Limitless Space Institute

Educators from around the world joined us for a special virtual Limitless Lounge featuring Herb Baker, who shared insights from his incredible 50 years of experience with NASA 🚀

From unforgettable stories to lessons learned across decades of space exploration, Herb gave educators a behind-the-scenes look at the perseverance, innovation, and teamwork that power NASA’s missions. His reflections inspired powerful conversations about how real-world space experiences can translate into meaningful learning opportunities for students.

Thank you to everyone who joined us for this engaging and inspiring session—and a huge thank you to Herb Baker for sharing his legacy and passion with our educator community. Stay tuned for more Limitless Lounge events that connect classrooms to the people shaping our universe! 🌌

We are beyond proud of one of our Educator Ambassadors!! Kimberly Glover received this outstanding award for her classroom!! She continuously strives to provide amazing experiences for her students, and has shown over and over again that she is LIMITLESS!! Way to go Kim!!

Our LSI Educator Ambassadors are doing amazing things! This weekend, they are representing LSI at the Space for Teachers microgravity workshop in Austin, Texas! They will be working with their students designing experiments that they will fly in a microgravity environment in the spring!! They truly demonstrate that they are LIMITLESS!!!

🚀 LSI Lounge Guest Speaker Spotlight! 🌙

Tonight, we had the incredible opportunity to welcome Dr. Kevin Crosby from Carthage College to the LSI Lounge for Educators! Dr. Crosby captivated us with his presentation on the challenges of the Artemis missions — NASA’s bold return to the Moon and a stepping stone toward Mars exploration.

From cutting-edge spacecraft design to the human factors of deep space travel, his talk inspired us to think big, ask bold questions, and bring that same sense of discovery into our classrooms. 🌍✨

Thank you, Dr. Crosby, for reminding us that the next generation of explorers might just be sitting in our classrooms today! 👩‍🚀👨‍🚀

We are beyond excited that 6 of our Limitless Educators have been selected by Space for Teachers to fly on the Zero G plane with student experiments!! They are truly LIMITLESS!!

Congratulations to Mark Westlake, Jill Weaver, Phillip Lewis, Thomas Sando, Mellissa Pfaff, and Jessica Schilder!

𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗴𝗿𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱-𝟮𝟲 𝗦𝗳𝗧 𝗘𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗱𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗺!
This school year, these twelve incredible educators will work with Space for Teachers mentors and aerospace experts to guide their students through the design and engineering process of microgravity research, which the teacher tests on a parabolic aircraft!

Lets meet the team:
• 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗲 𝗛𝗮𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿: Earth & Space Science, Allen Academy, Bryan, TX
• 𝗠𝗶𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗲𝗹 𝗔. 𝗣𝗼𝗽𝗲: Integrated Science, Zama American Middle–High School, Camp Zama, Japan
• 𝗝𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗰𝗮 𝗥𝗶𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗱𝘀 𝗦𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗲𝗿: Astronomy, Earth Systems, Aerospace Engineering, Tomball High School, Tomball, TX
• 𝗝𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗪𝗲𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗿: Science, Valley View Junior High, Farmersville, OH
• 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝘆𝗮𝗻𝗲𝗲 𝗕𝗿𝗼𝗼𝗸𝘀: Language Arts, Journalism, Drama, Kaʻū High School, Pāhala, HI
• 𝗣𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗽 𝗟𝗲𝘄𝗶𝘀: STEM, Newport Grammar School, Newport, TN
• 𝗠𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗮 𝗣𝗳𝗮𝗳𝗳: Chemistry, AP Biology, JROTC, Aerospace, Academy High School, Thornton, CO
• 𝗧𝗵𝗼𝗺𝗮𝘀 𝗦𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗼: Aerospace & Aviation, Williston Basin Career and Technical Center, Williston, ND
• 𝗔𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝗕𝗮𝗸𝗸𝘂𝗺: Science Research, Materials Science, University School of Milwaukee, River Hills, WI
• 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗸 𝗪𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗹𝗮𝗸𝗲: Physics & Engineering, Saint Thomas Academy, Mendota Heights, MN
• 𝗞𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗻 𝗘𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗸𝘀𝗼𝗻: Music, Leadership, Applied Mathematics, Design Seminar, Kettle Moraine School District, Wales, WI
• 𝗝𝗲𝗻𝗻𝗶𝗳𝗲𝗿 𝗦𝗺𝗶𝘁𝗵: Science, Mahomet-Seymour Junior High School, Mahomet, IL
Congratulations to this outstanding team. 𝗟𝗲𝘁'𝘀 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗹𝘆!

