Causes

Science & technology Education

Posted by

Elizabeth K.

Director

Our mission

Teachers in Space, Inc. puts Space into the hands of Teachers, enabling them to share the excitement of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) with their students. We produce free, weeklong professional development workshops for teachers, providing
1. Real space experiences
2. Connections to professionals and academics in the NewSpace industry
3. Classroom exercises and programs for teachers to share with their students.

What we do

Teachers in Space, Inc. (TIS) has so far operated as a program under our parent Space Frontier Foundation (SFF) but we are now spinning off as an independent organization.

We started 10 years ago, inspired by NASA’s earlier program, but this time focused on flying teachers suborbitally. We’ve completed a NASA educational outreach grant, delivering professional development workshops providing real space experiences, classroom activities, connections in industry and academia, and flight opportunities to 250 US high-school teachers. Our first student / teacher designed experiment launched to ISS in January 2014 and the next should launch in May 2014 from Wallops Island.

We are now moving to a new funding model relying on partners, sponsors, other grants, private donations and crowdfunding. Our program is now bigger in size and budget than the Space Frontier Foundation which started us, and their board have voted to spin us off to an independent educational 501c3.

We want to distinguish ourselves from NASA and SFF, showing that we are an independent, inspirational and effective organization dedicated to flying teachers and experiments with the new commercial spaceflight providers, and offering exciting, relevant classroom activities to ignite teachers' and students' passion for STEM studies and new space careers.

Our aim is to offer homage to NASA’s original program and to carry on that vision while emphasizing our partnerships with the new commercial spaceflight providers. Our supporters include Jim Adams (NASA Deputy Chief Technologist) and Alan Ladwig of NASA’s original Teacher in Space program, XCOR, Masten, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Columbus Space Program, Orbital Sciences, SpaceX, Final Frontier Design, NASTAR, WayPoint to Space, Enterprise in Space, and more.