Blog | Fotogallery | Videochannel | Instagram | Facebook

(Leipzig/Kurukshetra, 8.11.2023) Arthur Sommer (18) has now been active in India as an ambassador for the International Space Education Institute for 4 weeks. During this time he has covered more than 6,000 km on the subcontinent, traveled by train from north to south India and back for almost a week and attended over 30 events, trade fairs, scientific institutions and lectures.

Arthur speaks about his experiences with us and NASA in schools, universities, conferences, symposiums and also at a cadet college of the Indian Army. The main focus is on the future in space, jobs and career opportunities. He presents these together with his own experiences from the launch of NASA's moon rocket ARTEMIS 1. He explains the individual phases of a launch and flight to the moon using a self-built model (1:87) of the SLS moon rocket. The young and mature audience is always enthusiastic. An overwiev in Fotos.

At many appearances he is supported by 16-year-old Cosma Heckel, who is then connected via video conference.

The first four weeks seemed much longer to Arthur, "because you experience so much in a short time here." He receives support from his mentor and teacher Navdeep Singh from the World Space Council India. The International Space Education Institute has built up this partnership over the years and supports the current transformation of over 30 countries into space nations with human capital through world trips for schoolchildren and students.

Arthur is also a member of the International Space Education Institute's 2024 NASA Human Exploration Rover Challenge accepted team called the Rovernauts. This team has a successful history of 16 years as the first international participant with 3 world championship titles and 44 lunar car-like vehicles in various variations.

As an ambassador for the NASA Artemis Generation, Arthur supports the agency's efforts to promote more science among young people under the name "STEM Engagement".

The world tour, a social year for graduating students, is available to members of the International Space Education Institute to gain global life experiences. This not only creates unforgettable experiences for life, but above all builds bridges across supposed boundaries and gives other students a unifying career vision for the future.

translation of the pressarticle from the top:

Arthur Sommer from International Space Education Institute, Germany reached Indri
Space science is a fantastic field full of possibilities.

Indri, 7 November (Nis) Space science is a wonderful field full of possibilities. It contains the lives of many astronauts and their stories of going to space, ranging from failures to successes.

These words were said by Navdeep Singh, President of the World Space Council and Arthur Sommer, member of the International Space Education Institute, Germany. He was addressing as the keynote speaker in a lecture organized on the topic of opportunities in space science under the joint aegis of Employment Cell, Physics Department and Chemistry Department at Shaheed Udham Singh Government College located in village Matak Majri.

PICTURE: He taught students about space rocket Navdeep Singh and Arthur Sommer with students and teachers at Shaheed Udham Singh Government College located in Matak Majri village of Indri.

Along with telling the methods of making it, also explained the ways to reach NASA. College Principal Dr. Vikas Attri welcomed the guests and called upon the students to take inspiration from such personalities.Dr. Suresh Kumar, in-charge of Placement Cell, coordinated the program and conducted the stage. Dr. Deepa Sharma did it.

Arthur Sommer, who came from Germany, shared his NASA experiences with the students. He gave details of the structure of the space rocket and explained the method of making the rocket.

Dr. Bohti Dhanda, Dr. Gulab, Dr. Raj Kumar and Dr. Sumit Goyal were present in organizing the program.

Leipzig students have been doing it for a long time since 2007 and have won top prizes at NASA with their now over 30 self-built moon buggies. There have been 3 world championship titles by 2019. Some are now aspiring astronauts, space engineers but also successful junior managers of regional craft businesses. Cosma Heckel (16) saw the new NASA moon rocket SLS launch live with the Bremen Orion service module and decided to pursue a trade with a high school diploma (DuBAS). She leads the current NASA team from Germany and wants to promote crafts, technical careers and engineering in schools. For this purpose, she has modified a 1:10 model kit of such a moon buggy made of stainless steel and is offering it to schools together with the Chamber of Crafts and involved training companies.

