Nothing is impossible, they say at Space Camp Valencia. You can learn robotic engineering, gravitate inside a pool and pilot like an astronaut without leaving Valencia. It is the recreational-training proposal of this project that the School of Science company has been carrying out for five years and which now expands audiences through sponsorship.
For this summer, the project offers 15 scholarships to boys and girls between 10 and 17 years old interested in becoming astronauts, or at least trying. The course is not affordable for everyone: a week of training costs around 500 euros. Now they intend to make it more accessible due to the alliance they have established with companies and institutions such as the Valencian firms PLD Space, Power Electronics and Teika and the support of the American Space Valencia association, a project linked to the US Embassy in Madrid and the Universitat Polytechnic of Valencia.
Along with them, they have support from the Innovation Center of the Valencia City Council Las Naves, which will provide its facilities, as well as Cámara Valencia and the Valencian Association of Extended Reality (AVRE).
Its director, Raquel Ibáñez Peral, explains that this program is “an excuse” to attract teenagers to scientific-technical careers through “that intrinsic interest in becoming astronauts that everyone has.” Every year young people excited about the possibility of becoming astronauts participate, “it’s very difficult to find a kid who hasn’t once dreamed of going to space, don’t you think,” she reflects.
Thus, through gravity, the cosmos and docking with the international space station, they promote scientific-technical careers among young people just in those years before choosing a training destination. The person in charge explains that they already have some former students preparing to be professional pilots.
The novelty this year, and the reason why they seek media focus, is the inclusion program that they are starting with the scholarships they will award. At the moment there are 15 places, but they want more sponsorships to expand their offer. “Vulnerable families are not on social networks and it is difficult for us to reach them. I would like to tell you that the program would be completely free. It is a great opportunity,” explains its manager. The campus will be held between the last week of June and the last week of July and has capacity for a total of 300 students.
The program includes being co-pilots of ultralight aircraft, work in zero gravity conditions, physical and mental training in a gyroscope and crew, through Virtual Reality, of the International Space Station.
They will also receive engineering notions to build and launch a rocket, participate in the construction of an autonomous Rover to explore Mars, learn astronomy notions and inquire about the beginning of life with biology and chemistry experiments.
