Mission Discovery
International Space & STEM Summer Schools
Open to 14 - 18 years olds all over the world.
The Mission Discovery Summer School invites you to do something extraordinary.
There is no selection process, giving everyone equal opportunity to get involved 🙌
Overview
Mission Discovery invites students from every corner of the world to spend a week working in teams, under the guidance of NASA astronauts, NASA personnel, rocket scientists and world-renowned professors. The goal is to design an experiment, which could benefit the human race, whether it is on Earth, the Space Station, the Moon, Mars or beyond.
With the help from our brilliant NASA role models, students will finish the week by presenting their idea to the Mission Discovery judges. The best experiment is selected, built at NASA and launched to the International Space Station (ISS) to be conducted by the astronauts on board.
The majority of students come on their own and form quick long lasting friendships. We welcome groups big or small, just let us know ✨
Join over 25,000+ Students
Making dreams come true
Mission Discovery was launched in 2011. Since then, we have worked with 19 NASA astronauts, held programmes across 4 continents for over 25,000 students sending 64 experiments into space on 11 different rockets, with more experiments in the pipeline to be launched soon.
Students making the news
Heard around the world
Choose Your Mission 🚀
King's College London
10th - 14th July, 2023
Join our flagship camp at King's College London
Singapore
Dates TBC
What participants had to say
Grazia, Hawthorn High SchoolThe most welcoming, fascinating and challenging (in a good way) experience ever! Impossible to sum up.
Nicholas, Banbridge AcademyThank you so much. It really was a great week and I'll always remember it. I've made international friends who I still talk to daily.
A typical week
Throughout the week you will hear a variety of talks from our experts, based on a range of themes including team building, leadership, space, the sciences and personal development.
Your team will be assigned its own Mission Discovery mentor to help you every step of the way.
Just like the makings of any astronaut crew, the days focus is on bringing you together. By the end of day 1, you and your team will be functioning as an elite unit.
Now you’re ready to take on your first space mission. We introduce you to the design brief. You and your space squad will work quickly to pull together ideas.
Let’s finalise those ideas and work out how your experiment is going to work in microgravity.
You’ve done it, look how far you’ve come in only 4 days. Your experiment is ready for lift off! Let’s turn your incredible work into a presentation and get you prepped for the final tomorrow.
All the hard work is done, now it's time to present your idea to our friendly judges and accept your Mission Completion certificate and awards at the Mission Discovery closing ceremony. YOU DID IT 🤩
Typical Team Members
17 astronauts have led Mission Discovery, along with top NASA leaders and world renowned scientists. Choose your Mission to see who you’ll be teaming up with.
Sarah Murray
NASA Leader
Dr. Steve Swanson
NASA Astronaut & ISS Commander
Nicole Stott
NASA Astronaut
Dr. Michael Foale
NASA Astronaut & ISS Commander
Barbara Morgan
NASA Astronaut
Tony Antonelli
NASA Astronaut & Space Shuttle Pilot
Dr Julie Keeble
ISSET Chief Space Scientist
Prof. Steve Harridge
Professor of Human & Applied Physiology at King's College London
Dr Hannah Wilson
ISSET Lead Space Scientist
A word from Astronaut Ken Ham
"A wonderful aspect of working with youth, particularly these ages, is that they come up with the most amazing ideas that none of us old adults can come up with on our own, so it could be from physical sciences to medical sciences, wherever your imagination can take you.
Something that is useful for humanity and might be answered by an experiment in micro-gravity."
60+ Student Experiments
On the Space Station 🛰
We've had various astronauts work on Mission Discovery experiments on the ISS, including Major Tim Peake
Choose Your Mission 🚀
King's College London
10h - 14th July, 2023
Join our flagship camp at King's College London
Singapore
Dates TBC