Here's how it works: 50 kits are immediately available. Then there are other modules such as coloring, 3D printing and electronics. The first schools to register before Christmas will receive an exclusive lecture from Cosma. The best young designers receive an invitation to join their NASA team and begin a breathtaking time with travel through many craft businesses, joint design and of course exciting training. In April 2024, the best participants will travel to NASA in the moon rocket city of the USA and will be the only team to represent the capabilities of the European Union.

On November 1st In 2023, she will present the new 1:10 kits at a press conference and will also show the mobile 1:1 version that starred in the US film adventure “Space Warriors”.

Cosma get accreditation as vocational-training ambassador!

The occasion was today's appointment of Cosma as an ambassador for training in the craft, made by the President Mr. Matthias Forßbohm, the Chief Executive Mr. Volker Lux and the press officer Dr. Andrea Wolter, the Chamber of Crafts Leipzig. This happened during the press conference of the Chamber of Crafts for the publication of the economic figures and the start of a special program for career orientation in schools in which Cosma plays a leading role with her self-modified 1:10 models of the Moonbuggys.

The kits, which were laser-cut at the HOLL metalworking company, can now be ordered by any school for learning motor skills at the Leipzig Chamber of Crafts. The fully assembled, creatively designed and upgraded models with 3D-Print and an electric circuit will then be awarded prizes by Cosma and a jury of experts. Prizes and an invitation to the next NASA Rover Challenge in the USA will be awarded.

On November 13th the Chamber of Crafts in Leipzig will present Cosmas educational set nationalwide.

The radio report focuses on the dual vocational training with A-level-exam in Saxoinia (DuBAS).
The whole radio.report (in german).

(Leipzig 1933, NASA 1962-2012)

Happy Birthday Prof. Dr. Jesco von Puttkamer









2 p.m., Photo opportunity at the memorial plaque at the birthplace, Salomonstr. 25, Leipzig
3 p.m., Jesco von Puttkamer Schule, Wurzner Str. 4, Leipzig

today: 22.9.2022, Leipzig /Huntsville AL /Alexandria VA, International Space Education Institute e.V.

On Friday, September 22, 2023, the German-American NASA scientist born at Salomonstr. 25 in Leipzig would celebrate his 90th birthday. His father worked as an editor at the Reclam publishing house and emigrated to Switzerland with his young family after the seizure of power in 1933. After the war, 12-year-old Jesco moved to his grandmother in Bavaria and attended school there. He often spoke of how the starlit Bavarian nights were his inspiration for space. He completed his mechanical engineering studies in Aachen in 1962. He financed his studies as an author of sci-fi paperback novels such as "Galaxis Ahoy" and "The Timemanuskript".

After receiving a telegram from America: "Don't go into business, come to Huntsville, we're going to the moon, stop," the young engineer emigrated and worked on the Apollo program. His responsibilities included lunar gravitational anomalies and studies on the reusability of Saturn V stages, from which the space shuttle fleet emerged. His commitment to the Commercial Orbital Transportation Systems (COTS) program comes to impressive heights with SpaceX and other competitors this decade.

Never putting aside his pen as an author, von Puttkamer wrote countless non-fiction and technical books on spaceflight as head of the Strategic Planning Division beginning in the 1970s. He also remained loyal to science fiction, advising Gene Roddenberry and Star Trek as a NASA representative and enlisting African-American Nichelle Nichols (known as Lt. Uhura) as an ambassador for NASA youngsters of the 1970s.

His family's Slavic roots allowed him a conciliatory mentality with the scientists of the then-Soviet Union in the Apollo-Soyuz program, which, thanks in part to von Puttkamer's driving force after perestroika, resulted in various MIR missions with space shuttle flights and ultimately the construction of the International Space Station (ISS). Von Puttkamer held the post of NASA director for the ISS at Washington headquarters from 1998 until his death in 2012. Despite the Russian war of aggression, the ISS remains to this day a multinational peace ambassador for humanity in space and a guarantor of scientific cooperation.

