The first Friday in May is National Space Day, which makes today a fitting time to announce a contest that will give eight students an opportunity to tour Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket factory in Florida.
The National SpaceKids Press Squad Competition is being organized by SpaceKids Global, a Florida-based nonprofit organization dedicated to getting elementary-school students interested in science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics, also known as STEAM.
Entries are limited to students aged from 8 to 12, and must be submitted via SpaceKids Global’s Press Squad webpage by June 14. Twenty-four students will be randomly selected as semifinalists. Those students will be asked to submit 60-second videos explaining why they want to see a rocket launch. Judges will then choose the eight winners — who will include a member of an active-duty military family, a member of a first-responder family, a member of a Boys & Girls Club, and five other students chosen to reflect geographical diversity.
The winners (and an accompanying parent or guardian for each student) will be brought to Florida for a tour of Blue Origin’s Rocket Park manufacturing facility, a visit to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex and press training by a professional news reporter.
The SpaceKids Press Squad will get a chance to interview employees at the Blue Origin factory. And if the timing is right, they’ll be able to watch a live webcast of a Blue Origin New Shepard rocket launch in Texas and interview spacefliers remotely. Check out the Press Squad webpage for details.
SpaceKIds Global’s founder, Sharon Hagle, took a suborbital space trip on New Shepard in March 2022. The Press Squad contest is being done in collaboration with the Club for the Future, Blue Origin’s nonprofit educational foundation.
“Our mission at SpaceKids is to reach children at a young age and get them excited about all of the careers available in the space industry,” Hagle said today in a news release. “We are bringing the possibility of space to kids everywhere with opportunities like the SpaceKids Press Squad. My flight to space alongside my husband, Marc, was life-changing, and we can’t wait for these eight lucky kids to experience an out-of-this-world adventure, too! We hope to inspire a new generation of space explorers and future leaders to pursue STEAM careers.”
There are other ways to celebrate space odysseys in the Seattle area this weekend:
- The city of Kent, Wash. — where Blue Origin is headquartered — is partnering with the Kent Community Foundation and the Kent School District to present an outdoor movie night on Friday and a “Space for All” STEM festival on Saturday. Friday’s space-themed movie, “A Million Miles Away,” will be shown at 7:30 p.m. at Kent’s Kherson Park. Saturday’s festival starts at 11 a.m. at the Accesso Showare Center. Jose Hernandez, the NASA astronaut whose life story inspired “A Million Miles Away,” will do a keynote presentation at 2 p.m. Register online for free tickets to the festival.
- Seattle’s Museum of Flight is celebrating Star Wars Day on Saturday (May the Fourth). The day’s offerings include lightsaber shows and training by the Saber Guild, music by the 8-Bit Brass Band, a presentation by Star Wars artist Kevin Graham, exhibits of Star Wars collectibles and appearances by roaming Star Wars cosplayers. Check out the museum’s website for details.
