[192] MTSU TV Crews Focusing on NASA's 'Transition'

MTSU TV CREWS FOCUSING ON NASA’S ‘TRANSITION’
Documentary to Cover 2 Space Launches, People Who Make Them Happen

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Nov. 11, 2009
EDITORIAL CONTACT: Gina E. Fann, 615-898-5385

(MURFREESBORO)—This is one giant step, in two big leaps, for MTSU.

Students from two mass communication classes are shooting a documentary in Cape Canaveral, Fla., on the transition and “reinvention” of NASA as the official media crew for Nashville Public Television, WNPT.

The first step involved the Oct. 28 test flight of the new Ares-IX rocket from the Kennedy Space Center. The second will focus on work surrounding one of the final flights of the space shuttle Atlantis, tentatively set for Monday, Nov. 16.

“We went down for a launch several years ago, and because we’re always trying to find opportunities to involve our students, we started putting together ways to get students down here, too,” explains recording industry professor Dan Pfeifer.

But when the Columbia explosion grounded shuttle flights for more than two years—just a month before an MTSU crew was scheduled to visit—Pfeifer and Dr. Mary Nichols, electronic media communication professor, had to regroup.

“They started flying the shuttles again in 2005, and we started planning again … scrounging money and getting permissions about a year ago,” Pfeifer says. “Our intention was to go down for another launch … and plan a second trip to shoot B-roll. But we realized that the window of opportunity was so narrow and we could get two (launch) shoots in one semester, so we decided to stay because of the story of the transition of NASA.”

NASA says its “’Transition’ is the evolution of people, property, processes and plans to enable space-exploration missions by evolving from our Space Shuttle-based human-space flight system to a new architecture designed to achieve the objectives of the U.S. Space Exploration Policy.”

That new architecture includes the Ares I-X, NASA’s next-generation spacecraft and launch-vehicle system. The Oct. 28 Ares flight gave NASA an early opportunity to test and prove flight characteristics, hardware, facilities and ground operations associated with it. The scheduled Nov. 16 Atlantis launch will be used to rotate crew members of the International Space Station.

The media crews for the Ares test and Atlantis launch are a combination of Nichols’ EMC 4940 undergrad course, Advanced Production Seminar, and Pfeifer’s Master’s in Recording Arts and Technologies 6340 course, Directed Production. Ten students from the EMC and MRAT classes are making each trip to Florida.

“This truly is an amazing experience that we all have the opportunity to be a part of,” the teams wrote on their blog. “We are not only taping one of the first launches of the new Ares-1X rocket, that is destined to replace the old weathered shuttles, but [we] will also be taping one of the last seven scheduled shuttle launches for NASA.”

Post-launch, they noted: “Good thing for text updates, because we have been left speechless.”

The classes have talked with several “above the line” advisers for their projects, including former astronauts and NASA scientists Dr. Rick Chappell and Dr. Rhea Seddon. While they’re on-site, they’re working with NASA public affairs officers during media briefings and events, press conferences, etc., to obtain access for interviews.

“We’re casting as broad a net as we can,” Pfeifer says. “It’s really been amazing how many people are coming out to help us and make referrals. … We’re getting some very compelling stories of the people of NASA and the excitement of their involvement. If they have the slightest part in getting a shuttle or a rocket up, they’re proud of it.”

“I was surprised the students would come up with something like it, but it’s just great,” Nichols says. “The whole point of it is ‘what’s NASA done for me lately?’, and their approach is going to show how NASA is reinventing itself with the help of its people.”

To follow the MTSU NASA crew’s adventures, read their blog at http://mtsunasa.blogspot.com or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/mtsu.nasacameracrew. There’s even a documentary video about the documentary at the Facebook page.

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With three Nobel Prize winners among its alumni and former faculty, MTSU confers master’s degrees in 10 areas, the Specialist in Education degree, the Doctor of Arts degree and the Doctor of Philosophy degree. MTSU is ranked among the top 100 public universities in the nation in the Forbes “America’s Best Colleges” 2009 survey.
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IN BRIEF: Students from two MTSU mass communication classes are shooting a documentary in Cape Canaveral, Fla., on the transition and “reinvention” of NASA as the official media crew for Nashville Public Television, WNPT. The first step involved the Oct. 28 test flight of the new Ares-IX rocket from the Kennedy Space Center. The second will focus on work surrounding one of the final flights of the space shuttle Atlantis, tentatively set for Monday, Nov. 16.

For MTSU news and information, visit http://www.mtsunews.com.


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ATTENTION, MEDIA: To arrange interviews before the crew leaves for the Nov. 16 launch, please contact Gina E. Fann in the Office of News and Public Affairs ASAP via e-mail at gfann@mtsu.edu or by calling 615-898-5385.

Thanks!