The engineer received various honorary doctorates and professorships for his tireless international work with students, which today already includes several generations of space scientists. In 2005, Prof. Dr. von Puttkamer decided to found a school for the early promotion of young space engineers together with citizens of Leipzig as a support association. At the turn of the millennium, he selected the then young Leipzig couple Yvonne and Ralf Heckel as personal aspirants for this development work. This school has achieved impressive results to date, producing numerous international space scientists, engineers and even aspiring female astronauts. Today, the school bears his name and comprises a small climate and science campus of 2000 m² in the east of Leipzig, not far from the house where he was born.

Von Puttkamer received numerous awards. Above all, 2 outstanding honors should be mentioned here. In 2008 von Puttkamer received the title "Distinguished German American" with congratulations from the 43rd US President and NASA. In the same year the Jet Propulsion Laboratory dedicated a newly discovered asteroid between Mars and Jupiter, the "266752 Vonputtkamer". In 2007, von Puttkamer and his Leipzig school opened the gates for the first time for non-U.S. citizens to participate in NASA junior competitions at the NASA Moonbuggy Race (later NASA Roverchallenge). From this more than 100 teams grew up until today and already 3 world championship titles went to Leipzig.

Puttkamer was a visionary who saw the future as a body in front of him and could explain it in an understandable way. Each of his lectures between Moscow and California was an experience. It is as if this future built by him would bow deeply in these weeks, because:

1. valuable hand drawings and manuscripts in poster format from the Apollo period were recently found in the attic of his former home in Huntsville - they will be shown in Leipzig on his birthday.

2. the ISS shows itself on the evening of his birthday over the native city Leipzig at 20 o'clock on 90 degrees over Leipzig with -4,2 Mag particularly bright and close.

3. asteriod 266752 Vonputtkamer is currently in an unprecedented opposition to Earth and could actually be photographed by the institute's own self-built observatory 7 days ago at a distance of 150 million km (distance Earth-Sun) despite its small size and light faintness of -20 mag. It is currently found to the west of Jupiter between Aries and Pisces (the photos will be presented on Sept 22, 2023 for the birthday).

4. NASA and DLR sealed the return to the Moon last week by joining the Artemis program.

5. the first European young talents who were allowed to accompany an Artemis launch as VIP visitors are from Leipzig. They are 3 students aged between 8-18 years.

6. the COTS program of the NASA experienced a momentum of its own, so that now to the birthday the largest ever built moon rocket stands ready for takeoff on the test launch site in Boca Chica Texas. It is Elon Musk's Starship and a visualization of Puttkamer's vision.

7. the management of the Jesco von Puttkamer School already accompanied the first launch of the Starship on April 20, 2023 and is now opening educational tours to subsequent launches.

8. all over the world former "Puttkamer students" are involved in space missions and moon missions. This ranges from India to Leipzig to California. Since 2018, the Jesco von Puttkamer School also has a branch in India. A delegation from India is currently visiting Leipzig.

Prof. Dr. Jesco von Puttkamer was the NASA face on German TV for over 50 years. His "children" now dominate social media with educational partners in over 30 countries, driving our future forward. He himself was never in space, but described himself as a "desk astronaut" and in his last book described the "millennium project Mars" and the landing of man on it. Today, he is commemorated by a plaque at the house where he was born in Leipzig and a plaque at his home in Huntsville, Alabama.

Above all, however, his life's work lives on in the steady stream of spaceflight students from the Leipzig school who bear his name. For this 90th birthday, considerable investment has been made in the school this year in the main building, outdoor space and workshops. Take a look for yourself.

Vor allem aber lebt im steten Raumfahrt-Nachwuchs aus der Leipziger Schule mit seinem Namen sein Lebenswerk fort. Für diesen 90. Geburtstag wurde in diesem Jahr beträchtlich in die Schule investiert in Hauptgebäude, Außenbereich und Werkstätten. Machen Sie sich selbst ein Bild.

Those interested in lectures, talks, reminiscences and, above all, the future are very welcome.

