Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Space
  3. News

NASA contest challenges kids to imagine a trip to the moon

By

NASA is encouraging K-12 students to let their imaginations run wild in a new contest that comes with some awesome prizes.

Recommended Videos

With the space agency currently preparing an ambitious Artemis mission for 2024 that will see the first woman and next man set foot on the lunar surface, NASA’s Moon Pod contest challenges students to imagine leading a one-week expedition to our nearest neighbor and to write about it in a short essay.

Related

“Tell us about the types of skills, attributes, and/or personality traits that you would want your Moon Pod crew to have and why,” NASA says in a message on its website announcing the contest. “How many would be in your pod? And of course, you’ll need high tech gear and gadgets! In your essay, also describe one machine, robot, or technology that you would leave on the lunar surface to help future astronauts explore the moon.”

Essay length depends on the student’s age, with the youngest entrants only required to write up to 100 words, and the oldest no more than 300.

NASA encourages participants to do a spot of research prior to penning their piece by checking out some moon-focused resources provided by Future Engineers, which is helping to run the contest.

The top prize, awarded to winners in each grade division, is a family trip to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida in 2021 to watch the first Artemis test launch involving the most powerful rocket in the world.

Other prizes include trips to NASA’s Johnson Space Center, Artemis prize packs, and invitations to virtual Artemis Explorer Sessions hosted by NASA experts.

Every student who submits an entry will receive a certificate from the space agency and will also be invited to a special NASA virtual event with an astronaut among the distinguished guests.

The contest is free to enter and closes on December 17.

Check out Future Engineers’ website for more information on how to enter.

Editors’ Recommendations

Topics
Trevor Mogg
Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
NASA’s June skywatching tips include Mars in the Beehive
how to photograph perseid meteor shower night sky with

What's Up: June 2023 Skywatching Tips from NASA

NASA is back again with its monthly roundup of what to look out for in the sky over the coming weeks.

Read more
NASA’s first crewed test flight of Starliner spacecraft delayed
Engineers working on Boeing's Starliner spacecraft.

NASA’s quest to have a second U.S.-operated spacecraft for ferrying astronauts to and from the International Space Station (ISS) has suffered another blow.

The expected July 21 launch of the first crewed test flight of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner capsule has been called off following the recent discovery of two safety issues, the aerospace giant said on Thursday.

Read more
NASA lunar orbiter locates debris from Japan’s failed lander
iSpace's Hakuto-R Series 1 lander.

NASA has released new images that appear to show the broken remains of Japan’s Hakuto lander, which crashed on the lunar surface in a failed mission last month.

Organized by Tokyo-based lunar exploration startup ispace, the Hakuto-R Mission 1 lunar lander launched in December 2022 with the aim of becoming the first privately funded spacecraft to land and operate on the lunar surface.

Read more