NEWS & MEDIA

Four Australian high school students and an educator were introduced at Indo-Pacific 2023 today as the Astronaut Al Worden Endeavour Scholarship’s “Mission Team #13,” winners of an all-expenses paid, week-long, hands-on astronaut training experience next July at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center’s Space Camp in Huntsville, AL.

The Endeavour Scholarship is the lead corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative of the show’s U.S. representative, Kallman Worldwide. The program honors its namesake Worden, pilot of the Apollo 15 Command Module “Endeavour,” whose lifelong commitment to science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education included serving as Kallman’s STEM ambassador at trade shows around the world from 2016 until his death in 2020. To date, the program has awarded scholarships to 48 students and 12 educators from eight countries.

“Every country we work in — and we’ve worked in at least 50 of them since our company was founded in 1963 — is facing the same challenges to prepare its young people for the future. Many also see that future in space,” Kallman said. “As an extension of our work advancing global trade in exhibition halls around the world, and with the support of global partners in government, industry, the military, and academia, the Endeavour Scholarship mission is to connect with worldwide interest in space to promote STEM careers.”

The AMDA Foundation, Kallman’s in-country counterpart, selected Australian team student members Hamish Blyth, Ruby-Jane Roberts, Fergus Jones, Ameila Taranto, and science educator and communicator Nadia Baker from 120 applications submitted earlier this year. They are the second Endeavour team to be selected from Australia, following students Arabella Darlington, Elliot Powell, Toby Fealy, Zoe Bremner and educator Sam Nikolsky, collectively Mission Team #10, who graduated from Space Camp this past July.

“As the not-for-profit champion for Australia’s aviation, aerospace, space, maritime, and defence industries on an international scale, AMDA is a proud advocate for the future workforce, the next generations of engineers and innovators who will move our industries forward,” said AMDA CEO Justin Giddings. “Our partnership with the Endeavour Scholarship and Kallman Worldwide is a model for how trade shows strengthen industries and the communities that host them.”

For more information: Read more about Mission Team #13