Animation 1: Watch This Space - Story: Eagle excitedly reports having observed an unusual, bright light in the sky. But when he brings the other Racers to see it too, there's nothing there. Did Eagle actually see something, or did he just make it up? Taking Headmaster Crane's advice, the cadets try to solve the puzzle of the bright light. Testing various hypotheses to explain the sighting, they conclude that Eagle must have seen a variable star, whose brightness changes over time but which is very difficult to detect. With the assistance of AVA's database and Coot's new software for predicting supernovae, they calculate the spot from where they might observe the next supernova from space. Eagle and the cadets fly there... but will they arrive in time to witness the luminous spectacle themselves and confirm Eagle's observation? Curriculum Focus: Observation - monitor objects to detect changes over time. Interstitial 1: "NASM 5- Sunspots at the Observatory". Animation 2: The Hawk Factor - Story: Preparing for the Cloud Sprints Race, Eagle beats everyone else by a mile during a training run. Raven, hoping to cut corners so he can beat perennial winner Eagle, craves a new fuel that will help his engine achieve maximum speed. Under the pretense of making this improved fuel available for everyone, Raven gets Coot to experiment with new formulas in his lab.. . where they identify a fuel powered by space beans that gives them super-speed. Desperate to win the race - and thinking it will give him the edge - Raven switches labels on the fuels so that he's the only one using the new concoction. Will his sneaky plan help him win, or will it just give him a bad case of space bean tummy ache? Curriculum Focus: Trying new things through experimentation and learning from what happened. Interstitial 2: "Music Video 3: The Sun". Character Bio: Starling.
