CLARKSBURG, W.Va. (WBOY) — Thanks to the NASA artifact program, students at eligible schools and universities can have the opportunity to hold and interact with pieces of humanity’s space-faring history.
Above are some of the artifacts that are still available as of the publishing of this article.
The NASA artifact program allows educational institutions to apply for thousands of different available items like scientific instruments, pieces of spacecraft and models of NASA projects. Applying for the program takes only a couple of minutes:
- Go to the NASA artifacts landing page.
- In the “Historic Artifacts Prescreening” section, click the “How Do I Submit or Manage a Guest User Account.”
- From there, you can find the directions to create an account.
Once you create an account, select your name on the top right and choose a school or institution you want to apply on behalf of. If your school is not listed, you can submit a new organization as long as it is eligible.
According to a FAQ about the program, the organizations that are eligible to apply and receive NASA’s artifacts are:
- Universities registered in the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS)
- Schools K-12 registered in the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)
- Nonprofit museums, libraries, and planetariums that are eligible to receive federal property
- NASA internal organizations
- Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum (NASM)
- Other Federal Agencies
A few West Virginia schools that are registered in the NCES are Adamston Elementary, Bridgeport Middle and High School, Morgantown High School and North Marion High School. You can see if your school is registered in the NCES here.
“NASA’s Artifacts program offers an opportunity to encourage the next generation of science, technology, engineering, and math students – the Artemis Generation – and many other space enthusiasts, with these priceless artifacts to share the agency’s awe-inspiring accomplishments,” said, exhibits and artifacts program manager Lauren Katz in a release.
According to a NASA representative, once an institution is approved for an artifact, ownership of the object is transferred to the recipient after a period of five years under the condition the object is not sold or transferred to another party. Sometimes this transfer of ownership can happen much sooner depending on the object.
NASA said it plans to notify any artifact recipients in July to pay for any associated packaging, handling, and shipping of any artifact.
