TES NEWS Volume 4, Number 1, February 1995


Photographs of Tombstone High School Model Rocket Presentation, 1 December 1994

On December 1, 1994, students from Daniel Wood's physics class at Tombstone High School (Tombstone, Arizona) came to ASU to present the Mars Global Surveyor TES group with a 1/18th -scale model of the Delta II rocket that will carry Mars Global Surveyor to the Red Planet in 1996.

Two McDonnell Douglas Delta II rockets will launch Mars Global Surveyor in November 1996 and Mars Pathfinder in December 1996, from the Kennedy Space Center.


1. The Tombstone High School Physics Class of 1994-1995 at Arizona State University with their cut-away-view model of the McDonnell Douglass Delta II Rocket. Photo by B. McClellan.


2. The class removes the pieces of the Delta II model from the back of a van after a long drive up from Tombstone. Known locally as "A Mountain," Tempe Butte towers above the scene in the background. Arizona State University (ASU) is located in Tempe, Arizona. The school's football stadium, home of the NFL Arizona Cardinals, is located off-frame to the right of "A Mountian." Photo by B. McClellan.


3. Tombstone H.S. students carefully carry the model rocket back to the Moeur Building on the ASU campus. The Moeur Building, built in 1939, is now home to the high-tech Mars Global Surveyor Space Flight Facility. The Facility is designed to support the MGS Thermal Emission Spectrometer research activity well past the year 2000. Photo by B. McClellan.


4. Tombstone H.S. students erect the launch tower that supports the Delta II rocket model. The tower was constructed from wood. Photo by B. McClellan.


5. The nose cone is carefully fitted to the main body of the rocket model. Photo by B. McClellan.


6. A 1:18th scale model of the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft was constructed of Lego(TM) building blocks by TES Principal Investigator Dr. Philip R. Christensen. Here, the model spacecraft is seen to make a perfect fit inside the nose cone constructed by the Tombstone High School group. The students had never seen the model Mars Global Surveyor before. Their careful work allowed them to construct an appropriately-sized 1:18th scale nose cone that fit the space craft perfectly. Photo by B. McClellan.


7. The Tombstone High School students also had an opportunity for a VIP tour of the ASU college campus. Here, the students are seen talking with TES PI Philip Christensen (left). Photo by B. McClellan.


8. Group photo by Greg Mehall, TES engineer.


More On Tombstone Rocket Project



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Arizona Mars K-12 Education Program / edgett@elvis.mars.asu.edu