While NASA’s Perseverance makes new discoveries on Mars, closer to home the mission is also proving to inspire a whole new generation of astronauts, physicists and planetary scientists. 


According to Varsity Tutors, the theatre of NASA’s Mars exploration has generated tremendous interest among current students. In 2021, classes on the topic of space have been Varsity Tutors’ most popular with over 40,000 registrations.

“Space-related classes and content have always been popular on Varsity Tutors, but since NASA’s exploration of Mars, that interest has scaled to new heights,” said Brian Galvin, Chief Academic Officer at Varsity Tutors. “It has sparked people’s imaginations and piqued their curiosity, and suddenly STEM learning is cooler than it’s ever been.”

With the swell in interest, the company has also launched Space Club, a free after-school club that gets small groups of students together to explore the cosmos. Space Club is being headlined by theoretical physicist Brian Greene, a Columbia University professor and the chairman of the World Science Festival, and astronaut Leland Melvin, a two-time International Space Station resident, who are each teaching free classes for kids in March and April.

“Space Club feeds the natural curiosity that kids have about outer space and provides them with a unique enriched learning opportunity,” Galvin said. “What better way to learn about outer space than from an astronaut who’s been there? Or from a renowned physicist?”

Space Club groups members into “mission crews” of 6-10 students for weekly meetings, plus features weekly self-guided activities and video mini-lessons. Space Club members are also invited to join celebrity instructors for pre-class meet-and-greets.

Each month, mission crews will focus on a different frontier of space. In March, students will explore the solar system, in April they will visit deep-space phenomena like black holes, and in the future, they will retrace the history of space exploration and explore the origins of the big bang. 

Leland Melvin’s class, “Becoming An Astronaut“, taking place on March 18, will explain to aspiring astronauts how to make the journey from childhood to orbit – including some surprising tips and some amazing tales of how he did it.

Brain Greene’s interactive class on March 31, “Adventures in Astrophysics: Black Holes” will offer hands-on experiments and vibrant visuals to give students an up close experience with black holes.