All boys and girls in grades 5 - 10, as of the 2008-2009 school year.  All of our facilities are handicap accessible.  Students needing special assistance are invited to bring a caretaker  to the program, and parents are invited to attend any or all of the program and field trips offered during this two week session.   The students are in classes divided by ages (generally two sections of Junior Space Adventure students - grades 5 - 7) and one class of Senior Space Odyssey Students (grades 8 - 10).  Although many of the activities are similar, they are designed to be age appropriate.  For example, the Senior Space Odyssey students have more complicated  Estes Model rockets to assemble than do the Junior Space Adventure students.  We plan on a total of approximately 45 students, and thus each class is small, having approximately 15 students per instructor.  Often teachers, or students, will shift classes as the program is conducted.

This is a summer program for students interested in learning about space and science.  The two week daily program focuses on learning about science and space through activities, field trips, planetarium experience and classroom presentations.  Activities include building and launching pop rockets, water rockets, and Estes rockets; SCUBA training and diving for weightlessness simulation (supervised by certified SCUBA instructors), studying the Solar System, the planets and their moons, the rigors of travel to these locations, and constructing a model of a habitat to live on another celestial body.  All activities are student centered to allow the students to be inventive and creative in developing their projects and activities.

July 7 - 18 of 2008 . Each day will begin at 9:00 AM and continue to 4:00 PM.  One of the teachers will be with the students until they are all picked up by their caretaker / parent.  Lunch, which is included in the fee, will be served at the University Dining Hall (Lawrence Hall) on the University campus.  This is 'all you can eat' with the only restriction being on the amount of time we spend at lunch -- generally about 45 minutes.   Lunch consists of a wide variety of dishes, from hamburgers and hot dogs, to pasta, salad, deli sandwiches, deserts (including ice cream), and drinks.  There are plenty of choices to satisfy anybody  and their dietary needs.

The program will be conducted on the Main campus of West Chester University, West Chester, PA.  The field trip will be conducted to the Washington D.C. area.  In the past we have visited the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and the Challenger Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.  We have also visited the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. The Challenger Center trip is a unique opportunity for the students to engage in a computer simulated Space Shuttle flight.  Here each student is given a specific task for the flight, and the students have an opportunity to work on both the Shuttle Flight Deck and in the Ground Control Center. In the past, a field trip has also been taken to the White Clay Creek State Park to study the geology and collect samples for our own study.

This program is taught by Pennsylvania certified K-12 teachers who specialize in middle or high school classes.  These teachers are dedicated to helping our attendees understand the joys of learning.  We provide an interactive and participatory environment for students to explore their interests in Space with the teachers and their class members.  Most of the activities are group oriented so the students have an opportunity to work with peers having similar interests and goals with respect to science / space / education. This is an outreach program sponsored by NASA and West Chester University to engage the community in science and education.  As such, we are entering the 16th year of the Senior Space Odyssey and Junior Space Adventure programs.

Both West Chester University and NASA provide support for the program. Through the use of the University's facilities and a small grant from the Pennsylvania Space Grant Consortium (a group of colleges and Universities in Pennsylvania coordinated through the central office located at Pennsylvania State University in State College, PA) we are able to provide this exciting program for students.  Due to administrative and fiscal limitations we are not able to provide overnight facilities.

Students should apply by downloading the application and submitting it via mail to the Director of the Summer Space Program. The fee for each student is $425 for the two week program.  We require a $75 payment with the application, and the remainder of the fee to be paid by June 11th. Applications may also be obtained by mail. Please contact the director at the address noted above.