an airplane before he could drive a car. He got his pilot’s license at 16 before he got a driver’s license. He attended Purdue University, where he majored in aeronautical engineering. He also served in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War. He became a test pilot for NASA and then an astronaut. He was the first man to step on the moon in 1969.
A girl in the group knew his first words when he stepped on the Moon were, “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”
The children participated in two experiments, which highlighted the importance of what is required to travel and live in space. The first requirement is oxygen, along with water and food. The most difficult for children to guess was communication to Earth.
Engle heard a lot of “yucks” when she told them it’s astronauts’ “pee” that is filtered to provide the needed drinking water for space. Children used cups and several layers of filter to see how cloudy water can be purified.
To illustrate what four things are needed to live in space, children were able to select from a box full of gadgets, bowls, and tubes to construct an imaginary space station. Each group of children built the station with the needed oxygen, water, food and communications system. One group thought of building a greenhouse to raise food.
Engle finished with an invitation to visit the Armstrong Air and Space Museum, and each child chose a postcard from the museum to take home. Both Armstrong’s first airplane and test plane are at the museum, along with the actual Gemini 8 spacecraft and a replica of the Apollo 11 spacecraft, which took Armstrong to the moon.
The Mount Gilead program is one of 54 library, fair and other group programs Engle will give around Ohio this summer. She has already seen more than 2,000 children this summer. Through the school year, she hosts field trips at the museum for school, scouts and other groups.
Friday, July 21, will be the last special event for the library’s Summer Reading Program with a movie and Luau family celebration.
For more information on the Armstrong Air and Space Museum, visit armstrongmuseum.org.
Alberta Stojkovic is a correspondent for The Morrow County Sentinel.
