In-Person Event: NASA's Career Technical Education Day at Kennedy Space Center

NASA's Career Technical Education Day at Kennedy Space Center: Prototyping Your Career - Exploring Technical Paths at KSC

Intended Audience: High School Students

Event Date: Thursday, September 24, 2026
Event Time: 8:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. ET
Registration Deadline: Friday, August 14, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. ET

Rapid prototyping and problem-solving are critical to achieving complex NASA missions and advancing space exploration. In this event, students will hear directly from Kennedy Space Center subject matter experts about their career journeys to NASA, what a typical day in their role looks like, and the diverse pathways available for students pursuing technical careers at the agency. Students will explore the wide range of technical disciplines represented in KSC's Prototype Development Laboratory (PDL), where NASA engineers, technicians, fabricators and machinists all collaborate to solve complex operational challenges at America's premier launch site. Through hands-on activities and direct interaction with PDL professionals, students will discover career paths in mechanical and electrical engineering, CNC machining, welding, composite materials fabrication, additive manufacturing, 3D printing, data acquisition, and LabVIEW software programming. This experience will showcase how NASA's collaborative engineering environment provides unique opportunities for students interested in design, manufacturing, and testing.

*Please note, the Kennedy Space Center is an operational multi-user spaceport, supporting a range of activities and missions. Please be advised that this event may be canceled if operational requirements or mission needs deem it necessary.

REQUIRED DOCUMENTS:

Your application must include the following two REQUIRED documents (to be uploaded as separate Word documents at the time of application for your organization to remain eligible). You MUST upload these two documents into your application before you submit it or your application will not be complete.

1. Letter from a school administrator indicating they will support participation and transportation to and from the event on school's letterhead
2. Document (Word or PDF) with answers to the questions below.
- School Name
- Email address
- CTE Program(s) that will participate in NASA's CTE Day
- Brief description of how this experience will be integrated into your school's CTE program(s)
- Estimated number of students and chaperones who will attend in person
- How do you use aerospace content or resources in your CTE program?

This application indicates your students’ interest in participating in-person the day of the event. NASA will employ a down select process and due to capacity limits, all schools who apply may not be selected. NASA will notify schools of their participation status as soon as possible after the deadline. The application deadline to participate in person is August 14, 2026.

Schools selected to participate are REQUIRED to:

- Invite students who are a part of their school's CTE program
- Attend a virtual information session prior to the event
- Submit media releases prior to the event
- Provide their own bus transportation to and from the event, with buses remaining on Center for the duration of the event

*Please note, all adult teachers, chaperones, and bus drivers must present their Real ID or passport to gain access to the Center.

During this event, a panel of experts from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center will discuss how they use the unique capabilities found at Kennedy to achieve mission goals and respond to student questions. If your group is not selected to participate in-person, you are welcome to apply to participate in a one hour component of the day virtually. Schools applying to participate virtually will be provided with logistic information prior to the event.

For questions about NASA’s Career and Technical Education Day at Kennedy Space Center, please email [email protected].

**Eligible Applicants:** Educator
**Academic Level:** 9, 10, 11, 12
**Activity Type:** In-person
**Citizenship:** US Citizen Only
**Type:** Pre-College STEM Experience