NASA Mission Specialist Dan Tani successfully deployed Starshine 2 from the Space Shuttle Endeavor into its own orbit. What exactly is Project Starshine? Its name stands for Student Tracked Atmospheric Research Satellite, a cooperative project producing an 85 pound sphere-shaped satellite with a surface covered by 845 aluminum mirrors. The mirrors were polished by 30,000 students in 660 schools in 26 countries. A nitrogen gas system will spin Starshine 2 so that, students hope, it will cast solar reflections onto Earth at certain times. At this Website you can read about Starshine 1 and 2, learn how the middle school students polished and assembled the mirrors, and download forms for teachers who want their classes to participate in Starshine 3/4, the next cooperative satellite launch. Visitors to the Starshine site can also link to pages giving information on how to catch a glimpse of the gleaming, space disco ball from their backyards.
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