Historical Milestones of the Can Do Project
In a ten year long adventure, Can Do has seized unique opportunities to allow teachers and students to participate in many fabulous events. Click on the thumbnails to join in any of these adventures.
Comet Halley (1986) - Can Do
was the first group to take wide field pictures from the Kuiper Airborne Observatory
(KAO), NASA’s flying stratospheric observatory. Twelve flights from Christchurch, New
Zealand resulted in many spectacular images of this famous comet including the only wide
field infrared photos of Comet Halley.
Super Nova 1987A (1987) - The Can Do
team’s second trip to New Zealand to document the first bright Supernova in 600 years
produced the only wide field ultraviolet and infrared images of the Supernova taken from
the stratosphere.
Teachers on the KAO (1988) -
Charleston Can Do teachers were the first classroom teachers to fly into the stratosphere
to conduct airborne astronomy. Operating out of the KAO’s home base at NASA Ames
Research Center in California, the teachers conducted photographic research in
collaboration with some of the world’s leading astronomers.
The Grand Tour (1991) - Can
Do teachers made the ultimate field trip, touring three major NASA centers in the
Washington DC area. The trip also included special tours of the National Geographic
Society, the Smithsonian and the Hubble
Space Telescope Science Institute.
