"For a lot of people, especially kids, real science is kind of intangible, so it's tough for them to see themselves doing this and having the confidence to pursue careers in STEM," Walton explained. "When students come to STARBASE, we aim to make learning really fun for them so that it opens a door for them."

Receiving mentorship and guidance in STEM at a young age is crucial for demonstrating to youth that such pathways are not only accessible but also achievable, he said.

"For me, being on t

May 11, 2022


LOS ALAMITOS, Calif. – In May 2019, the STARBASE Los Alamitos youth rocketry team walked off a 380-acre field in Virginia with some experience under their belt and a chip on their shoulder.

They vowed to return to the place where they finished 52nd out of 100 teams in the American Rocketry Challenge National Finals, narrowly missing an afternoon fly-off between the 50 best middle and high school rocketry teams in the country.

Three school years and a global pandemic later, the

A new technology comes in, and what seemed like it had always been and always would be quickly becomes old-fashioned, unwanted, and a hard way to earn a living. Just ask your friendly neighborhood milkman or the owner of a corner Fotomat. In transportation, where change generally comes slowly, automakers' recent declarations that they plan to stop developing internal-combustion engines (ICE) and pivot to electrified lineups represent a real sea change. Arguably, the last radical move in the auto

It’s an important day for students at a summer camp called Project Payload.

“Today’s the big day of the launch, so we’ve been preparing for this, and the day is finally here,” Anne Areta, Project Payload coordinator.

“So, our girls are going to design their payload, attach it to a parachute line… and inflate a balloon that’s about 16 feet wide when it’s completely inflated,” said Areta.

The STEM camp, with supervision by USC Viterbi School of Engineering, is rooted in aerospace engineering.

May 18, 2022


THE PLAINS, Va. – A modular carbon fiber rocket designed by students from STARBASE Los Alamitos was recognized Saturday as the most innovative project flown during the 2022 American Rocketry Challenge National Finals at Great Meadow in The Plains, Virginia.

The students, ages 14-17, left the east coast Monday and headed back to the STARBASE campus on Joint Forces Training Base, Los Alamitos, carrying Raytheon's Most Innovative Approach to Mission Award along with a $500 cash pri

CSULB’s Long Beach Rocketry team took two top honors in this year’s NASA Student Launch Competition, beating out competitors from schools and universities across the country in the Project Review and Best-Looking Rocket categories.

The 34-member student team, led by advisor Dr. Praveen Shankar, battled record low funding and a host of Covid restrictions that made it difficult to meet in person to collaborate and manufacture and assemble the rocket parts.

“It has been completely surreal to plac