NASA's App Development Challenge: Weston's Falcon Cove students reach for stars
WESTON - We may see an astronaut going to Mars in our lifetime and when that happens, one South Florida school will share a part of that glory.
Falcon Cove in Weston has been named Best Middle School Team in NASA's prestigious App Development Challenge.
The challenge was to build a coding program to solve a space exploration problem.
It's part of NASA's Artemis Campaign to establish a base on the moon and prepare astronauts for a mission to Mars.
Vishnu Shivakumar, 13, was team leader and explained that the code creates a simulation of an astronaut going from the landing site on the moon to another point and finding resources.
"There were over 100 students in the challenge and they named the top six and we were there," said their teacher Michele Freeman.
Freeman, who has a business background, admits she only learned coding a few years back.
She keeps pushing her students to new heights.
"They are meeting every challenge. I love to see them succeed. It makes what we do worth it."
Like many of his classmates, Vishnu is reaching for the stars.
"I personally want to work at NASA and I definitely plan to put this on my resume!" he says.
The group will present their project virtually to a NASA team in Houston soon.
