Education Payload Operations–Museum Aerospace Education Alliance (EPO-MAEA)
Research Area: Educational Demonstrations
Expedition(s): 7-9
Principal Investigator(s): ● Jonathan Neubauer NASA’s Johnson Space
Center, Houston, Texas
● Matthew Keil, NASA’s Johnson Space Center, Houston,
Texas
RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
Education Payload Operations-Museum
Aerospace Education Alliance (EPO-MAEA)
includes 5 participating museums that
develop educational activities for diverse
applications in exhibits and other informal
educational activities. EPO-MAEA is designed
to support the NASA mission to inspire the
next generation of explorers.
EARTH BENEFITS
EPO-MAEA is part of NASA's continuing
effort to use space as a unique educational
tool for K-12 students. Everyday items, such
as toys and tools, are given a new twist by
combining them with the allure of spaceflight and the unusual weightless environment to
produce educational materials that inspire interest in science and technology and encourage
curiosity and creativity.
SPACE BENEFITS
EPO-MAEA introduces the next generation of explorers to the environment of space.
RESULTS
EPO-MAEA is a successful education program on ISS. By using simple objects and the
microgravity environment, NASA is able to produce videos that demonstrate physical
properties, such as force, motion, and energy, which might be obscured by gravity on Earth. To
date, over 500 videos, DVDs, and video clips have been produced and distributed to science
teachers and schools throughout the United States. About 1 500 teachers each year are trained
to use the materials in their classrooms. An additional 30.9 million students have had the
opportunity to participate in live downlink events where their classmates pose questions to ISS
crews in orbit.
This investigation is complete and all results are published.
Students working on their balsa wood scale models of the
Wright Flyer. NASA image.