The NASA Stennis Space Center Education Office announces the schedule and registration details for its 2018 Stennis Astro Camp®, a series of week-long summer camps held in June and July (excluding the week of July 4th).
Camps are held at INFINITY Science Center, located at the intersection of I-10 Exit 2 and Highway 607. The program launches on June 4, with weekly camps running through July 20. The program is developed with age-appropriate STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) activities and NASA content for student groups in grades 2-4, 5-7 and 8-10.
Astro Camp® is a part of the NASA Out of School-time Learning and Human Exploration Organization initiatives, which seek to provide opportunities for learners to engage in STEM education activities that capitalize on NASA’s unique assets and content to inspire future astronauts and engineers to learn about space. All Astro Camp® instructors are certified educators with STEM experience to ensure the robust instruction for campers, and Astro Camp® counselors are college-enrolled NASA interns. Additional certified educators will be participating in the 2018 Astro Camp® educational professional development program throughout the summer, connecting classrooms to NASA’s educational resources supporting both Next Generation Science Standards, and College and Career Readiness Standards, all applied utilizing NASA Astro Camp® methodologies.
The theme for this year’s Astro Camp® is “Together We Go Farther … Moon … Mars … & Beyond!” Astro Camp® presents math and science principles through fun, hands-on activities that teach teams of campers to work together to complete missions. Astro Camp® sessions provide campers the NASA experience of aeronautics from first flight to space flight; technology engineering design with coding and robotics applications; and solar system-and-beyond activities featuring planets, moons, stars, and galaxies, with an encompassing survey of Earth systems. Human exploration activities include real-world applications for living and working on the International Space Station today and for preparing the next generation of explorers to live and work on the Moon and Mars tomorrow.
The 8th-10th grade STARS Astro Camp® includes extensive computer-focused robotics exercises and a hands-on 3D-printing experience with emphasis on engineering design applications. Distance-learning experiences are featured, using NASA center experts and educators throughout NASA. An additional week is scheduled for the STARS Astro Camp®, featuring the U.S. Navy Research Laboratory’s SeaPerch remotely-operated vehicle program and NASA sharing activities from space to ocean robotics.
Each camp week culminates in a tour of Stennis Space Center, including the rocket engine test stands, the launching of each camper’s own Estes rockets and parent participation in closing ceremonies each Friday.
Registration for the 2018 camps begins on March 29, 2018, and continues on a first-come, first-served basis until all camps are filled. All registration must be completed and mailed to the address provided on the Astro Camp® website listed below. For more information, contact the Stennis Education Office at 228-688-3485.
To register, visit the Astro Camp® webpage at:
For more information about Stennis Space Center, visit:
Valerie Buckingham
Stennis Space Center
228-688-3898
valerie.d.buckingham@nasa.gov