The Space Show Presents Teachers In Space with Elizabeth (Liz) Kennick and Noah Luogameno
The Space Show Presents Elizabeth Kennick & Teachers In Space, Friday, 30 Oct. 2026 Review action items Quick Summary: This program focused on the work of Teachers in Space, a nonprofit led by Elizabeth and Noah to work with K-12 teachers to design and fly CubeSat experiments and to promote STEM to their students. Elizabeth and Noah explained that the program provides teachers with training, equipment, and flight opportunities on platforms like high-altitude balloons, zero-g flights, and suborbital rockets such as Blue Origin’s New Shepard. They described how teachers use these experiences to engage students in STEM, often in Title I schools, by building 1U CubeSats and analyzing flight data. Noah detailed the use of affordable sensors and Arduino-based programming, noting that AI is used appropriately to help teachers integrate new sensors into their code. The group discussed the challenges of funding, the importance of workforce development, and the goal of sending teachers to space to inspire students. David and other participants also discussed the role of risk in space exploration, the use of simulations like Kerbel Space Program for education, and the need for accessible resources to explain complex aerospace concepts to non-engineers. Detailed Summary: Together with The Space Show Wisdom Team, Noah and Liz discussed how common AI tools have become in business settings, with Noah sharing examples of AIs being used for interviews and other business functions. We started with Liz giving us an update on her organization’s space education initiatives, including their 2U CubeSat experiments launched with Blue Origin on New Shepard, which have flown repeatedly since 2019 and included a flight with Lauren Sanchez in 2026. The team discussed space safety standards, with participants debating whether space flights should conform to aviation safety guidelines, and whether risk-taking is necessary in the early development of new space technologies. The conversation included introductions for today’s Wisdom Team: John Jossy, John Hunt, and Dr. Ajay Kothari who shared his connections to University of Maryland and discussed their perspectives on space safety and industry standards. Noah and Marshall briefly shared their respective farming experience and background. In addition, our introductions included Liz telling us about Noah Lugano, the program manager of Teachers in Space, and explained the organization’s mission to get K-12 teachers into space. She described how the program has evolved from a project of the Space Frontier Foundation in the 1990s to a 501C3 organization that received significant funding from Blue Origin in 2021, enabling them to launch classroom experiments on suborbital and orbital flights. The organization currently has 10 mission ambassadors selected based on their commitment to expanding the program and willingness to fundraise, with plans to send the first teachers to space next year. Noah explained his work training K-12 educators to build CubeSats, providing ongoing support throughout the school year as students work toward milestones including writing experimental proposals and building functional satellites. The CubeSats contain environmental sensors like temperature, pressure, accelerometer, gyroscope, and light sensors, all using open-source materials based on Arduino microcontrollers and Adafruit sensors costing around $120 per kit. Liz detailed the various methods they’ve used to send CubeSats to space, including stratospheric balloon missions since 2012, human-tended payloads on commercial resupply missions to ISS in 2014-2015, stratospheric glider flights since 2016, and flights on New Shepard and Firefly vehicles since 2019, with plans for additional flights next year. Our TIS guests discussed their educational program where students build CubeSats and conduct space experiments. Elizabeth explained how they receiv