Overlake Specialty School on Northwest Focus

Overlake Specialty School is a unique program coordinated with school districts, community service providers, families and others to meet the special needs of students in grades one through 12. The mission of Overlake Specialty School is to promote students' academic, social, emotional and behavioral growth in order to help them attain the learning abilities and behaviors necessary for success in the classroom.

This week's episode of Northwest Focus features Overlake Specialty School and originally aired on July 12 on IonTV, but can be seen here, as well.




For more information on Overlake's Specialty School, visit their website.

Museum of Flight Welcomes Space Shuttle Trainer Crew Compartment

The most recognizable piece of the Shuttle Trainer arrived at Seattle's Museum of Flight Saturday, June 30, amid crowds of cheering spectators. The Space Shuttle Trainer Crew Compartment, which is 28.75 feet long, 19 feet wide and 23.5 feet high, was transported in NASA's Super Guppy aircraft. The Shuttle Trainer is being delivered in several stages over the next few months and will be on display in its entirety at The Museum of Flight's Charles Simonyi Space Gallery.

The Shuttle Trainer Crew Compartment being loaded into the Super Guppy aircraft at Houston's Johnson Space Center, ready to make its final resting place at Seattle's Museum of Flight  

Built in the 1970s, the Shuttle Trainer is the only one of its kind in the world and is the simulator in which each of the 335 space shuttle astronauts trained.

The arrival of the Space Shuttle Trainer Crew Compartment kicked off ShuttleFest 2012, a week-long celebration to commemorate the historic artifact's arrival to its final home.

To read more about the Shuttle Trainer or ShuttleFest 2012, click here to read the article from MSNBC.com.

For photos of the event welcoming the Space Shuttle Trainer Crew Compartment from the Seattle PI, click here.

Museum of Flight prepares to welcome shuttle trainer

NASA's full-fuselage trainer has helped train every crew in the U.S. space shuttle program and is coming to Seattle to stay in just under two weeks. The Museum of Flight will become the FFT's permanent home where visitors can step inside for an astronaut's-eye view.

The massive wooden structure is being flown to Seattle in sections in the Super Guppy cargo plane. The front end of the FFT is scheduled to arrive in front of dignitaries and cheering spectators at Seattle's Boeing Field shortly before noon Saturday, June 30.

To read more about the full-fuselage trainer, the Super Guppy or the events surrounding its arrival, see yesterday's front page article and supplementary information published by the Seattle Times.

Recent Seattle Times articles on the full-fuselage trainer's arrival:

NASA's full-size shuttle trainer hitching a ride to Seattle
Oddball NASA craft is perfect for hauling shuttle trainer to Seattle
Astronaut helping transport NASA trainer to area is Seattle native

Turner Construction awarded Puget Sound Business Journal's 2012 Corporate Champion Award for Economic Opportunity

On Thursday, May 17, Turner Construction was awarded the Puget Sound Business Journal's 2012 Corporate Champion Award for Economic Opportunity. The award honors Turner Construction for continually providing educational training programs that are designed to enhance and support the mission and continued success of local minority-owned, women-owned and disadvantaged businesses. Through the Turner School of Construction Management, they are able to expand the opportunities available to local businesses by helping attendees build networks, establish joint ventures and win contracts with Turner and other construction companies. 

To read more about Turner's philanthropic efforts check out the Puget Sound Business Journal's story on the award here. 

Asteroid Mining Company Unveiled at Museum of Flight

On April 24, a Bellevue-based company called Planetary Resources unveiled plans to extract platinum, gold and other valuable resources from asteroids. The press conference took place at Seattle's Museum of Flight. Sounding eerily similar to a science-fiction movie, it is no surprise "Avatar" Director James Cameron is among the project's supporters.

Planetary Resources engineers and scientists are at work to fulfill the goal co-founder Eric Anderson put forth at the news conference: to launch the first probes within 24 months. With business people, space buffs, and media in the audience at the Museum of Flight, applause erupted at the exciting direction space exploration is taking.

Anderson said if all goes well, the company could have its first asteroid target identified and ready for mining within a decade.

Planetary Resources aims to use commercially built robotic ships to squeeze rocket fuel and valuable minerals out of the rocks that routinely whiz by Earth.

For more information on this exciting direction of space exploration, read the article from The Seattle Times, which also features this video.

Campaign to Make Mother's Day a Three Day Weekend Hits the Streets for Final Push

On Friday, May 11 and Saturday, May 12, local volunteers will be in downtown Seattle gathering signatures to ‘Give Mom a Monday,’ the petition to make Mother’s Day a three day weekend. Volunteers will be outside 607 Pine Street in downtown Seattle, and will be asking people to show their appreciation for moms everywhere by signing a petition that proposes a new holiday to be observed the Monday immediately following Mother’s Day.

Beginning on Saturday April 7, local volunteers collected over 1,000 signatures in downtown Seattle to launch the 'Give Mom a Monday' campaign. This campaign encourages people to show their appreciation for moms everywhere by signing a petition that proposes a new holiday to be observed the Monday immediately following Mother's Day. The campaign has gained momentum online and in Gene Juarez Salon and Spas locations, garnering more than 5,000 signatures so far.

Volunteers are at it again this upcoming weekend for the final push to 'Give Mom a Monday.' The goal by Mother's Day Sunday is 10,000 signatures to take to local and state officials in hopes of officially naming May 14th 'Mother's Day Monday.'

For more information and to sign the petition,visit the Gene Juarez Web site here.

The Museum of Flight in Seattle welcomes first portion of NASA's Space Shuttle Trainer

This morning, as the space shuttle Discovery made its dramatic arrival in Washington D.C., The Museum of Flight in Seattle unveiled the first sections of NASA's Space Shuttle Trainer, three Engine Bells, which will be permanently housed at the Museum’s Charles Simonyi Space Gallery.

Museum of Flight President and CEO Doug King hosted a brief news conference to announce the arrival and to unpack one of the three Engine Bells, which are approximately nine feet in diameter and roughly 800 pounds each. The Shuttle Trainer is being delivered in several stages in the coming months, with the most recognizable portion – the Crew Compartment – tentatively scheduled for delivery on June 16 aboard NASA’s Super Guppy aircraft.

Workers remove one of the three Engine Bells from the Shuttle Trainer at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. Each Engine Bell is approximately nine feet in diameter and weighs more than 800 pounds. Photo courtesy of NASA.   

Built in the 1970s, the Shuttle Trainer is the only one of its kind in the world and is the simulator in which every space shuttle astronaut trained for space flight. It will be on display in the 15,500-sq.-ft. Charles Simonyi Space Gallery, where it will be joined by a collection of other rare space artifacts including Simonyi’s Soyuz TMA-14 spacecraft and interactive exhibits showcasing space travel from the earliest days of the space shuttle program to the future of commercial space. 

See the Seattle PI's story here. Or check out The Seattle Times' take here.