HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The Cosmosphere has always provided great space camps for youth to participate in. The camps are a way to encourage STEM-type learning and teach youth about the adventures of space and science. Now, RCB Bank is partnering with the Cosmosphere to send 10 students in sixth through eighth grade to Cosmosphere Camp this summer.

Five students from Kansas and five students from Oklahoma will be awarded a camp scholarship from RCB Bank and will be eligible to choose to attend either Cosmosphere Aerospace Camp 101 or 201. To be eligible for consideration, participants must register and compete in a space agriculture contest where they will attempt to grow the most food within a one-cubic meter garden, mimicking experiments currently taking place on the International Space Station. The contest begins Feb. 1, 2019, and concludes on April 30, 2019.

Students wishing to participate must register by emailing education@cosmo.org. Winners will choose to attend either Cosmosphere Camp 101 or 201, where they will train like real astronauts in Cosmosphere simulators like the 4-G centrifuge, multi-axis trainer and stress simulator. Students will engage with rocket engineering history through artifacts found only at the Cosmosphere and build rockets including a model V2. Finally, contest winners will fly missions in the Falcon lll spacecraft simulator and even train for microgravity environments with a SCUBA experience.