FROM STAFF REPORTS

HUNTSVILLE – Ashley Wentworth of Helena recently attended the Space Academy at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville where she learned a variety of skills and hands-on training pertaining to space.

The weeklong educational program promotes science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), while training students and with hands-on activities and missions based on teamwork, leadership and problem solving.

This program is specifically designed for trainees who have a passion for space exploration. Wentworth spent the week training with a team that flew a simulated space mission to the International Space Station, the moon or Mars. The crew participated in experiments and successfully completed an extra-vehicular activity, or spacewalk. Wentworth and crew returned to earth in time to graduate with honors.

Space Camp operates year-round in Huntsville, and uses astronaut training techniques to engage trainees in real-world applications of STEM subjects. Students sleep in quarters designed to resemble the ISS and train in simulators like those used by NASA.

More than 900,000 trainees have graduated from a Space Camp program since its inception in Huntsville in 1982, including European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti and NASA astronauts Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger, Dr. Kate Rubins, Dr. Serena Auñón-Chancellor and Christina Koch, who is serving onboard the International Space Station. Children and teachers from all 50 states and almost 150 international locations have attended a Space Camp program.

The U.S. Space and Rocket Center is home to Space Camp, Space Camp Robotics, Aviation Challenge, U.S. Cyber Camp and the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center’s Official Visitor Center.

For more information, visit Spacecamp.com or call 1-800-637-7223.