On this day in 1990, NASA's 13th Class of Astronauts was selected. Their class nickname became "The Hairballs" in reference to a black cat with the association of the number 13.

A patch was made in honor of this nickname with stars representing each of the 23 Astronauts that were part of this class.

What's your favorite Astronaut Class nickname?

#MissionPatchMonday #SpaceInspires #STEAM #MascotMonday

#FlashbackFriday to our 1st ever Go For Launch! Durham program In 2017 in partnership with Durham County Library. We had an absolute blast working with the stellar students of their community over an entire series of events!

#SpaceInspires #STEM #STEAM #DurhamNC #fbf

Photo Credit (to our galactically great friends): HuthPhoto

#ThrowbackThursday to Go For Launch! Chicagoland 2018 with Astronaut Don Thomas as Highland Park High School. We had a blast working with Chicagoland area students and can't wait to do it again this summer. Stay tuned for details!

#SpaceInspires #STEM #STEAM #GoForLaunch #Astronaut #Chicago #Chicagoland #tbt

Time is running out to donate your United miles to support Higher Orbits students in STEM through the United #MilesOnAMission campaign. This campaign closes Saturday and we have a lot of miles to go to make our goal BUT we know we CAN get there with your help! Any miles at all you can donate will be much appreciated. These miles allow us to cover student airfare to the launch of their experiments to space and to conferences.

Donate TODAY! (Please and Thank You!)
http://www.higherorbits.org/miles

#SpaceInspires #STEM #STEAM

Life is a Highway...
And so is space! Come on, did anyone else sing the song besides us? Actually there are 2 songs that come to mind with the International Space Station Expedition 66 patch! So sing along with us for #MissionPatchMonday!

The official mission insignia for International Space Station (ISS) Expedition 66, designed to resemble US highway route 66 The Expedition 66 patch celebrates the continued utilization of the International Space Station as a path for human and scientific space exploration. Its shape reflects the Route 66 highway sign, which once guided an earlier expansion into distant, remote lands. The arc of the Earth’s atmosphere is reminiscent of the well-known stop-motion photos taken by astronauts and cosmonauts of the Earth in eclipse. Two future destinations are depicted, the Moon resting inside one of the numerals, and Mars to the right. A multicolored bridge containing the colors of each of this mission’s international partner’s flags (Russia, Germany, France, Japan, and the United States) draws the viewer from the perimeter of the patch into the numeral 66 just as the space station bridges the gap from low-Earth orbit to these distant exploration destinations.

#SpaceInspires #STEAM #STEM #MissionPatchMonday #MusicMonday

Patch Description & Credit: NASA

#FlashbackFriday to Space Symposium in 2018 when attendees had the opportunity to see Sierra Nevada Corporation DreamChaser up close and personal.

Pictured here is our Founder/CEO with AIAA - The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics COO Angelo with DreamChaser. Orbits crossed for all these things again this week as we participated in the #AIAASciTech conference at the beginning of the week and now Michelle is at CES and visited the Sierra Space exhibit that includes #DreamChaser & displays about Orbital Reef.

We can't wait to see DreamChaser fly in space and we hope to fly experiments to Orbital Reef from our students!

#SpaceInspires #STEM #CES2022 #fbf #AIAA #SIerraSpace #OrbitalReef #DontJustFollowYourDreamsChaseThem