Cameron Hesse, now a senior at Lorena High School, earned the opportunity to take part in the Texas High School Aerospace Scholars (HAS) program. The 16-week online interactive learning experience is for Texas high school juniors. 

During his junior year Hesse spent October 27 through February 28 taking HAS online courses in addition to fulfilling his school academic requirements, and participating in the Lorena High School Band. The full workload did not deter Hesse. His effort in the online courses was strong enough to put Hesse among the highest achieving students who received an invitation to a five-day virtual experience over the summer. During that time Hesse was able to work with NASA scientists, engineers, interns and certified Texas Teachers.

From June 12 through June 16 Hesse and other selected students had the opportunity to plan a mission to the moon. Hesse and his team members worked on a project to send a Rover to the moon to help survey for possible landing sites for future missions. “The projects we did were so interactive it pushed you to explore deeper into what space engineering is about,” Hesse said.

NASA’s Artemis program is sending people back to the moon to explore its surface and help create the first long term presence there. The findings from the moon will help send the first astronauts to Mars. “We were proud of the projects we submitted because we feel they could help in future missions.”

After high school Hesse is looking to continue his education at Texas A&M or Purdue where he plans to study Aerospace Engineering. His goal is to work at NASA. “There are a lot of different ways to get to NASA and a lot of opportunities once you get to NASA.”