Salisbury University helping to send children to watch NASA launch in Florida

SALISBURY, Md. – Children from two local youth organizations are going to witness a NASA launch at Florida’s Kennedy Space Flight Center, thanks in part to sponsorship by Salisbury University.

On Thursday, December 9th, children from SchooLARS 4 STEM and It Takes a Village to Raise Our Children will watch the X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) launch into space. IXPE is NASA’s first imagine X-ray polarimetry mission. The goal is to measure the polarization of things like a neutron star or black hole binaries. The data collected on the mission is expected to help scientists understand these phenomena better.

The children will be hosted by mission manager Joy Bretthauer, an Eastern Shore native with more than 25 years of experience at NASA. “Experiences like this give local students the opportunity to witness the importance of science-based research early on while also reinforcing the value of education overall,” said Dr. Michael Scott, dean of the Henson School.

Salisbury University says the goal is to get children in underserved communities interested in the STEM field. “Thanks to infrastructure such as NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, science- and technology-based business opportunities on the Eastern Shore are growing at an unprecedented rate,” said Dr. Christy Weer, dean of the Perdue School. “The students witnessing this launch have the opportunity to be part of the next generation of leaders in these industries.”