NEW KENSINGTON — "Green Bay, we have a problem."
Those were the words Mary Queen of Apostles Catholic School students grumbled Thursday whenever they hit a glitch in their simulated rocket launch.
Since Space Explorers Inc., the company providing the computer program, is based in the hometown of the Green Bay Packers, the students wondered if their loyalty for the Pittsburgh Steelers was a factor in the snafus.
But the seventh-graders overcame the difficulties and successfully launched the Lunar Prospector into the moon's orbit — the first successful mission of nearly a dozen that engineering teacher Jim Musolino has overseen.
The program usually throws at least one unexpected problem at the students, which could result in the orbiter crashing into the moon. Musolino's students overcame the solar flares that nearly derailed their mission, but it was a close call.
"I just pressed some buttons," said Sarah Klukaszewski of New Kensington. Klukaszewski was one of two students serving as mission director.
Working from a computer lab at the Leishman Avenue school, about 20 students were given specific positions, from spacecraft engineer to neutron spectrometer co-investigator.
Each position had a dedicated computer that would show varying information about the launch. The students read from a script that provided dialogue and tasks, depending on their responsibilities.
Anthony Fellowes of New Kensington served as launch director. As such, he instructed other members of the mission control team when to activate certain controls.
"Standby for terminal countdown. We are at T minus 10 ... 9 ... 8 ...," Fellowes intoned. "Ignition ... 2 ... 1 ... and liftoff! We have liftoff."
The students' computer screens changed as the mission progressed, showing different instructions and pictures of the Athena II rocket and the Lunar Prospector.
The Athena and Prospector were involved in a real NASA mission to orbit and map the moon in 1998.
Musolino said further lessons will help students understand the professions and tools involved in the launch.
"I hope this gives them an appreciation of everything that goes into something this complex," Musolino said.
New Kensington Mayor Tom Guzzo, who was invited to observe the simulation with other local and state officials, was impressed by the technology available to students.
"I remember watching Apollo (moon landing) missions on a 19-inch, black-and-white television," Guzzo said. "Today I felt like I was in NASA."
Musolino said students in other grades will participate in similar simulations over the next week.
Students also will have the opportunity to view authentic samples of sand, soil, rocks and meteorites collected from the moon during the Apollo 16 mission in 1972.
Sixth-graders in Cheryl Kestner's science class passed around the samples on Thursday.
Kestner said she and Musolino took classes to become certified to handle the artifacts provided by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
This week, six months after the samples were requested, they arrived at Mary Queen of Apostles in a silver briefcase that would make a great prop in a spy movie.
"You don't often get a chance to see these," Kestner said. "We're blessed to have them. They're national treasures."
The students passed around the samples and Musolino's collection of patches from the Apollo missions.
"I like to think these rocks were actually in space," said Sofia Bordonaro of New Kensington. "It's a place I'll probably never go."
Alexis Shirley, also of New Kensington, was intrigued by the variety in the rocks' appearances.
"There were a lot of different colors, and some were shiny and sparkly," she said. "But some looked just like rocks from Earth."
Shirley also liked the lesson about what a visitor to the moon would need to survive. Matches and a compass would be useless since there is no oxygen to burn and no magnetic field to guide a compass; but oxygen, water, food and a heat source would be necessary.
"I like that we have a lesson straight from NASA," Bordonaro added.
