JTB starts selling NASA space center tours for high school students

Major travel agent JTB Corp. has started selling tours taking high school students to NASA facilities where they can see space equipment up close and sit in on lectures for astronauts.

JTB's NASA Experience Tour, which is aimed at high school students, takes participants to the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, where they can visit space accommodation facilities, and participate in simulated experiences with the latest space technology, such as producing robot arms used for extravehicular activities.

The participants will also be taken to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to take part in lectures for astronauts.

"At a time when students are said to be shifting away from science subjects, we hope that this will be a good chance for them to become interested in work related to space," a JTB representative said.

The five-night tour, which leaves on March 21, costs 250,000 yen per person, excluding special additional fuel charges. The tour is limited to 40 people and applications end on Jan. 15.

JTB has been offering tours to NASA facilities to students at Teikyo University's Faculty of Science and Engineering since March 2005. It later decided to expand its tours to cater to high school students. (Mainichi)

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