SpacEdge Volunteer Onboarding
SpacEdge Education Overview
Course Manager: Zoha Imam, July 2025
SpacEdge Education is a program of the National Space Society (NSS) dedicated to igniting and nurturing an interest in space exploration and development through free online courses, lessons, projects, and activities. The Academy contains over 90 lessons and activities available for K-12th grade students that can be utilized by teachers or students directly on the website.
SpacEdge’s mission is to make space-related educational content available to anyone and everyone, regardless of geographic location, to engage and invigorate teachers and students around Space Exploration, Development, Settlement and Defense.
SpacEdge has three main goals:
- Create & Foster a Global Education Sharing Network and Community
- Provide Mentorship Opportunities
- Foster Science, Technology, Engineering, Fine & Liberal Arts, and Math ( STEAM) Education and Business Education
SpacEdge Education is composed of three main educational programs:
Throughout the following sections, we’ll explore each of these programs, the other elements of the SpacEdge Education, how SpacEdge is involved with NSS, and examples of volunteering opportunities.
The SpacEdge Academy
The Academy is a collection of lessons developed and organized by grade level on the below four topics. Educational material within these topics varies based on grade level.
Complete the steps below to familiarize yourself with this component of SpacEdge.
- Locate the “ACADEMY BY GRADE LEVEL” on the blue navigation bar at the top of the page.
- Select “Grades 3 – 5” and peruse the Solar Eclipse class within the Exploring Space & Planetary Defense Category.
- Next, go to “Grades 9 – 12”, locate and review the “How to Design a Microgravity Experiment”
- Lastly, review the “Cross Grade Level” page to see classes that bridge grade/age levels
Centers for Educational Excellence
SpacEdge Centers for Educational Excellence (SECEE) was developed to provide opportunities for upper highschool and university level students to partner with space industry corporations on conducting cutting edge research and developing solutions for real life challenges in space.
The SECEE consists of the following planned components:
Description of Components:
- Cutting Edge Projects – Individual projects sponsored by universities or corporations that provide students the opportunity to engage with cutting edge technologies and innovative problem solving
- Online Journal – Journal for students to submit their findings based on the SECEE program they’re apart of
- the IDEA (planned) – Forum for students and teachers to share general knowledge
- Q&A Forum – Forum for students to ask questions about specific topics for mentors to respond to
- Cybrary – Library of relevant documents, information, and resources related to a specific topic
Other Components of SpacEdge Academy
In addition to the Academy and the Centers for Educational Excellence, SpacEdge provides the opportunity to participate in numerous Contests & Challenges and other activities.
Additional SpacEdge Education programs include the following:
Descriptions of Contests, Challenges, and Other Components:
- Space Policy and NSS Global Space Debates: Debate program that brings students from all around the world to debate topics around how humanity will live and work in space
- Blue Origins Postcards to Space: Send a postcard to space and back through the New Glenn Rocket
- Space Ambassadors: Members of the National Space Society who volunteer to perform outreach (typically speeches), that educate and inspire the general public about the possibilities and value of human space exploration and space settlement.
- SpacEdge YouTube – YouTube Channel with previous spUn debates
Volunteer Opportunities
SpacEdge Academy is in constant need of passionate volunteers to continue enhancing, improving, and uplifting SpacEdge Academy to the next level.
Type of volunteer activities include but are not limited to:
- Graphic Design
- Content Editing and Development
- Program Uplift
- Brand Awareness
- Website Maintenance
- Record Keeping
If you are interested in volunteering or would like more information, please contact Frances Dellutri at frances.dellutri@nss.org.
SpacEdge and the National Space Society
The National Space Society (NSS) is an independent, nonpartisan, educational, grassroots, non-profit organization dedicated to the creation of a spacefaring civilization. NSS is the preeminent citizen’s voice on space exploration, development, and settlement.
- NSS Vision: “People living and working in thriving communities beyond the Earth, and the use of the vast resources of space for the dramatic betterment of humanity.”
- NSS Mission: “To promote social, economic, technological, and political change in order to expand civilization beyond Earth, to settle space and to use the resulting resources to build a hopeful and prosperous future for humanity.”
SpacEdge Education is the educational arm of NSS. The academic content developed for SpacEdge aligns to NSS’s goals to drive space exploration and planetary defense, development, and settlement. NSS Space Ambassadors are often resourced to provide expertise for academic courses as well as competitions such as the NSS Global Space Debates. The Space Settlement Contest and the Live in a Healthy Space Contest frequently leverages NSS leadership for application reviews. SpacEdge utilizes the visibility of NSS at space related conferences to promote the vision and mission of SpacEdge and drive awareness of the educational content available to all. Lastly, SpacEdge students have the opportunity to attend the NSS International Space Development Conference (ISDC) where they can participate in poster sessions, presentations, and networking. By leveraging NSS resources, SpacEdge can reach and support space enthusiasts of all ages.
To become a member of NSS, join here.
Image Resources for Free License
Resources for License-Free Images
Date: 11/21/23
Authors:
Riley Hamilton and Natalie Orrantia
Univ, of Chicago Interns with the National Space Society (NSS)
Frances Dellutri, Director of Education, NSS
A tutorial video is available for SpacEdge Academy Educators involved in image input into the courses on SpacEdge.nss.org. If you are a SpacEdge Academy Educator and wish access to this video, please contact spacedge.academy@gmail spacedge.academy@gmail.com
SOME RESOURCES:
NASA STILLS (MOSTLY): https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/index.html
NASA STILLS AND VIDEO (You can always capture a video frame as a still): https://images.nasa.gov/
JPL IMAGES: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images
ASTRONAUT PICS: https://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/
NASA/NSSDC: https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/image/
PUBLIC DOMAIN SEARCH ENGINES (NOTE: Many require crediting the creator, and this is just good form in any case):
PEXELS: https://www.pexels.com/public-domain-images/
FREE-IMAGES.COM: https://free-images.com/
PD SEARCH FROM UC SANTA CRUZ: https://wcmshelp.ucsc.edu/about-images/finding-public-domain-images.html
UNSPLASH: https://unsplash.com/
Informational Copyright/Licensing Links for Further Comprehension
- https://pitt.libguides.com/copyright/licenses#:~:text=Licenses%20are%20permissions%20given%20by,others%20to%20use%20their%20work.
- https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2011/06/understanding-copyright-and-licenses/
- https://kporterphotography.com/blog/the-difference-between-copyright-and-licensing-professional-photography
Moodle
SpacEdge Academy uses the Moodle Management Learning Systems platform.
This platform is being merged with the National Space Society https://nss.org Content Management Systems platform.
For administrative help in using the Moodle platform, go to https://moodle.org for excellent user friendly help.
