Fourteen middle school students from The Young Astronauts Program of Metropolitan Columbus and the Dublin Girl Scout Troop participated in a simulated space mission, Voyage to Mars, at The Challenger Learning Center in Dayton, Ohio on May 18, 2013.

The students worked in teams of two and three to plan their route and navigate their spacecraft to the Red Planet.  After arriving on the Martian surface, the teams collected and analyzed a number of planetary samples and data. Instructors from the Challenger Center also led hands-on activities with the students to teach them about spacesuit design and mapping the geological surface of Mars.

Following their mission, the students toured exhibits of military aviation history at The National Museum of the United States Air Force.