By Mark Ambrogi
Derek Dial has been interested in space since he was a kid.
At 36, the Clay Middle School teacher finally arrived at space camp. Dial was selected to attend the Honeywell Educators at Space Academy at the United States Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville. Ala.
Dial, a STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) teacher at Clay Middle School, made an application in November 2016 and learned he was selected two months later.
“It was like applying for a grant. It was a pretty rigorous set of questions that I had to answer,” said Dial, who moved from Westfield to Fishers in January. “We had to write essays on how we are going to use the experience. They choose 200 teachers out of the world to go, and I was the only one selected from Indiana.”
Dial credited fellow Clay teacher Michelle Nelson, who previously attended the Space Academy, for motivating him to apply.
Dial spent 45 hours in a lab and classroom in the camp from June 22 to 26.
“It was a heck of an experience, a once-in-a-lifetime shot,” Dial said. “The best part was getting to actually collaborate and work with other teachers from around the world inside simulators and classroom instruction. The main mission of the training is to regain our passion for space and travel and try to engage our students by telling them stories.”
Dial said they can share with their students the different kinds of careers available in the space industry.
Dial had the opportunity to be commander of a mockup shuttle mission and fly the shuttle.
“We got to work with the brand new Orion simulator,” Dial said.
The teacher used the MAT, the multi-axis trainer, which simulates how the astronauts would feel in a tumble spin during re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere.
“It simulated the violent spin in the capsule. We had a lot of fun,” Dial said. “We also got to meet some very inspirational people, like astronaut Mike Foreman, who flew on some shuttle missions.”
In addition, Dial said they met Homer Hickam Jr., the author of “Rocket Boys,” which was later renamed “October Sky.”
The teachers learned about land and water survival training and interactive flight dynamics programs.
“NASA has given us quite a bit of materials that we have access to online for our classrooms,” said Dial, who spent 12 years in the U.S. Navy prior to becoming a teacher.