The program on 22.9.2023:
2 p.m. Photo meeting at the memorial plaque at the birthplace, Salomonstr. 25, Leipzig
3 p.m. Speech, coffee, cake, tours and lectures on the Puttkamer Campus, Wurzner Str. 4, 04315 Leipzig
7 p.m. get-together for current and future members of the sponsoring association

The program afterwards:
Sep 2023 Start of the 1st student world tour as a 1-year internship.
Oct 2023 Trip to the 2nd test launch of the Starship, Visit to NASA Headquarters
Nov 2023 Indian ISEI partners present Chandrayaan 3 at the "Day of Spaceflight"
Dec 2023 Lectures in India and Africa
Jan 2024 Lectures in Brazil, Mexico and Central America
Feb 2024 NASA rover workshop in Leipzig, Germany
Apr 2024 Contribution to 30 years NASA Roverchallenge in Huntsville AL
May 2024 lectures and exchange programs in Washington DC
2024 regular educational trips to Starship launches with field trips
international summer camp Leipzig
first European Roverchallenge with craft, industry and partners
2025 trip with students to the launch of Artemis 2

Contact:
International Space Education Institute e.V.
in the campus of the Jesco von Puttkamer School,
Wurzner Str. 4, 04315 Leipzig

Contact person:
Ralf Heckel, chairman
mobile phone/Whatsapp: 0172-7949375
email:Ralf dot Heckel at SpaceEducation dot de

Registration for the birthday party is required via WhatsApp. Admission is free, but birthday gifts are expected in the spirit of the professor after his words: "This youth must be actively supported. This is our debt to bring!"

Birthday gifts please to the donation account:
International Space Education Institute e.V.
Commerzbank Leipzig, IBAN: DE48 8604 0000 0209 9810 04, BIC: COBADEFFXXX

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

or in the following currencies in the next months and years to continue Puttkamers life's work: - time - commitment - ideas - and also money

The brightest night of my life - the start of the Artemis 1 

11/17/2022 by Ralf Heckel

Fotos Cosmas blog  Rovernauts Launchreports  Raumfahrt Concret  Werner-Heisenberg-School

The 8 buses at the boarding area are already waiting with their engines running. The line is still short. Those who still have a badge from the last attempt can queue up straight away, others still have to go to the NASA office on the side. Next to us is ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet. He flew twice to the ISS with Soyuz and SpaceX's Dragon and spent 396 days in space. Everything goes smoothly. It is already dark and still quite warm at 27 deg C.

2 buses in black pull up. They are the VIP buses. They were prepared especially for this day. One has the Artemis logo on it, the other has the rocket printed on it. We are the only ones who dare to get in front of these buses today and take extensive photos. One of them appears the day after on the front page of the Leipzig Times. A better team photo could not be taken in the dark of that night. I've tried a lot, even with a manual wrist-held portable flash, long exposure bursts, and a number of lenses. Nothing came into focus because either someone walked through the picture or Jesco yawned. Bill Ingalls was missing here…

In batches, the queue moves in the direction of the busses. It's a long line behind us now, reaching across the parking lot. We get the bus 346 and after an extensive counting of all guests with a report to the control center, the night begins. You can't see anything because the windows of the buses are darkened for the day trips in bright sunshine. The light is left on inside for this.

The grandstand at Banana Creek and the parking lot are still empty. The countdown shows T -3:08 hours. We go to the same places as 10 weeks ago and I set up the cameras. The students are busy with their cell phones and our Instagram managers are busy making videos.

The SLS rocket is brightly lit on the horizon, quiet and slightly steaming. It is already filled. That's a good sign. Only 3% hydrogen is missing. The flame blazes again behind the launch tower, flaring off the boiling gases at a safe distance. In contrast to the first attempt, all visitors are now relaxed at this sight. A large screen shows the processes on site and moderators explain what is to come. Live broadcasts to all partners from Houston to Bremen show the size of the project.

Then the shock, a leak! The RED TEAM drives with 2 cars directly in front of the steaming and fully fueled rocket. 3 people get out, 2 engineers and a security guard. The engines appear huge and underneath the three of them walk around in white clothes and helmets, climb into the launch tower. What I wouldn't give to be there now, under the steaming and hissing monster that 's about to fly to the moon. One spark and it's all gone. To this day I didn't know that people were allowed to get so close at such a moment. Apparently they are doing their job well. Then the fixed bolt reports a "GO" again. Breathe easy!

