Young Astronaut Day

Young Astronaut Day is a STEM outreach event for students grade 1st-12th. This event, which started in 1992, gives students the opportunity to work as a team to solve engineering challenges. These range from parachute drops and balloon cars to lego robots. Each year there is an event theme that the activities are centered on (i.e. Mars landing, living in space, etc.). Teams are tasked to complete three activities that create one mission within a 2 hour period. This requires them to build strong teamwork, communication, and critical thinking skills. Each team competes against the other teams for a friendly competition. The goal of the event is to inspire and educate students about NASA and the STEM field. This is not only accomplished through the STEM activities but by listening to an Astronaut keynote address and interacting with the scientists and engineers who are leading the activities and volunteering.

Photo Credit: Edmond Wong

Upcoming Event

The 28th Annual Young Astronaut Day :

Saturday, November 5, 2022

Location: Cleveland State University

From 9:00am to 12:30pm

Registration opens on September 23, 2022 at noon!

Password: YAD2022

How do I enter a team?

Registration Guide:

Registration is limited to 30 teams of students- 14 (1st - 4th) Pilot teams and 14 Mission Specialist (5th - 8th) teams and 2 Commander (9th-12th) teams
The event will be open to 1st-12th grade students.
Registration will be first come, first serve. There will not be a lottery. Registration will open at noon September 23, 2022.
To register, please visit: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/405939846007 and enter password: YAD2022
Once the 30 team cap has been reached, interested teams will be put on a waitlist.
Please e-mail youngastronautday@gmail.com if you'd like to be on the YAD distribution list and receive event announcements.

Event Details

Only one team of up to 6 students plus 2 adults per school/ organization per division. (i.e. a school can only have one team in each division)
There will three divisions in 2022: Pilots 1st-4th grade, Mission Specialists 5th-8th grade, and Commanders 9th-12th grade
The event will run tentatively from 9:00am-12:30pm. With packet pickup starting at 8:30am.
Once your team is registered, a confirmation e-mail will be sent. This secures your spot at Young Astronaut Day.
The registration fee per team will be $100 per team and will be due at the time of registering

Additional Items to note:

US citizenship is not required
Names of participants and drivers are not required.
No Lottery for event registration this year. It will be first come first serve.
There will be a flat fee per team regardless of how many participants.
Food and drinks will not be provided.

If you have any questions regarding the event or registration please contact youngastronautday@gmail.com

Photo Credit: Edmond Wong

STEM Resources

Follow and Interact with Previous YAD Astronaut Speakers!

Doug Wheelock: @Astro_Wheels

Sunita Williams: @Astro_Suni

Greg Johnson: @Astro-Box

Stephanie Wilson: @Astro_Stephanie

Mike Foreman: @foreman_Mike

NASA Astronauts: @NASA_Astronauts

STEM Resources

NASA STEM @ Home: https://www.nasa.gov/stem

Imagination Station Facebook Live Events every day at 2pm:

https://www.facebook.com/ImaginationStationToledo/

Stay at Home Science: https://www.imaginationstationtoledo.org/stay-at-home-science

GLSC Curiosity Corner: https://greatscience.com/curiosity-corner