Students don't often get to see the inner workings of a space mission or make a comet, but 100 Maryland middle school students did both on May 8, when they visited The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland for Comcast/Discovery Space Academy: Mission CONTOUR.

Sponsored by Comcast Cable, the Discovery Channel and APL, the educational program - based on the CONTOUR (Comet Nucleus Tour) mission - gave students from Prince George's and Montgomery counties an exclusive look at NASA's latest comet explorer.

Engineers Howard Feldmesser and Ed Reynolds answer students' questions about the CONTOUR wiring mock-up.

After a greeting from Rep. Benjamin Cardin (D-MD), the visitors heard about CONTOUR and took part in a student press conference with Project Manager Mary Chiu, System Engineer Edward Reynolds and Principal Investigator Joseph Veverka. Veverka participated via videoconference from his home base at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY.

After learning how to make a comet using dirt, sand, Coca-Cola,dry ice and other ingredients, the students donned specially designed clean-room suits and toured APL's space facilities. Lab staffers walked the students through "Exploration Stations" that included spacecraft test and design rooms, space environment demonstrations, a satellite communications facility and a wiring model of the actual CONTOUR spacecraft.

Gearing up for the event, the students have been learning for the past month about CONTOUR, its target comets (Encke and Schwassmann-Wachmann 3), and careers in space through classroom activities developed by the Discovery Channel.

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