Spaceport virtual field trips available to students
Partnership makes tours possible
LAS CRUCES — Spaceport America in southern New Mexico has joined a nationwide partnership with FieldTripZoom, a webbased provider of live and interactive virtual field trips.
The partnership will allow students across the United States to experience the world’s first purpose-built commercial spaceport. Spaceport America’s deal will allow teachers across the state to provide a range of STEM and other educational content free to every K-12 classroom across the state.
The subscriptionbased site provides more than 165 virtual field trips — including the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, the Alaska SeaLife Center and the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. For the remainder of the 2016-17 school year, classrooms across New Mexico can access any of the virtual field trips for free.
The Spaceport America field trips will continue to be offered free to all New Mexico schools for the foreseeable future, according to Tammara Anderton, the spaceport’s director of marketing.
“We wanted to make Spaceport America accessible to all kids in New Mexico, because their parents paid for it,” Anderton told the Sun-News. “And we’ve already seen that, for many of the state’s more remote schools that are cash-strapped, it’s nearly impossible for them to take a field trip to see the spaceport.”
Spaceport America, in southern Sierra County, was built at a taxpayerfunded expense of roughly $218.5 million.
Anderton said the spaceport plans to provide a variety of virtual field trips, describing them as “building blocks.” The early field trips will explain the spaceport, its purpose and its role in “democratizing space” through commercial space flight, Anderton explained. Students will get a behind-thescenes look at spaceport operations. “We’ll help them to understand what it takes to run a spaceport. It’s not just rocket scientists,” she said.
Jo Galván, spokeswoman for Las Cruces Public Schools, said the free, virtual field trips will help offset some of the district’s budget shortfalls this year.
“This will really help supplement the educational opportunities we’re able to provide students this year,” Galván said. “We’re in a spending freeze. And student instruction — which includes field trips — would be among the last places we would try to cut. But, when every expense is being closely scrutinized, this is a great tool and opportunity to allow kids to see something they might not otherwise be able to experience.”
Daniel Hicks, chief executive officer of Spaceport America, said he hopes the partnership makes the spaceport more accessible to students.