Summer camp traditionally teaches kids how to pitch a tent or start a fire but with NASA's summer camp, participant would instead learn how to build and launch model rockets, which could prepare them to be the next generation of astronauts.

The summer camp, which will be held at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida and the US Space and Rocket Centre in Alabama, would not only teach kids about rockets.  

Some of the participants would even get the chance to join future space missions including the manned flight to planet Mars albeit Camp KSC chief educator Kerri Lubeski said that the trip to outer space won't happen this summer but by the time the participants would have gotten their degrees in science with their interest in the space industry fueled by their participation in the summer camp.

The U.S. space agency will choose the best candidates after they have completed their school for future space explorations.

"The kids believe they can be the next person in that spacecraft. We may not be launching people now, but by the time they've finished school, we'll be there," Lubeski said.

The U.S. space agency is currently working on a mission called Space Launch System (SLS). SLS, the largest rocket ever built, is set for deployment to the Red Planet in the 2030s but NASA intended to send an unmanned test flight by November 2018.

The main objective of the camp is to prove training to children about the qualifications needed to become an astronaut. It also aims to help them plan and execute a space mission as well as teach them how to build and launch model rockets made of paper tubes and PVC pipes.

Lubeski said that the enthusiasm of the children towards the program is surprising noting that the previous class had 170 participants between 7 and 16 years old. Interestingly, majority of the kids who participated were girls.

"Each activity is planned to bring out team-building and problem-solving skills among children," NASA said. "It is about allowing their natural curiosity to run its course and sowing the seeds that might eventually lead them into space."

Besides preparing kids to become astronauts and space engineers someday, the NASA summer camp also wants students to be excited in subjects that they may not be interested right now such as engineering, science, technology and math.

Photo: Reinhard Link | Flickr