Looking for a cool space camp program? A few NASA facilities actually offer space camp programs for kids interested in learning about space travel.
Most of these space camp programs are day camps but one of them is actually an overnight program.
Some space campers have even gone on to become real life NASA astronauts as adults, such as Artemis II astronaut Christina Koch who attended Space Camp every summer from 1992 to 1996.
The following is a list of NASA Space Camp Programs:
Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex:
Address: Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, Space Commerce Way, Merritt Island, FL
Website: www.kennedyspacecenter.com
The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex is a space museum located at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida that features exhibits on NASA’s various space missions.
The complex offers a summer day camp program called Camp Kennedy Space Center during which campers experience five days of science, technology and engineering activities such as an astronaut training experience, the Mars Base 1 experience and visits to the Apollo Center/Saturn V Center, the Space Shuttle Atlantis exhibit and the Gateway: The Deep Space Launch Complex.
During the program, campers will get to explore the surface of Mars using virtual reality, they’ll experience a simulated spaceflight from the Kennedy Space Center to Mars and they’ll learn to work in a microgravity environment via a microgravity simulator.
Camp KSC is a five day camp beginning at 8AM each day and concluding at 3PM.
The complex also offers a summer day camp for international students traveling abroad called International Camps which is a three to five day camp program that focuses on science, engineering, technology and math challenges using NASA science.
The international campers train to live and work on Mars in two programs: the Astronaut Training Experience and the Mars Base 1 Experience.
They also experience guided tours of Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex and the Apollo/Saturn V Center and a private briefing with a veteran NASA astronaut.
In addition to space camp, the complex also offers space academy, astronaut encounters, an astronaut training experience, a NASA Overnight experience, as well as guided tours of the Kennedy Space Center and the opportunity for visitors to touch a moon rock.
U.S. Space and Rocket Center:
Address: U.S. Space & Rocket Center, One Tranquility Base, Huntsville, AL
Website: www.rocketcenter.com
The U.S. Space and Rocket Center is a visitor center located at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama that features exhibits on rockets and artifacts of the U.S. space program.
The visitor center offers an overnight Space Camp Program which is a six-day, five night-long program during which students train like an astronaut, launch model rockets, experience a spaceflight mission and design and construct a futuristic Martian colony.
In addition to the Space Camp program, the visitor center also offers a space camp robotics camp, space academy, astronaut chats, an astronaut training experience, a flight simulator experience and a G-Force accelerator.
Space Center Houston:
Address: 1601 E NASA Pkwy, Houston, TX
Website: spacecenter.org
Space Center Houston is the official visitor center for the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Texas.
The Johnson Space Center is a NASA center where NASA astronauts are trained which makes it even more exciting that the center offers many types of explorer camp programs where kids of all ages can learn how to be a space explorer. These explorer camp programs are:
Ages 4 to 5:
- Junior Explorers
- Mars Explorer
- Beginner Bots
- Junior Space Explorers
- Lunar Explorers
- Our Place in Space
Ages 6 to 7:
- Exploration Basics
- Journey to Mars
- Engineering Basics
- Robotic Basics
- Journey to the Moon
- Journey to Space
- Journey to Mars
Ages 8 to 9:
- Exploration and Discovery
- Mars Exploration
- Robotic Exploration
- Space Exploration
- Lunar Exploration
- Junior Robotics
Ages 10 to 11:
- Exploration & Beyond
- Mars & Beyond
- Journey Beyond
- Robotics & Beyond
- The Moon & Beyond
- Engineering Space
The camp programs are multi-day day camps that do not offer overnight stays.
In addition to the explorer camp program, the center also offers guided tours of the center, astronaut encounters, a NASA overnight experience and also allows visitors to touch a moon rock that was collected during the Apollo 17 mission.
NASA Astro Camp:
Website: www.nasa.gov/centers/stennis/education/students/astrocamp.html
NASA offers a NASA Astro Camp Community Partner Program which provides space camp programs to community organizations, such as museums, libraries, schools and universities, all across the country.
In 2023, the program has official Astro Camp sites in 31 states:
- Alabama
- Arizona
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Illinois
- Iowa
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Mississippi
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Pennsylvania
- South Carolina
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Virginia
- Washington
- Wisconsin
Sources:
“Five-time Space Camp alumna selected for moon mission.” WAFF, 4 April. 2023, waff.com/2023/04/04/five-time-space-camp-alumna-selected-moon-mission/
“Space Camp Programs.” U.S Space and Rocket Center, rocketcenter.com/SpaceCamp
