Dr. Lee Morin, a NASA astronaut and current Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Science, Space, and Health in the Bureau of Oceans, Environment and Science, visited Centro Educational 5, a public school in the Federal District town of Taguatinga, May 27.
Dr. Morin sat in on a presentation on telescopes, and participated with a group of children as they constructed makeshift telescopes of their own. Dr. Morin also gave a presentation to the class about his own experiences in space, and afterwards answered the students' questions about life in space. The students were fascinated by tales of Dr. Morin's experiences in space , and afterwards received autographs and posed with him for photos.
 Dr. Morin was in Brazil this week for consultations with Brazilian officials on Global Positioning System (GPS) technology, but made time in his schedule to talk with students about his life as an astronaut, and particularly his space walk and visit to the International Space Station in 2002.
The Taguatinga public school was chosen for the visit because of a unique partnership between the school
and the Brazilian Space Agency AEB, as part of its pilot "space school" project, provides the school with teacher training, materials for interactive experiments, and special presentations. The goal is to encourage active engagement in learning through science, and also foster social inclusion in the sciences by developing scientific excellence within schools that serve economically disadvantaged populations.
Click here for additional photo | 
