Stand by for Mars! Astronaut Academy inspires the next generation

If rocket ships were powered by human energy, science educator Janet Ivey could take off for Mars tomorrow, solo, and be there in a matter of days. Well, not really. Ivey’s Astronaut Academy is grounded in real science and the laws of physics. But Ivey, president of Explore Mars, Inc. and creator of the award-winning “Janet’s Planet” series on public television, recognizes that the biggest impediment to tomorrow’s space travel may be today’s lack of enthusiasm and imagination.

“The worst four words in the language are ‘you can’t do that,’” said Ivey in a phone conversation from her home near Nashville, “especially if you tell kids that, when they’re in their prime exploring years – third to sixth grade.”

Ivey and her popular Astronaut Academy come to Longview July 31st to August 4th, a day camp for kids 8 to 12 held at the Columbia Theatre, 9am–3pm. (Tuition $175, scholarships available. 360-575-8499, more info: columbiatheatre.com.) “We’re taking Janet’s Planet on the road,” said Ivey, “It’s a very hands-on, very fun experience celebrating space and science.”

Ivey was The American Astronautical Society’s 2022 recipient of the Sally K. Ride Excellence in Education Award and has received 12 regional Emmys and five Gracie awards for her children’s series, “Janet’s Planet.” “I wasn’t really a science nerd growing up,” she said. “My college degree was in music and theater.” She credits an inspired fifth grade teacher with kindling her innate curiosity. “We were doing reports on the planets and I was assigned Saturn. I never quit being interested.”

Although she emphasizes the importance of STEM courses and grounding in the sciences, Ivey says many future scientists, astronauts and even Nobel Laureates may come from the arts and the humanities, too. “It’s about the power of creativity, not just the engineering.”

“You can be all kinds of smart,” she said. One of the Astronaut Academy’s favorite exercises is asking kids to create“planet commercials,” in media, where they advertise the who-what-why “pitch” for exploring a particular solar system destination. “Don’t worry, we teach plenty of reading and writing, too.”

Ivey’s Explore Mars website lists three overarching goals as they propose and promote space travel and astronautical education: Industry Cooperation, International Collaboration, and, critically, Public Determination. It’s this last, very human, goal that may be the most difficult to achieve.

Born into an age where anything seemed possible, Ivey and many other science educators rue today’s negative climate where, often, “nothing seems possible,” and where day-to-day problems, politics and public apathy may continue to keep us earthbound.

“We need to be good crew-mates,” said Ivey. “Space travel is a very human endeavor, not just a technical feat.” And it’s not just for the Right Stuff generation either, those mythic crewcut heroes uniformly white, male, and veteran test pilots. “The Artemis Mission, to the moon, is the stepping stone to Mars,” said Ivey in a recent television interview. “When all goes well with Artemis I, within about a year, year and a half, we will see Artemis II with humans doing the flyby of the moon. At that point, the targeted timeline for humans putting boot prints, the first woman and the first person of color on the moon, is somewhere around 2025-2026,” she said. An eventual manned (or womanned…) Mars landing? Ivey estimates 20 to 25 years in the future. “That’s going to be one of these kids we’re educating now. Maybe even from the Astronaut Academy!” In the meantime, Janet Ivey and her band of crew-mates touch down in Longview the 31st of July.

Stand by for Mars.