Space for Teachers
Wisconsin Space Grant Consortium
Ohio Space Grant Consortium
UT CSR Liftoff Summer Institute

🚀✨ Our monthly module meeting focused on Spacecraft Design, and is ready for takeoff! This month’s guest speaker, Matt Oney, Associate Director for Integrated Secondary Science at Michigan State University, brought a unique twist to engineering and innovation—he designed and built a 3D-printed paper airplane launcher! 🛩️

From playful prototypes to serious spacecraft, engineering is all about creativity, problem-solving, and design iteration. Our educators explored how even the smallest inventions connect to the big ideas behind designing vehicles that can travel beyond Earth. 🌌

💡 Whether it’s launching paper planes or rockets, the principles of design, testing, and improvement are the same—and that’s what makes engineering so exciting!

Each teacher received a launcher through the program, and the ideas are already going for how to incorporate it into their curriculum!

Thank you for joining us Matt!! We cannot wait to see these in action!

It was a HUGE weekend for two of our educators!! Congratulations to these AMAZING teachers who are leading the way!

Thomas Sando took home the Cross field Award...a top honor in the National Aviation Hall of Fame!

Ashlie Blackstone Smith is the AFA National Teacher of the Year and accepted her award at a gala in DC!

Keep reaching for the stars and inspiring the next generation. You are LIMITLESS!!!

In August, we had Logan Jaeren as a presenter at one of our Limitless Lounges for our educators. It was incredibly impactful, and now he is doing his cross-country Steam4Space Emblems Across America tour. Look at all these amazing LSI Educator Ambassadors that have had the privilege of Logan coming to their classrooms!

One of our Cohort 3 educator ambassadors recently was trained on the Dusk Observatories solar telescope! Here's what Joanne Michael had to say!!

"I had my module 1 training this morning to be able to remotely use the solar telescope (located in west Texas) with trainer Doug Foulkes. It was an incredible, inspiring session! Doug went through all of the steps carefully, allowing me to ask any questions that came up, and explaining the "why" of each step. One important step at the very beginning was to ensure that the sky is cloudless, as the clouds would cover the view, rendering our session useless. We saw on the radar that there was a single cloud, but that clouds were rolling in relatively soon. As expected, we saw the clouds begin to cover the camera in real time- witnessing a weather phenomenon from literally thousands of miles away! We snapped a few pictures from the camera before the end of our session.

After I have completed my training and showed competency in using the equipment to Doug, I'm excited to share this unique and amazing hardware with my students! We do a large unit on things "out there" in space, focusing on stars for a large component of it. While I keep the eclipse glasses for our students to look at the Sun during the unit, to be able to see solar storms at a much closer view in real time, or to see all of the "sunspots" close up will truly bring this unit to life for them, exposing them even further to the amazingness of the universe above. "

WAY TO GO JOANNE!

🌍🚀 Just wrapped up an inspiring online teacher training in Nigeria focused on space education!

Educators came together virtually to explore creative, low-cost ways to bring the wonders of the universe into their classrooms. From building simple models of the solar system to hands-on activities that spark curiosity, teachers are now equipped to ignite a new generation’s passion for STEM and space science. 🌌✨

The future of innovation starts in our classrooms—and these Nigerian teachers are proving that you don’t need fancy equipment to launch big dreams. 🌠✏️

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1FVAcyKJXq/

Congratulations to one of our Limitless Educators, Krystal Rolon !!!

Celebrating 40 Years of Excellence in Aerospace!

Women in Aerospace is proud to honor seven trailblazing individuals for their outstanding leadership, innovation, and impact across the aerospace community.

This milestone year also shines a spotlight on the next generation of leaders, with four merit-based scholarships awarded by the WIA Foundation.

Join us in celebrating the 2025 WIA Award Recipients and scholars at the 40th Anniversary Awards Dinner on October 9, 2025, at the Ritz-Carlton Pentagon City.

🔗 Read the full announcement & learn more: https://www.womeninaerospace.org/news/08-20-2025_1.html

🚀✨ Last night was one for the history books! Our educator group had the incredible honor of spending time virtually with Apollo 13 astronaut Fred Haise. Hearing his first-hand stories of spaceflight, problem-solving under pressure, and the teamwork that brought Apollo 13 home was beyond inspiring.

Fred reminded us that curiosity, perseverance, and collaboration aren’t just for astronauts—they’re essential for our students, too. 🌟

Feeling energized to bring these lessons of resilience and exploration back into our classrooms. 🌍📚