Students get a flying start into space by working with NASA

For high school and college-level students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), the unique learning experiences provided by NASA are a dream come true. Instead of waiting for graduation to achieve liftoff, NASA offers these students an opportunity to hone their skills to boost career prospects before they leave the hallowed halls of academia.STEM students learn through internships, fellowships, activities, challenges and tailor-made programs. “The skills I learned from participating in a NASA challenge definitely helped my career,” says Mike Selby, lunar payload manager in the Planetary Missions Office at the Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama.. While interning, he participated in the Human Exploration Rover Challenge (HERC) in 1995 and 1996. “Getting hands-on experience and seeing ideas and designs on paper move to actual hardware was invaluable. I carried those lessons with me when I started working at NASA.”

Learning as a space-age adventure

Hands-on is the core theme in all the programs offered by the Office of STEM Engagement (OSTEM) where learning becomes doing. Annually, over 2,000 students get real-world experience in space exploration working with mentors in paid internships. In the Pathways program, internships can lead to jobs at NASA after graduation.While some of the activities, such as the Lunabotics Challenge, where engineering skills are used to design and build a robot that could someday perform construction duties on Mars, seem far-flung into the future, others are tailored for problem-solving in the here and now. Take the NASA Student Launch, for instance: It’s a 9-month challenge where a team of students design, build, test and launch a high-powered rocket. Then there’s the NASA Spacesuit User Interface Technologies for Students (SUITS) in which college students help design wearable technology that will assist crewmembers during space walks.

Beyond the classroom

HERC is one of the most popular challenges in the NASA program. It is open to university, college, middle and high school students who compete in teams to design and build human-powered or remote-controlled rovers capable of traveling over lunar terrain while completing specific mission tasks. “When I was at the University of Alabama, my friends in the mechanical engineering program asked me if I wanted to help build a human-powered rover for the event,” says Selby. “It was a great opportunity to do something outside of the classroom.”Seventy-five teams and more than 500 students participated in the 31st HERC challenge in 2025. In 2026, for its 32nd annual HERC challenge, participants will need to navigate a half-mile course with simulated asteroid debris, boulders and crevasses to mimic future Artemis moon missions while testing soil, water and air samples along the way.In a press release inviting future students to participate, Vemitra White-Alexander, program specialist at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, says “NASA’s Human Exploration Rover Challenge creates opportunities for students to develop the skills they need to be successful STEM professionals. This challenge will help students see themselves in the mission and give them the hands-on experience needed to advance technology and become the workforce of tomorrow.”

Real world exploration

David H. Fikes is a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) and has been a UAH advisor for the University’s HERC challenge team since 2017 overseeing multiple first-place wins. “The greatest benefit is the real world experience the student gains,” Fikes says. “The competitions are structured so that a team can flex their engineering muscles. They work through all phases of an engineering project, from idea to concept to design to physical hardware to test, and, finally, to operation.”Since 1994, more than 15,000 students have participated in HERC. Many of them now work at NASA or in the aerospace industry. “HERC is where the rubber meets the road,” Fikes says.. “Classes in physics and mechanics give you valuable technical skills, but when theory meets reality in these challenges, students learn critical thinking and to have a problem-solving mindset.”In challenges such as HERC, students learn how to prioritize objectives and work together as a team to accomplish their goal, all highly transferable skills when it comes to the job market. “I learned a lot as an (NASA) intern but in the HERC challenge, I learned about things like time management and team dynamics,” Selby says. “There was a lot of trial and error during the design and build, but we learned what each person’s strengths were, and worked together to build the rover. So, it was really satisfying for us to win the event in 1996.”Participating in a NASA challenge means more than adding something attention-grabbing to a résumé. Students tell Fikes that the HERC challenge helped them prepare for the workforce at NASA and in the aerospace industry more than any other college course. “Lessons learned in the competition directly translate into STEM careers,” Fikes says. “Companies are hungry for students with this type of real-world experience.”Recently, Selby was part of a mission that successfully landed and operated on the Moon. “Our office managed the development for seven of the ten payloads that flew on Firefly’s Blue Ghost Mission 1. I feel like I came full circle because HERC took its inspiration from the Apollo missions. The HERC challenge was a steppingstone to where I am today.”

Into the Future: more NASA opportunities for students:

Across the country, 850 colleges, universities, science centers and agencies are encouraging students to get involved in NASA’s mission through the National Space Grant College and Fellowship Project or Space Grant, founded in 1989. “We all work together and directly with NASA to offer internships, fellowships, programs, scholarships, grants and competitions to advance NASA’s mission in our state,” says Sara Nelson, Ph.D., and Director of the NASA Iowa Space Grant Consortium (ISGS). “We want to help STEM students to consider a STEM career, get experience and hopefully get a job offer.”Programs target future STEM students early. Plant the Moon is a project-based learning challenge that is offered from fourth grade and focuses on space agriculture that aligns with Iowa’s farming culture. Students use lunar and Martian regolith simulants — soil engineered to replicate what is found on the moon or in lunar landscapes — to grow crops. “Plant the Moon is a very popular program here in Iowa,” Nelson says. “It’s a hands-on opportunity to explore space, agriculture and environmental science.”Mission Moon is an immersive STEM workforce development program created by ISGS in partnership with Iowa 4-H. Interns work with faculty to develop and deliver activities that bring the excitement of lunar exploration directly to Iowa’s youth.The STEM Ambassador Program, which selects up to 11 undergraduates to represent ISGC across Iowa and engage in outreach along with professional development, travel to a NASA Center and the ISGC spring research symposium. “Alumni tell us that they appreciate the experiential programs that gave them hands-on learning and our support as they move into the workforce,” Nelson says. “We want to help them grow into confident, capable STEM professionals.”