POSTED: Tuesday, May 12, 2009

    INDIANAPOLIS – Mathew Altepeter, of Lafayette Jefferson High School, is one of seven Hoosier high school students that have been selected to earn scholarship funding by serving as “Junior Mission Experts” for the historical NASA mission STS-125, that launched Monday.
    IMAX Theater in the Indiana State Museum and Space Port Indiana have partnered to bring this opportunity to students who will track and report on space shuttle Atlantis mission to the Hubble Space Station to repair the Hubble Space Telescope. Aboard the mission will be IMAX 3D cameras to document footage for “Hubble 3D,” opening in spring 2010.
    The following students have been selected to participate and receive a $1,000 scholarship:
    * Alex Hearn, Park Tudor School (Indianapolis)
    * Sarah St. Clair, Avon High School (Avon)
    * Andrea Arffa, Danville Community High School (Danville)
    * Mathew Altepeter, Jefferson High School (Lafayette)
    * Alan Pena, Highland High School (Highland)
    * Anna Keibler, The Indiana Academy for Science, Mathematics and Humanities (Muncie)
    * Jerad Kendall, Columbus East High School (Columbus)
    “Students will each be assigned an astronaut to follow throughout the 11-day mission, and they’ll also be responsible for subsequent research,” said Dave Brown, theater director at the IMAX Theater in the Indiana State Museum . “The students will have the chance to present their findings to the public during Space Port Indiana ’s summer space camps and at the Space Travels Exhibit at the 2009 Indiana State Fair. They’ll also help us launch ‘Hubble 3D’ next year.”
    While students are tracking the mission from Earth, astronauts aboard the shuttle will operate IMAX cameras and film the five intricate and difficult spacewalks required to service Hubble. The shuttle’s commander and pilot will double as filmmakers and perform, with two teams of spacewalking astronauts, some of the most challenging work ever undertaken in space as they replace and refurbish many of the telescope’s delicate precision instruments. “Hubble 3D” will combine the footage taken during the repair mission with breathtaking, up-close images captured by the Hubble telescope.
    Scholarship funding for the Junior Mission Experts program is provided by the NASA-funded Indiana Space Grant Consortium.
    To learn more about the Junior Mission Experts initiative and “Hubble 3D,” visit www.ImaxIndy.com.  
    About IMAX Theater in the Indiana State Museum: IMAX® Theater in the Indiana State Museum offers entertaining and educational 2D and 3D films on a screen six stories tall and 84 feet wide, the largest movie screen in the state. Part of the White River State Park in downtown Indianapolis , IMAX Theater delivers the ultimate cinema experience to moviegoers with 12,000 watts of digital surround sound. Using state-of-the-art technology, the IMAX Theater experience gives viewers a unique, larger-than-life way to go to the movies.  IMAX®, IMAX® 3D, IMAX DMR®, IMAX MPX®, and The IMAX Experience® are trademarks of IMAX Corporation. More information on the Company can be found at www.imax.com.
    About Space Port Indiana, Inc.: Space Port Indiana™, Inc. – Columbus , Indiana - provides educational, commercial and military customers with a facility to test and integrate advanced technologies. The converted former airport in Columbus , Indiana engineers balloon launches and rocket launches with commercial payloads and conducts other testing.  Space Port Indiana is an affiliate member of the NASA funded Indiana Space Grant Consortium and hosts educational space camps for youth during summer months through the Indiana Space & Science Foundation, Inc., it’s not for profit organization.
    About the Indiana Space Grant Consortium (INSGC): The Indiana Space Grant Consortium (INSGC) is a part of a National Space Grant College and Fellowship Program, funded by NASA, consisting of 52 state-based, university-led Space Grant Consortia in each of the 50 states plus the District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico . Space Grant consortia build human capital and research expertise to support NASA programs and missions, expand NASA's expertise and educational networks, and bring knowledge and awareness of space to a broad range of constituents in every state.  The INSGC, consisting of 12 academic, 7 outreach  and 3 corporate affiliates, encourages new ideas and concepts to fulfill the Space Grant mission that go beyond traditional support provided by scholarship and research grant funding with innovative and collaborative outreach programs such as the Junior Mission Expert Hubble scholarship opportunity.