Inspiring Students Through a Suborbital Space Flight Experience with Ron Rosano
Includes a Live Web Event on 07/14/2026 at 12:00 PM (PDT)
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Workshop Registration: FREE
What's it like to float weightless and view Earth from space? How can that experience be made meaningful to students? Find out about that and more with longtime informal space and astronomy educator Ron Rosano as he relates how his Virgin Galactic flight experience can help you bring inspiration to your learners.
Commercial space flight can be inspirational to students in many ways. It looks increasingly likely that students today will have the opportunity to fly into space in their adult lives, yet that's not anything they have a sense of now. Careers in space-related fields will be expanding enormously - today's students could travel to space with hospitality experience as operators of a space hotel, or as scientists flying with human-tended experiments. Who's going to find the best fabrics to wear in space, and sort out what's best to eat in space?
Attendance/Refund Policy
Live attendance is strongly encouraged and expected in order to get the most out of the interactive session. A recording will be available for those who cannot attend live or who would like to review the content.
Ron Rosano
Ron Rosano is a commercial astronaut, lifelong spaceflight educator and a passionate advocate for democratising access to space. On 6 October 2023, he flew to space aboard Virgin Galactic's Galactic 04 mission, becoming the 668th human in history to journey to space. For over 30 years, Ron has dedicated himself to inspiring the next generation through astronomy and spaceflight education. Through Galactic Unite Spacechats, he has connected Virgin Galactic astronauts and staff with 21,000+ students from 240+ schools across 22 countries. He has conducted over 85 events as a NASA Solar System Ambassador.
Tony Smith (Moderator)
Online Learning Program Manager
Astronomical Society of the Pacific
Tony Smith is the Online Learning Program Manager at the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. Tony has worked in informal science education since 2011 at various Pacific Northwest science centers and prior to joining the ASP managed the J. Watumull Planetarium at Bishop Museum in Honolulu, HI. In addition to the ASP, Tony also works part time at the Washington State University Planetarium and volunteers at the Palouse Discovery Science Center in Pullman, WA where he lives. Tony is passionate about science education and uses an interactive presentation style, asking for observations and input from the audience throughout his presentations.
