Kennedy High students recently collaborated on a project with Adam Savage, a special effects designer and fabricator known best as the former co-host of MythBusters.
To celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, Savage recruited over 40 makers nationwide to help him recreate life-size replica pieces of the space shuttle’s command module hatch as part of a partnership with the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.
Among the participants were seniors from Kennedy High — which features the award-wining Richmond Fabrication Lab funded by a Chevron Richmond grant in partnership with WCCUSD.
The Richmond Fab Lab team, which included Kennedy High seniors Frida Gutierrez, Johana Sanabria and David Serrano, as well as Alex Flemming and the Richmond Fab Lab team, helped Savage’s project by creating pieces of the door, the school district said.
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“The pieces were sent to Washington D.C. where Adam Savage recreated the hatch at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum,” the district said.
Savage assembled the hatch live at the museum on July 18.
Project Egress used 3D scan data and original technical drawings from the museum’s archives to create a detailed model of the hatch. Individual mechanical components were sent out to the makers, who recreated each piece “in their preferred medium,” according to an article by Savage in his publication, Tested.
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WCCUSD posted videos showing Kennedy High students recreating the pieces, as well as Savage building the hatch (noting that Kennedy High students created the “skinny yellow piece on the lower right hand side.”).
