HUNTSVILLE, Alabama — Max Padgett, the son of Jason and Jennifer Padgett of Stockton, recently attended Space Academy at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center’s Official Visitor Center.

The weeklong educational program promotes science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), while training students and adults with hands-on activities and missions based on teamwork, leadership and problem solving.

Padgett was part of the Space Academy program, which is designed for trainees who have an interest in space exploration. Padgett spent the week training with a team that flew a simulated space mission to Mars. The crew participated in experiments and successfully completed an extra-vehicular activity, or spacewalk, and returned to Earth in time to graduate with honors.

Space Camp operates year-round in Huntsville and uses astronaut training techniques to engage trainees in real-world applications of STEM subjects. Trainees sleep in quarters designed to resemble the International Space Station and train in NASA-inspired simulators.

More than 750,000 trainees have graduated from Space Camp since its inception in Huntsville, Alabama in 1982, including STS-131 astronaut Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger, European Space Agency astronaut, Samantha Cristoforetti and NASA Expedition 48 astronaut Dr. Kate Rubins. Last year, children and teachers from all 50 states and 69 international locations attended Space Camp.

Interested in training like an astronaut? Visit spacecamp.com or call 1-800-637-7223.