Taking Up Space Blog

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Fred Haise Fundraiser Patch

Following-on from the highly successful Hoot Gibson “Signature Edition” fundraising patch project for Taking Up Space launched earlier this year, the Space Hipsters Facebook group has just announced that a new patch in the series will be released very soon. This time a patch has been designed to celebrate former NASA astronaut Fred Haise’s role…

Space Hipsters May the 4th Be With You Fundraiser Event

The second annual May the 4th Be With You Trivia Quiz and Prize Draw Fundraising Event held this last week by the Space Hipsters Facebook group was a resounding success. The live online event was hosted by Space Hipsters Emily Carney and Lois Huneycutt, and opened with a special prize draw for children, with ten…

Hoot Gibson Fundraiser Patch

The Space Hipsters Facebook group launched a highly-successful fundraising project for Taking Up Space in early April. The background of the project begins with the STS-27 Space Shuttle mission of 1988, which came perilously close to disaster after suffering severe damage to its protective heat shield tiles during the launch. After observing the damage on…

You’re Invited

Cultural STEM Day: It Takes a Pueblo SUNDAY, MARCH 20, 2022  4:30 PM – 8:00 PM at the Presidio San Agustín del Tucsón Fundraiser with Las Azaleas, Salvador Duran, featuring Gabriel Ayala, and very special guest astronaut Capt. Robert “Hoot” Gibson and Mayor Romano! Also featuring space art by Michelle Rouch, space jewelry by Planet Exophilia,…

Native American girls are heading to Space Camp

Seven Sisters are Taking Up Space! July 31, 2021 Over the past COVID era a group of seven Native American girls, ages 9 – 12 years old, from six tribes were doing exceptional things. Alaskan Ute, Apache, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Dine, and Coeur d’Alene Ojibwe formed an alliance – the seven sisters. On Zoom, the girls…

Thank You A-B Emblem!

A-B Emblem is Seriously Amazing! Thank you to A-B emblem for their wonderful support of our program! Space enthusiasts will know A-B Emblem as the official supplier of embroidered mission patches to NASA since the 1970s. Think of all those amazing photos of astronauts walking out to the launch pad or floating in space, and…

Space Hipster FUN-draiser

Facebook Live Event Join the Space Hipsters team for a Facebook Live event to help Czarina Salido on her efforts to bring seven Native American girls to Space Camp this summer. Join us for a Trivia Quiz and Lucky Draw to win some fabulous space artefacts, signed goodies and one of a kind items. May…

Arizona Woman Helps Native American Girls Pursue Careers in STEM

Taking Up Space is an outreach program that gives girls opportunities to explore STEM Author: Vanessa Ramirez Published: 10:57 AM MST Source: https://www.12news.com/article/news/community/arizona-woman-helps-native-american-girls-pursue-careers-in-stem/75-0c31865b-3ddb-4741-9539-59da6c6bd485 Our founder and programs director Czarina was on 12 News KPNX! Checkout their amazing article: TUCSON, Ariz. — A Tucson woman is determined to help Native American girls pursue careers in STEM.   Czarina Salido is the founder of a…

How Do We Best Serve Our Native American Girls? It Takes a Village

It Takes a Village Oh my what a year it has been! Under all of the anxiety that filled the air, as always there was hope, charity, and civility. We’re committed to our mission and the community we serve. We therefore partnered and helped launch a 14 week on-line Summer coding program for 9 –…

Taking Up Space Facebook Live Event

12/19/20 Facebook Live Event Join us this Saturday as Program Director Czarina Salido talks about Taking Up Space past, present and future with the Space Hipsters!  Space Hipsters is a public online group with over 19,000 members. They have donated several thousand dollars to help with our mission of gifting trips to Space Camp to deserving…

Coding is How We Talk to Computers!

Our New Program Teaches Indigenous Girls How to Code We are delighted to announce a collaboration with SONAC: “Sisterhood of Native American Coders,” a nonprofit organization founded by Elisabeth Holm. SONAC will provide an interactive introduction to STEM for 9 – 12 year old Native American girls. We will be hosting an online program creating projects, inviting…

Find a Chicken, Pick it Up, Then All Day You’ll Have Good Luck…

Emily Carney Supports Taking Up Space We are so grateful to spaceflight enthusiast, Emily Carney! Emily is graciously donating the above photograph, signed, to all who contribute (see How to Help below) to our program Taking Up Space – sending Native American girls to Space Camp. How to Help: Step 1: Donate $10 here: 👉https://www.paypal.com/us/fundraiser/112574644767835624/charity/1530675…

We Are So Thankful!

Expect More Excellence Tour We were honored to be a part of the Expect More Excellence Tour which “…spotlights what Arizonans are doing today to make progress toward world-class education, and celebrates the kind of excellence we expect and believe must be available to all students.” Find out what they had to say about Why…

Congratulations Class of 2019!

