Detroit Students To Witness Final Shuttle Launch
DETROIT (WWJ) - It'll be a once-in-a-lifetime experience for 28 Detroit school kids. Later this week, students at Pasteur Elementary will be at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida to witness the historic final launch of the space shuttle Endeavor.
Fifth grader Jordan Grant is excited.
"I'm looking forward to seeing how the space shuttle is going to be launched and all the people that are gonna be on there, on the Endeavor," Grant told WWJ's Ron Dewey.
Science teacher Tracy King said they got a call last summer from a former colleague able to save a spot , who asked if they would like to be there.
"It has been challenging raising the money, getting the funds. But we have had some wonderful sponsors to donate to us. And parents have given and we just worked very, very hard -- and it's become a reality," King said.
King said the kids have learned what it really takes in math and science study to be in space.
"The children were thinking that, 'Oh, they're just flying around in space,"... that you can just go and do this. But they are learning now that there is some education that definitly is going behind this," she said.
Endeavour is slated to lift off Friday (April 29) at 3:47 p.m. EDT (1947 GMT) from NASA's Kennedy Space Center.
By a fluke of scheduling, the launch will take place same day as the much-anticipated royal wedding in England. While the wedding is all that some can think about, NASA officials said they weren't aware of the coincidence when scheduling the launch. (More on this at CBSNews.com).
