(Press Release)

Copperas Cove- Joshua McCullough of Copperas Cove High School in Copperas Cove will travel to NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston, Texas, this summer to participate in a one-week summer internship.

Nominated by Texas US Senator Kip Averitt, Joshua has been selected as one of 350 high school juniors from across Texas to be part of High School Aerospace Scholars (HAS). They have been working to complete 10 Web-based assignments during the school year.

They will apply what they have learned during the year, which will challenge them to work as part of a team to design a mission to Mars.

The weeklong experience at JSC includes a tour of JSC facilities and briefings by noted NASA employees including astronauts. These students and teammates will conclude their experience by presenting their proposal at a luncheon to their parents, members of the Texas Legislature, Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, Rotary NASA, and JSC senior management.
The State of Texas, in partnership with JSC and the Texas educational community, developed HAS in 1999 to encourage more students to pursue studies and careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). More than 1500 students from across Texas have participated in the program since its inception.

With this program, NASA continues the Agency's tradition of investing in the nation's educational programs.

It is directly tied to the Agency's major education goal of attracting and retaining students in STEM disciplines critical to NASA's future missions, which include missions returning to the moon, on to Mars and beyond.