The Vision
Since the beginning of the Space Age, 50 years ago, students have been told that if they studied math and science, they could grow up to become astronauts and go into space.
Unfortunately, that was a false promise. Even at the height of the Shuttle program, a student had a better chance of becoming an NBA basketball player than a NASA astronaut. No wonder today's students show more interest in athletics than math and science.
What if we could turn that around and show students that they have a real chance for a future in space?
Imagine thousands of astronaut teachers, in schools all across the country, sharing their spaceflight knowledge and experiences with millions of students. This vision could become a reality within the next ten years.
Private companies are now developing a new generation of reusable space vehicles, which will dramatically improve safety and reduce the cost of human spaceflight. In the next few years, these vehicles will allow many thousands of people to fly in space.
The Teachers in Space program is working with many of these new spaceflight companies to make sure that teachers are among those who have a chance to go. As a new age of opportunity unfolds, who better than teachers to lead the way?
Unlike NASA's Educator Astronaut program, which takes teachers out of the classroom to join the NASA astronaut corps, Teachers in Space will allow teachers to “keep their day jobs.” Training will take only a few weeks; and many teachers will be able to complete the program during school breaks which will eliminate having to take time away from the classroom.
The selection process for the “Pathfinders” will soon begin. When the first vehicles enter commercial service a few years from now, we will have teachers who are trained and ready to go.
Pathfinders
Every journey begins with a single step. Teachers in Space program wants to put a thousand astronaut teachers into American classrooms, within the next ten years, and we want you to be one of them.
The first step in the Teachers in Space journey is the selection of a small group of “Pathfinders” who will lead the way for the large numbers of astronaut teachers who come later. These Pathfinders will be the first astronaut teachers to fly in space and return to the classroom. The Pathfinder competitions will help us test our concepts for selecting astronaut teachers.
The teachers who are selected to be Pathfinder astronauts will help us develop the preflight training course that all astronaut teachers will eventually receive. We hope that Pathfinders will also return to help us teach this astronaut teacher training course. (Can you think of a more exciting summer job?)
Teachers have always been pathfinders in opening up new frontiers. In the American West, when a new territory was opened up, the school teacher was often one of the first to arrive. So, it is appropriate that teachers should be Pathfinders in opening up the space frontier today.
The first two Pathfinder competitions are now open. The application
deadline is December 2. For more information, please see our
application page: