Teachers and students ecstatic after invitation to witness Virgin Galactic flight

Record ID: 1625755

  • Title: Teachers and students ecstatic after invitation to witness Virgin Galactic flight
  • Date: 9th July 2021
  • Summary: LAS CRUCES, NEW MEXICO, USA (JULY 9, 2021) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) BRENDA SORENSON, THIRD GRADE TEACHER, SAYING: "We called the parents last Friday. We found out about it Thursday, and we started calling parents on Friday. Most of them were like 'are you serious?'" / (SOUNDBITE) (English) MARI CADENA, THIRD GRADE TEACHER, SAYING: "Some of the parents would be like 'can we go?' No, sorry. We could hear some of them (students) in the background 'Yes! Yes! I want to go! I don't care what we're doing, let's go again.'"
  • Embargoed: 24th July 2021 00:05
  • Keywords: Richard Branson Virgin Galactic education launch space spaceport spaceship students
  • Location: LAS CRUCES, NEW MEXICO USA / SPACE
  • City: LAS CRUCES, NEW MEXICO USA / SPACE
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Science,Space Exploration,United States
  • Reuters ID: LVA004EL4EUYV
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Some New Mexico third graders have been looking to the stars for their science classes all year. This weekend those same children will get to witness a historic flight out of Spaceport America.
    Monte Vista Elementary school teacher Brenda Sorenson told Reuters her kids were getting bored with virtual school and the science curriculum that was designed to be taught in person. Once she made the science class all about space the children loved it.
    Sorenson said they had the chance to take a field trip to Spaceport America, an hour north of Las Cruces, New Mexico, and that the kids' faces lit up when seeing the place where spaceships are meant to be a regular occurrence.
    What they didn't expect was the chance to see a spaceship take off in front of their very eyes when Virgin Galactic takes off on Sunday (July 11).
    "We called the parents last Friday. We found out about it Thursday, and we started calling parents on Friday. Most of them were like 'are you serious?'," Sorenson said.
    "Some of the parents would be like 'can we go?' No, sorry. We could hear some of them (students) in the background 'Yes! Yes!I want to go! I don't care what we're doing, let's go again'," said Mari Cadena, who teaches alongside Sorenson.
    The children will be woken up in the middle of the night by their parents and taken to a bus pickup at 3:00 a.m. when Virgin Galactic will then transport the students to the Spaceport. A group of high schoolers will also accompany them from Las Cruces.
    The love of science, easy to spark in children when you show them spaceships, is something that Spaceport Aerospace Director Dr. Bill Gutman says benefits everyone, not just those who want to become pilots or engineers.
    "Even if somebody gets excited about the STEM fields and then decides that's not for them, they want a different kind of job, still having more knowledge of science, technology and engineering only helps people be better citizens today," Gutman said.
    (Production: Julio-Cesar Chavez)
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