Annika E. Alden-Siegel, 9, of Lawrence received the Right Stuff Award at space camp in Huntstville, Alabama this summer.
She attended the U.S. Space and Rocket Center on a one week full Academic Achievement Scholarship awarded by the center and made possible by the Keough Family Foundation. The center, a world-renowned educational facility with programs in space, aviation and bobotics, has attracted trainees from all 50 states and 68 different nations.
Alden-Siegel was selected from among nearly 150 fellow campers to receive the Right Stuff Award for her “outstanding leadership, teamwork and technology skills.”
As part of her scholarship application, Alden-Siegel wrote essays, performed an experiment using scientific methods and designed a Mission Patch. “To go to Mars in 20 years, I have prepared myself by learning to box, play lacrosse, and somersault,” she wrote in her essay. “These keep me fit and strong. I don’t get chilled very easily, so I’ll be able to handle the cold climate of Mars. Also, being agile, I can dodge falling objects, such as incoming meteorites. My hiking, running and climbing endurance is good and I’m fast, so I can help people in an emergency. Because I am alert and observant, I’ll know if anything is going wrong with the mission.”
Space Camp featured lessons in rocketry studies, a discussion with a former NASA astronaut, the use of a microgravity simulator and a Five Degrees of Freedom Chair. It also included a simulated Mars Mission and a one-hour Shuttle Mission, for which Alden-Siegel served as flight director. “I used to want to be an astronaut; now I think I’d like to work at Mission Control,” she said.
Alden-Siegel, a fourth grader at Lawrence Intermediate School, has been fascinated by space since she was two, when she began learning about black holes. She was highly recommended for the academic scholarship by her teachers as well as Johnny Greco, a PhD candidate with the department of astrophysical sciences at Princeton University.
“As a graduate student at Princeton University, I have participated in many outreach events for elementary school children,” he wrote. “Without a doubt, Annika stands out as being one of the most precocious and scientifically curious kids that I have had the opportunity to interact with.”
