Astro camp at Stennis Space Center

Today, Astro campers went to Infinity and beyond at the Stennis Space Center in Bay St. Louis as they spoke to an astronaut in space.

Hundreds of kids blasted off to the Infinity Space Center for a once in a lifetime opportunity they will never forget. Future astronaut Conner McLeod said, “We just watched live footage of someone in the space station. It was really cool because you got to see all of the small little things they can do in space.”

Twenty kids got to ask a real astronaut questions about his job while hundreds of others from many states watched via satellite. NASA Stennis Space Center Education Director Kelly Martin-Rivers said, “Our Astro campers got to speak with Astronaut Ricky Arnold on the International Space Station. We have 55 Astro camps this summer in Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, and one in Georgia.”

The kids asked a variety of questions like if Arnold has any space pets, what he missed about Earth, and his favorite thing to eat in space. “My favorite foods are the things we really miss like fresh fruit. We don’t get that very often,” said Arnold.

Future astronaut Matthew Boykin said, “It would be really cool to be in his shoes, floating around, not having a restriction of where you stand or where you walk. There’s no up or down.”

Even if some of the campers do not have the desire to be astronauts, they all learned from this experience. Astro camper Nevaeh Leanord said, “Some things are different in space. Also, you have to make the most out of your opportunities.”

Astro camper Landon Ragin said, “I would like to amaze my teachers on how much I know.”

Astro Camp Project Leader Maria Lott said, “We are talking about careers that build, not just astronauts, but the experience they got today was building careers around everything in the possibility of a dream.”