Elementary school students in Wise County won a space on a rocket ship in a global competition. The students were selected to send a payload into low earth orbit, in honor of its inaugural voyage.
It’s called the Dedicated Research and Education Accelerator or “DREAM,” It’s mission: to carry out experiments in orbit and to give a boost to Science Technology, Engineering and math or STEM education worldwide. Jane Carter teaches chemistry and environmental science and she’s the STEM coordinator at St. Paul Elementary.
Carter says the ship will carry both technical and non-technical payloads. “Our (payload) was nontechnical. It’s called “Dream Deacons” and all the students, faculty, staff here at the school signed a flag. We put together a roughly a three by five nylon flag that just says “Dream Deacons Reach for the Stars}.
A symbol, says Carter, that the future is wide open for her students.
“That they should have no boundaries in terms of what they’re interested in doing. We're not on Florida's Space Coast, we're in the Appalachian Mountains, but that doesn't change anything. Whatever they want to dream of, they should never say “that can’t be done.”
The DREAM project is by a company called Firefly Aerospace, in Austin, Texas, that develops small and medium-sized launch vehicles for commercial for orbit.
The launch is set for early 2020.
