New Millennium Program

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Overview | Partnerships

The New Millennium Program (NMP) integrates mission content into existing educational delivery systems and focuses on inspiring under-represented minorities to get involved and stay involved in science. NMP's education and public outreach (EPO) plan upholds NASA's guidelines and standards for providing materials and resources to educators, students, and the general public. Education and outreach is accomplished through publicly-accessible websites for each NMP flight-validation mission (linkable above) and through the Program's EPO-dedicated website, The Space Place (available in both English and Spanish).

Each NMP mission-specific website explains flight-validation concepts, describes the complement of advanced technologies to be tested, and, if applicable, outlines science goals. And, NMP-sponsored missions leverage The Space Place within their individual EPO plans.

To this end, The Space Place creates unique educational products that demonstrate the principles behind technology and science in space exploration. These products are reviewed by scientists and engineers for technical accuracy and by four teacher-advisors for grade-level appropriateness. The Space Place products include:

interactive games and puzzles, such as "Spuzzled" and "Pixel This!"
interesting animated information, such as how orbits work
amazing facts, such as "Who is the King of the Ice Dwarfs?"
pre-recorded sessions with physicist Dr. Marc Rayman, who answers such weighty questions as "Why does the Earth rotate?"
fun projects (things to make, such as a momentum machine)
cool subjects: stars/galaxies/black holes, Earth and the moon, planets and the solar system, laws of the universe, and space technology
live interviews with scientists and engineers

To deliver its products, NMP's The Space Place partners with national and community organizations. Additionally, The Space Place provides regular columns to several major newspapers, such as the Los Angeles Times, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and the Denver Post, for publication in their monthly children's sections. Currently, 14 large-city daily newspapers (seven English and seven Spanish), with a circulation of 2.5 million, carry Space Place articles. Look for a Space Place article in your local paper.

There's something for everyone on The Space Place, so visit often.