The GSFC North Pole 1999 expedition team included
Mike Comberiate, Team Leader, Aqua Project, Code 422; Dr. Claire
Parkinson, Chief Scientist, Oceans and Ice Branch, Code 971; Andre
Fortin, Communications Engineer, Space Network, Code 451, David
Beverley, Webmaster/Producer, Aqua Project, Code 422; Chris Morris,
Logistics Chief, Aqua Project, Code 422, and Steve Graham, Education
Liaison and Webcast Moderator, EOS Project Science Office, Code 900,
Raytheon ITSS. In addition to the GSFC personnel, six others rounded
out the expedition team; Richard Gamble, Videographer, Columbia, MD;
Bill Schmidt, Consulting Engineer, Minneapolis, MN; Joel Berger,
Technology Teacher, Indian Valley Middle School, Harleysville, PA; Tim
Roberts, Technology Coordinator, Souderton School District, PA; Adam
Siegel, Student, Walt Whitman High School, Bethesda, MD; and Tommy White
Eyes, Student, Red Cloud High School, Pine Ridge, SD.
History in the making
Five historic milestones were accomplished during the expedition:
- The first Internet link to the North Pole, 1930 - 2015 GMT on April 27,
1999.
- The first live webcast video from the North Pole, 1945 - 2015
GMT on April 27, 1999.
- The first virtual participation by students in
NASA Arctic field work via the Internet, including live interactive chats and
videos between students worldwide and NASA scientists at 75°N, 80°N,
and 90°N.
- The first North-Pole-to-South-Pole telephone
conversation, 1030-1115 GMT on April 28, 1999. This conference call was
coordinated by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center and included the NASA North
Pole 1999 Expedition Team, National Science Foundation and NOAA representatives
at the South Pole, and representatives from NASA GSFC, Project GLOBE
Headquarters, and a GLOBE school in Pennsylvania.
- The first placement
of a piece of the exact South Pole onto the exact North Pole, in commemoration
of Earth Day 1999. This benign example illustrated the impact that humankind
can have on the environment. (Expedition leader Mike Comberiate had collected a
snow sample from the South Pole on a previous trip and brought the sample with
him to the North Pole for this demonstration.)
For more information on NASA's You Be the Scientist Program and an
archived collection of the expedition's webcasts and digital pictures,
please visit the COOLSpace website at: http://coolspace.gsfc.nasa.gov/northpole/
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Back row from left to right: Chris Morris, Joel Berger, Tim Roberts,
Claire Parkinson, Adam Siegel, Steve Graham, Dave Beverley, Andre Fortin. Front from left
to right: Richard Gamble, Mike Comberiate. Not pictured: Bill Schmidt, Tommy White Eyes.
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