The Air Force Association (AFA) today announced that Lockheed Martin will be the 2020-2021 Presenting Sponsor for its StellarXplorers Program. This sponsorship will allow for even more growth in the program by significantly expanding student outreach and enabling full-time professional staffing.
StellarXplorers is AFA’s National High School Space Challenge, which invites teams of students across the country to use space systems engineering principles to solve a problem remotely through four rounds of competition. Students involved in any youth organization – including high schools, Boys & Girls Clubs, scouting units, and home-school students – may participate. Winners are planned to receive an all-expense-paid trip to the National Finals, which will be held in the Houston, TX area in April 2021.
“AFA is honored to welcome Lockheed Martin as Presenting Sponsor,” said Bernie Skoch, AFA’s STEM Executive. “It’s gratifying to have as a partner an enterprise so firmly focused on improving STEM opportunities for young women and young men of all backgrounds.”
The generous support of Lockheed Martin allows AFA to build on the great work of its volunteers who initiated the program and successfully led its growth to this point by now putting in place staff members to accelerate the growth of the program.
“We’re excited to be a part of the StellarXplorers program,” commented Rick Ambrose, executive vice president, Lockheed Martin Space. “It’s important that we embrace our youth and provide opportunities for them to explore, create and succeed in STEM. We’re looking forward to seeing what the students produce in this year’s challenge.”
StellarXplorers, the National High School Space Challenge, is an education initiative established by AFA. The program is a space system engineering competition designed to inspire students toward futures in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).
Other program sponsors include U.S. Air Force STEM Program, L3Harris Foundation, Aerojet Rocketdyne Foundation, Rocket Lab, and SpaceX, with additional support from the Educational Alliance of Analytical Graphics, Inc, The Space Foundation, and Coyote Enterprises.
About AFA
The Air Force Association is a non-profit, independent, professional military and aerospace education association. Our mission is to promote dominant U.S. Air and Space Forces as the foundation of a strong National Defense; to honor and support our Airmen, Space Force Professionals, and their Families; and to remember and respect our enduring Heritage. AFA.org.
