CLARKSVILLE, TN –Austin Peay State University is ready to launch its latest science-themed summer camp, the Space Explorer Camp, running from June 12-16.

The camp, designed for students from 10-14 years old, will be a full-day, weeklong day camp focused on space exploration and astronomy. 

The camp will provide campers with the opportunity to learn about planets, stars and what is up in the sky while also engaging in fun and exciting activities such as building telescopes, making craters and launching water bottle rockets.

Students will: 

  • Spend a full day at the APSU Observatory learning about telescopes. Students will build telescopes and use telescopes to safely view the sun.  
  • Explore the night sky using the school’s 20-inch professional telescope and other smaller telescopes. The specific night will depend on sky conditions. 
  • Build and launch water bottle rockets and learn the basics of rocketry. 
  • Use computer-based activities and the Robert Sears Planetarium to learn about basic motions in the sky and constellations. 
  • Spend a full day exploring the planets of our solar system, learning about their size, characteristics, compositions and distance from the sun. 
  • Learn how craters are made and make craters themselves in simulated planetary bombardments. 
  • Handle meteorites from space! 
  • Build a 3D-printed model of the James Webb Space Telescope and learn about other NASA space observatories. 

Drs. J. Allyn Smith and Spencer Buckner of the APSU Department of Physics, Engineering and Astronomy will lead the camp. 

The camp will be 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. each day and is $300 for the week with supplies, snacks and lunches provided. 

In addition to the Space Explorer Camp, APSU’s College of STEM will offer several other science-themed summer camps this summer, including the Earth Explorers Summer Camp, led by Dr. Erik Haroldson and Dr. Kallina Dunkle, and coding camps offered by the Department of Computer Science and Information Technology. 

For more information or to register for any of the camps, visit the College of STEM’s summer camps webpage.