During the last half hour, the countdown remains at -10 minutes. Now the flight director queries all the individual departments and demands a GO. Any answer that is a GO will be applauded and cheered by the audience in our grandstand. One place didn't seem sure about. There was no answer 3 times, until finally the GO could be clearly heard. Big cheers. The restlessness in the audience increases with the excitement.

Everyone here is now aware that they are witnessing a new story. They will later be divided into a before and an after. Many do not yet know what is really behind this first start, which tests are now to follow and what they will influence in the future. Only those in the know here know that this rocket will one day put together an entire space station in lunar orbit and thus form the gateway for permanent bases on the moon.

T -15 seconds, "Free for ELS"
T -10 seconds , "Here we go !”
T -7 seconds, counting backwards and everyone counts , including little Jesco
T -4 seconds, the 4 main engines ignite and go up with a cloud
T -1 second, the main engines run at maximum power
T 0 spark shoots through the Solid Rocket Boosters from above and ignites them,

Now there's no turning back! A shock wave shakes the ground and makes the water rough in Banana Creek.

With a great flash, huge blazing white flames erupt from the two boosters, giving instant boost. Several retaining bolts between the rocket and the launch pad tear through and the rocket lifts off. "We have a liftoff !”

 CAM1   CAM2   CAM3    CAM4   CAM5   CAM6   CAM7   CAM8   CAM9 

But otherwise everything is still calm. Slowly, the colossus rises with the weight of a 2,800-ton battleship. That's a third of the weight of the Eiffel Tower. The light is getting brighter and blinding. White clouds are spreading at high speed on the right and left of the ground. More than a million liters of cooling water are currently evaporating here. As the rocket exits the launch tower, they swing the main engines away from it. When leaving the tower, the course maneuver begins. But there is no sign of any of this. Onlookers yelled and screamed incessantly, some holding their phones in front of their faces as the rocket picked up speed. It dazzles like a sun and others shield their eyes with their hands.

With a rumble rooaar and a gust of wind, the sound wave from the ignition rolls over us all, 15 seconds later. EARTHQUAKE! At this moment, the rocket has already reached a height of about 10 times its length and it is getting faster and faster. The roar was stifled by the sound that thundered down on us. The gases escape from the engines at hypersonic speed, constantly breaking the sound barrier. This incessant rattling goes through marrow and leg. It becomes deafening and is a sound like hundreds of rapid-firing cannons. The whole body vibrates and the grandstand shakes. The riveted aluminum of this construction rattles at all ends.

The rocket is now very high. It illuminates the whole of Cape Canaveral as bright as day. You has nearly to close your eyes. The day after, residents of Cocoa , 30 km away, tell me that they have never seen such a bright launch. Their window panes had never shook in such a way.

The steam vapor clouds from the 1 million liters of water are still wafting down on the launch site. It's getting dark there now. Only the afterglow of the hot exhaust gases from the SRB 's can be seen in the middle. The aluminum ash that still burned our skin 16 years ago when one of these clouds was carried towards the audience by the wind is glowing yellow and red. This cloud now swirls mystically around the lightning rod, while the surroundings are again shrouded in black and a black column of black smoke, which is slowly becoming longer, points out of it into the sky. At the end, a bright flame flickers like a sparkler. She also emits rays when you squint.

In the meantime, from our position, the Artemis seems to have reached the top. It hangs like a lamp on a huge slender stand of smoke illuminating the entire region. Even the damp air grows light, lighter than the black column of smoke beneath it. But the light grows pale and casts long, sharp shadows. The thunder dies down. The rocket is now just a flickering short dash, seemingly arcing downward, heading straight for the crescent moon lingering below. He is lying on his stomach and seems to want to catch her like an open-topped bowl.

