I was 15 years old when I stood in the West Texas desert and watched a rocket carry my mom into space. In May 2025, she launched aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard as part of the NS-32 mission, becoming the first woman physician commercial astronaut.

Jared Isaacman, astronaut and leader of the Inspiration4 and Polaris Dawn missions to space, is making a second significant donation to the U.S. Space & Rocket Center for its Space Camp programs. In July during the annual Space Camp Alumni Reunion Weekend, Isaacman announced a gift of $15 million for the Inspiration4 Skills Training Complex, […]

Educator alum Aymette (Amy) Medina Jorge and Space Camp alum Dr. Gretchen Green will join the 12th human flight for Blue Origin’s New Shepard program. Amy Jorge attended the Space Camp Academy for Educators in 2024 and would be the first educator alumna to go to space. She is a high school and middle school STEM […]

Four-time Space Camper (And U.S. Space and Rocket Center Education Foundation Board Secretary) Dr. Gretchen Green is no regular Space Camp® alumna, having received education at Harvard, Yale, and Brown on her way to practicing as a radiologist in North Carolina.  A clear leader in her field and expert in her scientific craft, Dr. Green […]

Space Camp Hall-of-Famer Danny Jaques is a teacher, leader, and lover of space … but what you may know him from most is his one-of-a-kind salsa.  The creator of Danny’s Rocket Ranch Space Salsa, Jaques mixes every single bag of salsa himself, producing 250-300 bags of salsa a day by “doing it the old-fashioned way.” […]

Drummer for Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson, Rock & Roll Hall-of-Fame inductee, Grammy Award winner and friend of the U.S. Space & Rocket Center Education Foundation. Chris Vrenna’s career has been anything but standard mission protocol.  Vrenna joined our podcast Dare to Explore to talk about music, space, and how a meaningful, committed mission […]

Husband and wife duo Michael and Denise Okuda have worked in science fiction television for more than three decades as graphic designers, artists and technical consultants. Together, they have worked on six Star Trek films, as well as Star Trek: The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, Enterprise, Picard, and even writing the Star Trek […]

Suzanne Saltz was a First Assistant Director and Director on the hit television program NCIS Los Angeles. She’s worked on shows such as Six Feet Under, Bones and Pushing Daisies. Suzanne is an active member of the Director’s Guild of America, Alliance of Women Directors, and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.  Though she […]

Margrit von Braun is an environmental engineer specializing in hazardous waste management and risk assessment. She was one of the first women to join the University of Idaho College of Engineering faculty in 1980,and served as their Dean of the College of Graduate Studies. Margrit’s father was Dr. Wernher von Braun, the first director of […]