Launching into scientific exploration

If you ask a group of kids what they want to be when they grow up, there will invariably be at least one who raises their hand to tell you they want to be an astronaut. Years ago, Lesley Flores was that kid.

“I always wanted to be an astronaut,” she said.

The fourth-grade teacher at Huntington Beach’s Star View Elementary was able to realize that dream recently, traveling to Huntsville, Ala., for the weeklong Space Camp program, put on by NASA. The camp ran from July 7 to 13.

“My dream was fulfilled,” she said. “It was the best thing that could have happened.”

Flores was one of 96 teachers from around the country who attended the camp (12 teachers from foreign countries also attended).

Boeing has been sponsoring the teachers’ trips to the camp for the last 17 years.

“Our main goal in this is to provide teachers with some help and information so they can then take that back to their students and get them a little more interested and motivated in the subjects of science and math,” Boeing spokesperson Adam Morgan said.

The number of engineering degrees conferred each year in America is still lower than several other highly developed nations, he said.

“We need to make sure that we’re keeping [kids] interested from the get-go in science and math,” Morgan said.

“In the future, they can come help us define what the next big engineering feat will be.”

Flores will look to impart some of the technical knowledge she gained to her students through DVDs provided by the camp. Above all, though, she hopes to use her experiences and stories at Space Camp to instill a general passion for math and science in her students.

“Because I have a better understanding of space [now], my goal is to get my students excited about it,” she said. “I want them to yearn; I want them to ask more questions.”

Flores received valuable experience as the commander of the simulated mission, “Discovery.” She and her teammates were able to get the most realistic experience possible, using paperwork from real missions in the past as their guides. As Flores explained, she was also able to pilot the simulated shuttle, eventually completing a successful landing.

“It really felt like you were a part of it,” Flores said. “Everything was so authentic and so realistic. By no means was it hokey: It was the real deal.”

She also got a chance to strap into the multi-axis trainer, a machine that rocks participants every which way, simulating the experience of tumbling in a spacecraft.

Flores was nominated by her team leaders to come back to Huntsville, where she will have the opportunity to become a team leader herself if she pleases. Only 16 of the program’s 96 participants were given this option.

In any case, Flores is just glad she had the opportunity to realize one of her oldest dreams.

“The bottom line is that when I went to space camp, I had high expectations,” she said. “And it was better than what I thought [it would be]. It was amazing.”

A dream destination for kids and teachers, the original Space Camp opened more than 25 years ago in Huntsville, Ala. Though two other Space Camps later sprang up, one in Florida and one in California, both eventually closed due to financial difficulties. That said, Space Camp is still a mainstay when it comes to space exploration, and for good reason: More than 500,000 people have graduated from the weeklong programs since its creation in 1982.