Some third-graders dream of being an astronaut and watching a space shuttle launch from NASA Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Twenty-three third-graders from Buchanan Elementary School turned that dream into a reality.

In November 2006, LSU Engineering Assistant Professor Craig Harvey introduced gifted students from Buchanan teachers Frances Brady and Sue Wilson’s classes to the Node 2 Challenge, a NASA competition to name a new space node that would launch with the space shuttle Discovery and travel to the International Space Station. Entrants were required to learn about the space station, build a scale model and write an essay explaining why they chose the name, and submit it in PowerPoint with the essay in the presentation.

The East Baton Rouge Parish Buchanan Elementary School third-graders were one of the six winning schools that named the node “Harmony” and were invited to Cape Canaveral to observe the launch on October 23, 2007.

“As the shuttle launched, I was proud to think that the Buchanan students had named the node in the cargo bay of the shuttle that had just lifted off to space and that they would make history when it was deployed on the International Space Station,” said Harvey.

Harmony is the first space module to be named by people outside of NASA.

“In our research we learned that the installation of Harmony was crucial for future space explorations. Harmony will connect the European lab ‘Columbus’ and the Japanese lab ‘Kibo’ which will pave the way for future experiments and for manned Mars missions,” explained Brady. Two LSU students, Jodi Boutte, an engineering graduate student, and Morgan Simoneaux, an elementary education senior, were asked to accompany the students on the trip.

Simoneaux has conducted field experiences at Buchanan Elementary and worked closely with the winning class prior to the trip.

“Interacting with the students during the trip was inspiring. It reminded me why I want to be a teacher,” said Simoneaux.

The trip was an amazing experience for those involved, but it would not have been possible without the help of Chancellor Sean O’Keefe. With his background at NASA and contacts in the Baton Rouge area, Chancellor O’Keefe helped find funding for the trip.

Harmony was moved into its permanent position to receive the European and Japanese nodes on Nov. 14. Space shuttle Atlantis launched December 6, 2007 to deliver “Columbus” to be attached to “Harmony.” The students held a reception thanking the donors for their support on December 17, the day that Atlantis returned. The students watched the return of “Atlantis” as part of the program.

“While the launch itself was amazing, a once-in-a-lifetime experience, what was more amazing was hearing these students counting down to launch, cheering it off to space, and thinking someday they might be future scientists, astronauts, or engineers for NASA,” said Harvey.