2023 Miles on a Mission Campaign

Your Miles Can Help Launch Students’ Dreams Into Space!

Have you ever wondered if Astronauts get frequent flyer miles for when they fly in space? (It sure would be a lot of miles given they are travelling 17,500 miles an hour as they orbit the Earth!) Well they unfortunately do not but we know many of you travel and do! So we are excited to share with you an opportunity to use those miles to help launch students’ dreams to space!

Thanks to the incredible program – Miles on a Mission – from United Airlines, we are (for a limited time) able to accept your donation of United miles to use to support the next generation of STEMists and Explorers through our Higher Orbits programs.

For those of you who are like – hey I’ve read enough… I am ready to donate my miles! Here’s a link for you

For those who would like to know a bit more… let me share!

We at Higher Orbits work hard to make sure our students have access to attend the launch of their experiments to space and one of the ways we are able to do this is with donated airline miles to help offset travel costs for the students.

We also work to bring students to professional conferences in order for them to present their research findings, share on panels about their STEM experiences, and to network in the industry they are interested in joining. To support their travel, we use miles that have been donated through the United Miles on a Mission campaign.

I can tell you first hand that having this exposure to professional conferences is a game changer for students. They get the opportunity to be part of the world that they want to work in and this helps continue their motivation as they work through their studies. And having the experience to speak on a stage while still a student, is a growth opportunity we want to do all we can to provide to as many students as possible.

“I am so thankful for United Airlines’ Miles on a Mission program for the incredible support they have extended to organizations like Higher Orbits which, in turn, enable students like me to participate in educational programs throughout the country,” said Sophia a Higher Orbits student. “By helping cover our airfare, Miles on a Mission makes the impossible, possible—giving wings to students like me to be able to attend project launches and conferences that help widen our horizons and expand our experiences.”

We also utilize miles to bring Astronauts to communities across the country for our space inspired STEM event Go For Launch!

As a small non-profit your donation of miles to our campaign helps make all of these possible. While we would love to be able to teleport our students to all the launches and conferences but sadly we just haven’t managed to develop that technology (yet!) so until we do we must find a way to fund the airfare required. Miles on a Mission is a way to do that.

Thank you for your consideration!

Oh by the way…

Just in case you’d like to hear some more about what these conferences and launches mean to students… here are some other blogs you can check out!