A new school year is the perfect time to explore NASA STEM opportunities. Whether you’re interested in space exploration, aerospace careers, or hands-on science and engineering, NASA offers students exciting ways to gain real-world experience and develop valuable STEM skills. As NASA enters a new era of exploration, students can get involved, take on new challenges, and discover where their curiosity can lead.
NASA internships and student challenges provide authentic mission-based learning experiences. NASA interns contribute to real agency projects, build career-ready skills, and receive guidance from experienced NASA mentors. Visit NASA’s internships website to explore current opportunities, application deadlines, eligibility requirements, and additional information.
NASA student challenges and competitions allow teams to address complex technical problems connected to space missions. Students can strengthen their creativity, collaboration, engineering, and problem-solving skills by developing, building, prototyping, and testing innovative designs. Explore the complete list of NASA STEM challenges and student opportunities, choose a project that matches your interests, and form a team.
The future of aerospace depends on skilled technical professionals who can turn innovative ideas into successful missions. NASA invites high school students, community college students, and learners in career technical education programs to participate in in-person and virtual events focused on aerospace and STEM careers.
NASA Career Technical Education Days give students the opportunity to visit NASA facilities and meet skilled technical workers. Participants can learn about daily responsibilities, career pathways, technical training, and certifications. Through NASA’s Next Gen STEM Virtual Career Connections, students can also interact live with technical experts who support NASA missions. Students and teachers can explore additional resources on the Next Gen STEM for Careers website.
NASA citizen science projects give students and volunteers the opportunity to contribute to real scientific discoveries from anywhere. Participants can work with authentic NASA mission data, identify comets and asteroids, search for binary star systems, and support other research projects. Find an opportunity that matches your interests by browsing NASA’s current citizen science projects.
Students can also follow NASA’s major space missions and launch milestones throughout the school year. One upcoming highlight is the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, scheduled to launch no earlier than 7:20 a.m. EDT on Sunday, Aug. 30. Designed to observe the universe on a massive scale, the telescope will have a field of view at least 100 times larger than the Hubble Space Telescope. Register to be a virtual guest and learn more through NASA’s educational Roman Space Telescope activities. You can also sign up to watch NASA’s next crewed launch as a virtual guest when SpaceX Crew-13 launches to the International Space Station in September.
Students can also follow NASA’s ongoing crew training and hardware preparations for Artemis III. Scheduled to launch into Earth orbit in 2027, the mission will test rendezvous and docking capabilities with commercial human landing systems. These landers are expected to transport astronauts to the lunar surface during Artemis IV and future NASA missions to the Moon.
Schools, classrooms, and community-based student organizations have even more ways to connect with NASA experts and astronauts. Through In-Flight STEM Downlinks, students submit questions that are answered live by astronauts aboard the International Space Station. These events show how STEM careers extend beyond Earth and support human space exploration. NASA Engages also connects agency experts with student audiences through public outreach events featuring mission updates, science discoveries, and career information. Learn more through the NASA Engages program.
Whether you’re exploring aerospace careers, looking for NASA internships, or ready to participate in hands-on STEM challenges, NASA offers a wide range of student resources and learning opportunities. Visit NASA’s Learning Resources website to discover activities, career exploration tools, competitions, and other NASA STEM programs. Subscribe to the weekly NASA EXPRESS email newsletter for the latest NASA student opportunities, educational resources, and mission updates.
Source: www.nasa.gov