Calmness slowly sets in. Artemis 1 has largely left the atmosphere. It's getting dark fast. Spellbound, everyone looks after the blazing point of light. The comments on the loudspeakers can be understood again. "T + 2 min, SRB- separation " A clapping goes through the group while the point of light in the sky splits into 3 smaller points. The two solid rocket boosters have separated and are moving away from the center. This one is just very weak. These are the 4 main engines that already provided the thrust for the Space Shuttle and now accelerate the emptying rocket to maximum thrust. This is now followed by 6 minutes of quiet but steadily increasing acceleration and loading up to 3G. The structure of the emptying tanks in the main engine block now groans with strain. The spaceship "Orion" sits at the top of the tube. If the astronaut Helga in there wasn't a dummy, she would now have long cheeks and be happy. This is where the formula from physics lessons materializes: F=m*a (force equals mass by acceleration). The mass decreases with rapidly emptying tanks and with the same full load thrust the acceleration increases congruently.

The atmosphere in the stands dissolves into appreciative and astonished tones. All lights are off so we can track the slowly receding spot. He flies past the moon to the left and heads down towards the horizon. Not much happens with the comments. The big screen is off to enjoy the moment. Now clap again. The main stage has been successfully separated. The dot goes out. Now the cruise engines of block 3 ignite. But that is only one engine and this flame can no longer be seen.

Our students still can't believe it. Sakurako has her hands on her face and looks through her spread fingers as if she wants to stay in the old days for a while. "Wow", " Amazing ", "Awesome" are the words I hear more and more now. The lighting is switched on again.

Welcome new world! The 2nd lunar age has begun and we were the only ones of our countries and ages to be there. Up to Artemis 2, we will carry this experience and its message to schools around the world with these 6 students as part of several world trips and help shape the multinational Artemis-Generation.

There will also be a new young talent competition in Europe, which is politically more independent, more future-oriented and multinationally more balanced than anything we have been able to get to know and help shape so far.

Team Attempt 1-2 (September 2022):
Jesco Heckel (8), Primary School, Germany
Tara Heckel (13), Secondyry School, Germany
Arthur Sommer (17), Highschool, Germany
Cosma Heckel (15), Highschool, Germany
Sakurako Kuba (27), Embry Riddle University, Japan
Valeria Vazquez Zafra (24), Tesla, Mexico
Abaham Vega (21), Tec Cuernavaca, Mexico
Ian Doring (19), Tec Cuernavaca, Mexico
Jorge Emiliano Turner Escalante (20), Tec Cuernavaca, Mexico
Sebastian Cruz (22), Tec Cuernavaca, Mexico
Daniela Espinosa (20), Tec Cuernavaca, Mexico

Team Launch:
Jesco Heckel (8), Primary School, Germany
Sakurako Kuba (27), Embry Riddle University, Japan
Valencia Jaco (11), Secondyry School, USA
Valeria Vazquez Zafra (24), Tesla, Mexico
Arthur Sommer (17), Highschool, Germany
Cosma Heckel (15), Highschool, Germany

special thanks to:
Yvonne & Ralf Heckel (spaceeducation.de)
David Suarez, Tec Cuernavaca, Mexico
Prof. Dr.Jesco von Puttkamer (1933-2012)
Dr. Alotta Taylor (NASA-HQ)
Shera McNeill (NASA-HQ)
James Free (NASA)
Barbara Zelon (NASA)
William (Bill) Readdy (Discovery Partners)

thanks to our sponsors:
Space Hotel Leipzig
Beachside Hotel & Suits, Cocoa Beach
Motel 6, Cocoa Beach
Gregorys Steak & Seafood, Cocoa Beach

Weblinks:
more Fotos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/spaceeducation/collections/72157721010554041/
more videos: (playlist Artemis 1)
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/International.Space.Education.Institute/
Instagram: https://instagram.com/rovernauts?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
Rovernauts-Blog: https://www.facebook.com/rovernauts/
Student Space Blog: https://www.spaceeducation.de/en/student-reports/89-2022-artemis-1.html?layout=default

Press:
- Leipziger Volkszeitung
- Raumfahrt Concret

This educational travel and excursion was managed by International Space Education Institute Leipzig/Germany.