ResourcesColumbia Teacher Goes Weightless
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Diane Asmus, Columbia Middle School eighth-grade science teacher, is one of the few people who has experienced what it’s like to fly to the moon or Mars.
Asmus was one of only 21 Colorado teachers selected for the “Weightless Flights of Discovery” program. She participated in a parabolic or zero-gravity aircraft flight in Colorado Springs. The flight creates temporary weightlessness, similar to what astronauts experience during space travel.
She prepared for the flight through summer workshops and by designing experiments to conduct in the weightless environment. Her students later mirrored the experiments in their classroom.
Asmus is taking her excitement about the weightless flight back to the classroom. “I can share the lessons I learned in this program as a real life experience. Students should know there are no limits to what they can do in life,” she said.
The “Weightless Flights” program is sponsored by the Northrup Grumman Foundation. The goal of the program is to give teachers an experience that will help them inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers.
“It’s amazing to be able to share the experience of traveling in space with my students. My goal is to inspire them to consider careers in science, technology or engineering.”
-Diane Asmus
Columbia teacher
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