Although NASA shuttles are grounded, Smith Valley School teacher Melissa Martin has learned firsthand that the space exploration program still has nowhere to go but up.

“Rumor has NASA going down. It is definitely not,” Martin said.

As NASA Mars rover Curiosity prepares to land on the red planet Aug. 5 and a humanoid robot — Robonaut 2 — works on the International Space Station, improving space exploration technology keeps NASA busy.

“They’re still up and working and I have a ton of resources on what they are doing that I would love to share with the community,” Martin said.

Martin recently returned from LiftOff Professional Development Summer Institute at Johnson Space Center in Houston.

This year’s theme: Space Innovations and Exploration.

She was one of 50 U.S. teachers chosen to participate in the educational program, a collaborative effort between the Texas Space Grant Consortium and NASA. She was able to attend using a grant from the Montana Space Grant Consortium.

Martin learned about the history of America’s space industry from NASA scientists, engineers and astronauts and worked on developing curriculum and lesson plans to share with colleagues.

“I learned how to tie in teaching science with reading and math. I came back with 50 different lessons plans and a whole bunch of resources on what NASA does for us on an everyday basis in our homes, the environment and health care,” Martin said.

Among the resources Martin is excited to share are lunar and meteorite samples.

Martin became certified to borrow samples during the LiftOff Institute. After receiving a $2,500 grant from the Texas Space Grant Consortium, she plans to use the money to obtain samples in October. She also hopes to arrange a Skype session with an astronaut on the International Space Station.

Part of the technology LiftOff Institute speakers presented on were the humanoid robots responsible for traveling through space, collecting samples and gathering data. While Robonaut 2 works on the space station doing simple and routine tasks, he continues to be programmed from earth.

“A robot can take in the information — what the air quality is and air temperature,” Martin said. “We watched them [engineers] teach him [Robonaut] to curl his fingers around a wrench and pick it up. They then sent a signal up to him to pick up a wrench and he automatically knew how to do it.”

Martin also met Norm Chaffee, a former NASA rocket builder and propulsion engineer who developed rocket boosters for the shuttles.

“He was there from the very beginning of the space shuttle project to the end,” Martin said. “He had so much knowledge.”

A highlight of the program was touring the Apollo Mission Control Center.

“It just gave me the chills when they took us through mission control. This is where we landed on the moon and lost the Challenger,” Martin said.

 One of the tenser moments was participating in a simulation as mission control and then as astronauts.

Martin was first placed in the mission control group. Mission control’s objective was to keep the “astronauts,” other LiftOff participants, alive by monitoring samples of air and water quality they provided.

The simulation exemplified what can happen when teammates do not work together to accomplish one goal.

“One lady was not too cooperative. Crew members had four minutes before they died,” Martin said noting she had to try and keep calm in the face of concerned reactions of the astronauts group.

“The experience was very intense even if it was a simulation,” Martin said.

They succeeded in their mission, but barely. “We made it. With one minute, 20 seconds left we pulled it together to save them,” Martin said.

While Martin cannot attend the LiftOff Institute again, she is eager to learn more and has already signed up for another opportunity to attend a space camp in Alabama where participants will experience what astronauts do during training.

For more information about obtaining lesson plans or materials call Martin at 756-4535 or by email to Melissa@smithvalleyschool.org.

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or by email at hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.