Patterson is one of 50 schools across the country taking part in the NASA Explorer Schools Program. The director of the Kennedy Space Center, James Kennedy, along with astronaut Sam Durrance, spent the day at Patterson talking space.
Kennedy says getting kids interested in space at a young age is key.
"Once they hit the late teen years, it's too late to turn their interest towards technology subjects that we need. We need people to invest an interest in math and science and technology, engineering because that's going to be required to execute the vision of exploration that we now have," said Kennedy.
Other schools in the NASA Explorer Schools Program in Florida are Carol City Elementary School in Opa Locka, Steward Magnet Middle School in Tampa and Howard W. Bishop Middle School in Gainesville.
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