Space Camp 2019 Recap The kids did great! 👏 Congratulations to Sole and John for successfully completing Space Camp on team Capricorn, and Saydee for completing Aviation challenge Mach II on team Black Hawk! Thank you to everyone who helped them get to Space Camp! 🙏 A special thank you to our sponsors: Pascua Yaqui…

“Our future lies with today’s kids and tomorrow’s space exploration”

Meet One of Our 2019 Space Campers, John! This year, we received special funding to take a very unique individual to Space Camp. John is nine years old, is a member of the Pascua Yaqui tribe, and is very interested in both space and his own cultural roots. Since John was three and a half,…

Meet Susan

“Girls should be taking up MORE space!”

Meet Mark

“My wife and daughter are scientists, and I wish all girls and women are afforded any opportunities to develop and contribute their intellectual talents in the aerospace field.”

And the Winner is…

Who won the Luciana Vega American Doll? Congratulations to Julian David Stone! Apollo XV astronaut, Al Worden, Emily Carney, Space Hipster founder, and historian and educator, Lois Huneycutt, announced the winner of the Luciana Vega American doll and her collection – a retail value of $300.00. Our sincere thank you and appreciation to the Space…

Sole in… Space Camp

“When I give talks it feels good, but I kinda get a little shy, but I still do it” – Sole

Help the Hipsters Help Us

We have a matching donation offer! Any donations that comes in today will be matched up to $400! 7/31/2019

T – 10 days…

Meet Saydee! One of our 2019 Space Campers Support Saydee by helping her get to Space Camp! Saydee is an 11 year old from the Pascua Yaqui tribe. Her dream is to become an astronaut. With your donation she will be going to Space Camp Mach II where she will learn how to fly an…

TFCU Lends a Hand

Thank you TFCU! There’s one thing that continues to amaze us about Tucson, and that is the generosity of our community. Our local credit union, started by a group of teachers in 1937 with $349, is one of our biggest supporters. Their contributions have been critical to our success. Three years ago, our first group…

Donations and Prize Drawing

Win an Apollo Astronaut, Al Worden, signed DVD, or a limited edition print signed by astronaut Robert “Hoot” Gibson! Help send Native American kids to Space Camp, & you’ll be entered to win! Hurry! 🏃‍♀️ drawing ends midnight August 1st

Space Camp 2019 or Bust!

A History of Our Girls Space Camp Journey Help us raise the $6,500.00 needed to make 2019 Space Camp Possible! We started off in 2017 with cute little girls leaving the Reservation and flying on a plane for the first time. Their excitement was palpable. They were so nervous to leave their families and fly…

Optics and LASERS!

We were very fortunate to get a tour of The University of Arizona College of Optical Sciences and DILAS Coherent, a high-power diode laser components and systems company. We suited up and went inside clean rooms, sat in on optics classes, viewed a large scale mirror, investigated a Halloween “crime scene”, and had an up…

Visiting Spacefest IX

Our appreciation to the Poor family for giving us the opportunity to attend Spacefest IX. It’s wonderful to see so much artistic talent and to learn about the history and future of space exploration. Thank you to the Spacefest organizers for a wonderful event! Sole was honored to be invited to give a speech at…

We Had a Blast!

We had a blast. Thank you for your support!

Fundraiser featuring Guitarist Gabriel Ayala!

Want a fun way to help girls get to Space Camp? Stop by La Cocina, March 6th from 5PM – 10PM, and listen to space expert Francis French; view gorgeous space art by the Tucson-Chapter of the International Association of Astronomical Artists (IAAA); hear the beautiful sounds of Pascua Yaqui guitarist Gabriel Ayala; and feast…

Team Building Day

The girls had a nice team building day watching Wonder Woman, visiting the University of Arizona, and bowling.  

We Went to Space Camp!

They did it! Congratulations to Saydee, Serena, and Sole! They did great.  Thank you for supporting the girls. We are grateful.

Visiting SARSEF

Sole and Sayde sending a message to their mom’s.

Our first Science Fair Project (SARSEF)!

STEM in Action The Southern Arizona Research, Science and Engineering Foundation (SARSEF) has been organizing and running the science fair since 1955, and this year we are submitting our first project!  The girls have been working very hard and have had a lot of fun along the way!

Building Rockets

Thank You Pima Air & Space Museum! ​​​​​ ​​

Mentor Appreciation Night

Thank you to the Pascua Yaqui Clubhouse for a beautiful and delicious dinner!  Many thanks to Sabestine, Brooke, Amanda, Gilbert, Gavino, Agnes, Renee, Ceasar, and Xavier!

Girls Can! Crate Visits Girl’s Day at the PYT Clubhouse

We had a great time with Alison Shores, COO of Girls Can! Crate!  Alison taught us about Mary Golda Ross, the first Native American female engineer, and we built a Parachute Transport System for our Eggstronauts! We also visited the PYT Community Center Library and made a Ku bird, a vain little bird that disappeared after…

Taking Up Space

We are sending Native American Girls to Space Camp! Time in Cosmology is honored to be collaborating with the Pascua Yaqui Tribe in our first mission to send middle-school-aged Pascua Yaqui girls to Space Camp! The first group of Yaqui girls attended Space Camp in June 2017. Selected Scholarship winners received full camp tuition for…

Mask Making

Mask Making for Haloween

Computer Lab

The Girls at the Computer Lab