NASA Resources for Students

Whether you're in kindergarten or graduate school, NASA offers opportunities, programs, and internships for students of all ages.

The links below will guide you through the programs available. Also included are links to cool pictures and other fun and games for space enthusiasts.

K-12 | Competitions | Scholarships and Internships | Amazing Images | Fun and Games

K-12 resources:

Dropping In a Microgravity Environment (DIME)
NASA competition program which allows high-school teams to design and build a science experiment which will then be operated in a NASA microgravity drop tower facility.

Imagine Mars
Learn about art, science and technology using Mars exploration. Design communities on Mars, focusing on music, art, literature, and other humanities, while considering the technological and cultural challenges that would face a Martian community.

International Space Station (ISS) EarthKAM
Through ISS EarthKAM, NASA provides amazing images of the Earth from the ISS. Teachers and students can use these images to learn more about the planet that we live on.

NASA and Zathura
NASA has partnered with motion picture makers Columbia TriStar Marketing Group, Inc. and Houghton Mifflin Company to engage students in science and mathematics. On Nov. 16, The Houghton Mifflin Company and NASA will give students a unique behind-the-scenes look at the story of "Zathura." They will connect author Chris Van Allsburg and NASA scientist Jennifer Keyes to classrooms through educational webcasts. The pair will make interactive presentations via NASA's Digital Learning Network with Explorer Schools in California, Alaska, Mississippi, Virginia, Texas, Florida and Idaho. The presentations also will be webcast.

NASA, Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Learning Center
Here you'll find data and information about global environmental change within the Global Change Master Directory (GCMD). The GCMD is an online catalog covering just about every scientific area of global change research.

NASA Student Launch Initiative
This unique hands-on experience allows students to design, build, and test reusable rockets with scientific payloads. Several schools compete annually to construct a vehicle that is designed to reach an altitude of one-mile above ground level.

New Horizons Mission to Pluto
Follow along as NASA sends New Horizons to become the first spacecraft to visit Pluto and its moon, Charon.

NIEHS, Our Moon's Lunar Phases
Brought to you by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, this site provides details and diagrams explaining our moon's lunar phases.

Space Weather
Find news and information about the Sun-Earth environment, including current conditions on the Sun, a photo gallery of the aurora borealis and current near-Earth asteroid information.

The Great Moonbuggy Race
Teams of college students compete annually in this competition to build and drive a human-powered moonbuggy. Competitors must complete a half-mile course that is built to replicate the lunar surface.

Competitions:

K-12

Air Transportation in 2057 DEADLINE: March 15, 2008 “Douglas D-C Aircraft Challenge” High school students are challenged to imagine and explain their ideas for a future aircraft that could become the ‘DC-3’ for cargo and passengers in the year 2058.

University

Fundamental Aeronautics: Challenges and Opportunities DEADLINE: April 30, 2008 Design the next generation, 21st Century, “DC-3” type aircraft.  Some of the design considerations include reduced environmental impact, reduced noise, daily operations on short runways, cost analysis for production and operation, passenger and cargo limits, structure and materials, engines. Students should also briefly describe three valid scenarios for potential use of this vehicle in the year 2058.

Scholarships and Internships:

Achieving Competence in Computing, Engineering, and Space Science (ACCESS)
a 10-week paid internship program run by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) at NASA centers around the country for undergraduate and graduate students with disabilities who have strong backgrounds in science and a desire to pursue technical careers. Students are given the opportunity to work one-on-one with scientists in their areas of interest.

Langley Aerospace Research Summer Scholars (LARSS)
10-week paid summer internship at NASA Langley for graduate students pursuing aerospace-related disciplines. Participants will conduct research under the supervision of a mentor and attend technical lectures by prominent engineers and scientists

Lunar and Planetary Institute Summer Internship Program
A wonderful opportunity to experience cutting-edge research in the planetary sciences. Undergraduate students work one-on- one with scientists at the Lunar and Planetary Institute or Johnson Space Center.

NASA Academy
An intensive resident summer program for a diverse group of college undergraduate and graduate students interested in pursuing professional careers in space-related fields.

NASA Cooperative Education Program
These programs are designed to combine academic studies with on-the-job training and experience and to give students an opportunity to work at a NASA Field Center while completing their education. Each NASA Field Center manages its own program.

NASA Graduate Student Researchers Program (GSRP)
awards fellowships for graduate study leading to masters or doctoral degrees in the fields of science, mathematics, and engineering related to NASA research and development. Fellowships are renewable up to three years.

NASA Undergraduate Student Research Program
This program offers junior and senior undergraduates across the US mentored research experiences at participating NASA Centers and research support facilities. 10 week summer and 15 week fall semester programs

Other NASA Internships
A fairly comprehensive list of internships and summer programs for high school and undergraduates at NASA centers and several other museums and research institutes.

Amazing Images:

Astronomy Picture of the Day
Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. Bookmark it, learn something cool everyday!

Earth as Art
Here you can view your home planet through beautiful images taken by NASA satellites.

Hubble images
Downloadable images, videos, wallpaper, and more of our spectacular universe!

Planetary Photojournal
The Jet Propulsion Labs brings you a comprehensive directory of online planetary images. Just pick a planet!

Fun and Games:

For Younger Kids:

Mars Fun Zone (grades K-8)
Interactive website full of fun games and activities to help you explore Mars.

NASA Kids' Club (grades K-4)
NASA is recruiting students, educators, and families to join the Earth Crew Team to participate in ground-based projects and missions to support the Educator Astronaut Program.

Space Place (grades 5-8)
Check out games, animations, projects, and tons of fun facts about Earth, space and technology.

StarChild (grades 5-8)
Lots of cool info about our Solar System, the Universe, and other space stuff. Also available in German, Italian, and Portuguese (Spanish coming soon!).

Windows to the Universe games (grades K-8)
A large collection of science games, including puzzles, word searches, coloring books, and adlibs.

For Older Kids (and adults):

Bad Astronomy
A blog maintained by Dr. Phil Plait, an astronomer, teacher, lecturer and all-around science junkie. This site de-bunks bad science and common misconceptions, like Astrology and the so-called "Apollo Moon Hoax". There are also sections which explore the scientific inaccuracies of numerous movies and T.V. programs.

Solar System Collisions
Blow up a planet! This simple program lets you pick a planet and the composition, size and speed of your impactor and see what happens when the two collide.

Spacecraft Models
you can download, print out and assemble these free spacecraft models! This page also has models to assemble.

The Basics of Spaceflight
an online tutorial to introduce the range of concepts associated with deep space missions.

WorldWind 1.3
WorldWind allows any user to zoom from satellite altitude into any place on Earth, leveraging high resolution Landsat imagery and Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) elevation data to experience Earth terrain (or any planet with the data) in visually rich 3D, just as if they were really there.

NASA Home and City
Discover how space exploration impacts your daily life. This interactive game that allows the user to find everyday commercial products in their home and city that originated from NASA research.