Virginia Space Grant Consortium

06/11/2026

🎉 Congratulations to Jennifer Hatch and her award-winning Plant the Moon Challenge (PTMC) team at Benjamin Franklin Middle School! 🌱🌕🚀
We're proud to support opportunities like the Plant the Moon Challenge through the Virginia Space Grant Consortium, exactly the kind of impact these programs are designed to create.

Check out the news coverage to learn more about their incredible achievement!

06/09/2026

We are thrilled to welcome our STEM Takes Flight interns, CSSIP interns, and OSTEM interns whom we are proud to sponsor and support this summer. We wish you all the best as you begin this exciting journey. Good luck, and we can't wait to see all that you accomplish! 🚀✨

Please join us in welcoming our 2026 summer interns to NASA Langley!💫

These bright student leaders will spend the summer exploring NASA research, building new skills, and discovering what it means to contribute to our missions.

We can’t wait to see what they accomplish this summer!

06/06/2026

Okay, since you ask for more. Let me try this again. Ready?

Hi Y’all, Chris Carter here, Director of Virginia Space Grant Consortium. I told my team I’d take over the social media account again… and somehow ended up getting FAA-certified to fly drones. 🚁👀

This week, I rode up to .tech and join the ADVANCE program for a professional development opportunity that teaches, equips and certifies High school CTE teachers on the implementation of Drones and precision agriculture in the classroom. How cool is that?!

At the end of the program, we, the educators received a FAA remote pilot certification.

Anyways, here are some flicks 📸. Don’t worry about Matt Day. He and I and everyone were very excited about the next generation of STEM. To learn more visit the link below.

Should I do more of these takeovers? 👀 let me know what you think. Till next time ✌️🚀

06/03/2026

The MRGS Project SHARE team successfully launched a high-altitude balloon carrying 22 student-designed experiments and a scientific instrumentation suite into the stratosphere, reaching an altitude of 96,230 feet before descending toward Shenandoah County. Despite weather-related adjustments to the launch plan, students collected valuable atmospheric data throughout the flight, including radiation measurements using a Geiger counter. The mission also captured the Regener-Pfotzer Maximum, a peak in cosmic radiation near the boundary of the stratosphere, providing participants with a unique opportunity to engage in hands-on scientific research while demonstrating teamwork, adaptability, and real-world STEM problem-solving

05/27/2026

🎉Congratulations to all of the Virginia middle and high school students who won awards in the 2026 Institute of Competition Sciences Plant the Moon Challenge.

Two teams earned international recognition “Best in Show” awards in the Middle School Division:
From Benjamin Franklin Middle School in Rocky Mount, Va., the Mean Greens, coached by Jennifer Hatch
From Berkeley Middle School in Williamsburg, Va., The Moondog Guild, coached by Ashley Montgomery

And Mean Greens and Starship Purslane (from Rock Ridge High, coached by Amy Goodyear) were
recognized in a new award category honoring top-performing middle and high school teams from states with significant participation in the PTMC.

The teams designed and conducted experiments exploring how plants might grow in lunar conditions. Students presented their findings through formal scientific research reports and video presentations.

Thanks to theScience Museum of Virginia for hosting a fantastic day!

We're proud of our Virginia teams!

05/18/2026

These community college faculty got a taste of what it's like to work at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility last week. Now they can tell their students all about it and how they can get in on the mission too! Learn more about STEM Takes Flight for Community College Faculty and other programs at vsgc.odu.edu

05/11/2026

We're proud to have our VSGC Director Chris Carter named to the Virginia Air & Space Science Center new Industry Advisory Board along with 16 other aerospace industry leaders and excited to be highlighted in the news last week! ICYMI:

A new advisory board aimed at shaping STEM programs, exhibits, and future innovation in the region.

05/08/2026

“Mic check, mic check… am I doing this right?” 😅

The VSGC Marketing Team is off today, so I, Chris Carter, took over. I hope you enjoy learning more about the amazing work we’re a part of in helping prepare the next generation of the STEM workforce.

To learn more, visit our webpage: https://vsgc.odu.edu/about-us/

05/06/2026

Thank you for your patience, passion, and impact. Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!

Send this to your favorite teacher or tag them below and share how they impacted your life.
Let’s show them the love they deserve.

04/30/2026

Quick recap of our 2026 Student Research Conference held at Old Dominion University. 🚀Congratulations to all the undergraduate scholars and graduate fellows from universities across Virginia who presented their research.