This is one of the most frequently asked questions about training for space. Come discover the answer.

The World Year of Physics, Space Center Houston, and NASA have teamed up to bring the weightless world to the classroom. Fly inside NASA's vomit comet, the C-9, a plane that does a roller coaster ride in the sky. See how the astronauts train and conduct experiments during this wild ride. Take an inside peek at weightless research, a journey granted to only a select few! Learn about and explore the C-9 plane itself as we study it from the inside, miles above the earth and live from its hangar at Johnson Space Center, as well.

Native people have lived on the lands and waterways along the North Pacific Coast for more than 10,000 years. Their stories and traditions link them to the natural world in which they live. Through songs, dances, and ceremonies, the Native people of the North Pacific Coast honor their past and celebrate their present. Start your visit at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. where you will hear stories of eleven different Native communities from the North Pacific Coast. See how they present their own stories and give voice to their own world views through the museum's collection.

Imagine being forcibly relocated from your home, your school or your family to a bleak prison surrounded by barbed wire and armed guards. This was not a nightmare from Nazi Germany but an American injustice endured by nearly 120,000 persons of Japanese ancestry living in the United States following the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. Thousands of innocent Japanese Americans were forced into isolated internment camps because of racial prejudice and wartime hysteria. Remarkably, they created courageous communities where patriotism prospered, loyalty to the U.S. did not falter, and they played baseball to sustain their pride and morale.

A cosmic story unfolds in the Moon, Meteorites, and Solar System Gallery as Smithsonian scientists explain how space "artifacts" help us understand the origin and shape of the Earth, moon, and solar system.

Join the staff at the world famous Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City to experience the works of renowned African-American artist Jacob Lawrence. For more than 65 years, Jacob Lawrence was both an impassioned observer and storyteller who explored the diverse aspects of the African-American experience.

The fine art of sports is portrayed in broad-brush strokes across the canvas of American culture. From advertising to motion pictures and literature to the lyrics of a Top 40 song, ours is a nation endowed by an uncommon creativity found on the field of play. Through the paintings and sculptures of America's best-known talents - such as Warhol, Rockwell and Neiman - our social history comes alive in a colorful palette of fastballs, fashion and folk art.

Families everywhere collect and pass on stories to preserve their traditions. For many Native American communities, these stories represent a unique perspective on history and culture.

During the electronic field trip, students visit the National Museum of the American Indian - where stories are brought to life through dances, music, baskets, weavings, and other objects of everyday use. The Museum's Cultural Interpreters, representing a variety of Native American tribes, will each share stories from their own communities using objects dance, and music traditions. Students will experience the diverse cultures among Native American peoples and have a better understanding of how many indigenous people preserve, share, and practice their traditions today.

Written in Israel between the years of 250 BCE and 68 CE, the first Dead Sea Scroll fragments were discovered in 1947 by a Bedouin shepherd looking for his lost sheep in a cave. This electronic field trip, from the Field Museum in Chicago, IL, will examine the scrolls alongside eighty artifacts from the Qumran.

Join Space Center Houston and NASA as we experience the underwater adventures of training for space walks, also known as Extravehicular Activities or EVAs. During this electronic field trip, students will have the opportunity to meet the astronauts and other men and women behind the scenes at NASA who make these very dangerous and important missions a reality.

When Dr. Jess Parker, head of SERC's Forest Ecology Lab, walks through a forest, he looks up. The forest canopy is a microclimate of its own, one that absorbs sunlight and rain, removes particles like dust and pollen, and even affects the pH of rainwater as it makes its way down to the forest floor. The forest ceiling houses the machinery of photosynthesis, controls the growth of the entire forest, and provides habitat for many organisms.

Discover a whole new world beneath your feet and under the prairie. Based on the exhibit, "Underground Adventure" from the Field Museum in Chicago, IL, this program allows students to watch museum staff shrink to a half-inch tall and walk through a soil environment and stand face-to-face with the organisms that live there.

Many students are familiar with the feats of Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, and Mickey Mantle, but what about the accomplishments of baseball stars such as Minnie Minoso, Sam Jethroe, and Masanori Murakami? Their courage as Latino, African-American, and Asian athletes helped make baseball one of the first great melting pots in professional sports. As a result, diversity and athleticism remain time-tested teammates on the field of excellence.

What an exciting time we live in! Just as one President inspired a generation to dream about going to the moon, so has President Bush called for a new generation to take the next step. Imagine what your students will see in their lifetimes - mans return to the moon, more exciting rovers to Mars and beyond, and the first human to set foot on another planet! Inspire the next generation of explorers by taking an out-of-this-world look at planetary exploration. Enliven you students with information about exploration vehicles from experts at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Find out what it will take for humans to survive on the Moon or another planet from engineers and scientists from NASA's Johnson Space Center, the home of human space exploration. Get caught red-handed with educational activities designed to excite the mind and ignite the spirit. Learn what the discovery of ancient bodies of water means for the history of the Red Planet and out own. We may be closer than we think to finding the little green men! Possibly one of your students will be the one to take the next giant leap for mankind!

Join Smithsonian scientists and explore coastal ecosystems in Central America, along the coast of Belize. Here thousands of small islands, called cays (pronounced keys) lie in the lagoon between the mainland and barrier reef. Mangrove forests dominate this coastal zone, along with sea grass beds and coral reefs. Discover how these three ecosystems are inextricably linked, and how the distribution of mangroves parallels the distribution of coral reefs worldwide.

Join Smithsonian scientists and explore coastal ecosystems in Central America, along the coast of Belize. Here thousands of small islands, called cays (pronounced keys) lie in the lagoon between the mainland and barrier reef. Mangrove forests dominate this coastal zone, along with sea grass beds and coral reefs. Discover how these three ecosystems are inextricably linked, and how the distribution of mangroves parallels the distribution of coral reefs worldwide.

Explore where the salt water from the ocean and the fresh water from the rivers meet and mix. This unique occurrence produces a semi-enclosed body of brackish water known as an estuary, and the Chesapeake Bay is the nation's largest and most productive. Join Smithsonian scientists and educators as the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) as they investigate the physical and biological environment of the Chesapeake Bay ecosystems, focusing specifically on the Rhode River, a subestuary of the Bay south of Annapolis, MD.

Experiment with a helium balloon, a hot air balloon, or a rigid sphere filled with different gases. Discover what makes some balloons float and others sink.

Experiment with a helium balloon, a hot air balloon, or a rigid sphere filled with different gases. Discover what makes some balloons float and others sink.

Students explore static electricity by rubbing a simulated balloon on a sweater. As they view the charges in the sweater, balloon, and adjacent wall, they gain an understanding of charge transfer. This item is part of a larger collection of simulations developed by the Physics Education Technology project (PhET). The simulations are animated, interactive, and game-like environments.

Grab a balloon to explore concepts of static electricity such as charge transfer, attraction, repulsion, and induced charge. (Phys 3.1, 3.2, 3.3)