COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The Space Foundation, a nonprofit that’s been nudging the global space community since 1983, will premiere its National Space Day educational video on Friday, May 1, 2026, at 11:00 a.m. MT. The target audience: students, educators, and families who are ready to explore the future of space through STEM content that’s actually engaging.
Hosted by science communicator Amber Trujillo, the video targets students in grades 3 - 12 and tackles real-world challenges like space sustainability and supporting life beyond Earth. Trujillo, known for turning complex STEM topics into something digestible, will guide young minds through the hurdles and opportunities of the next space era. Because nothing says “fun Friday” like contemplating orbital debris and off-world agriculture.
“The future of space depends on the students of today,” said Heidi Vasiloff, senior director of Space Foundation Discovery Center and interim head of SWFT. “National Space Day is an opportunity to connect young people to the real challenges and possibilities in space, and to show them that their ideas have a place in solving the challenges ahead.” Translation: We need kids to start worrying now about how to keep space from turning into a landfill.
The premiere will also showcase winners of the National Space Sustainability Competition, where students in grades 6 - 8 submitted innovative ideas for living and working sustainably beyond Earth. Selected winners receive scholarships, presumably to keep them motivated to actually solve these problems one day.
The video is part of Space Workforce for Tomorrow, powered by Space Foundation, and is presented in partnership with The Aerospace Corporation, Axiom Space, and Voyager. It premieres live on Friday, May 1 at 11:00 a.m. MT on YouTube, and will be available on demand at swft.space/national-space-day/ after the broadcast.
About Space Foundation: It’s a nonprofit founded in 1983 that educates, collaborates, and informs the entire space workforce, from early education through post-secondary (college, non-college, vocational), to new professionals, and eventually to leaders at the highest levels of government and commercial industry. They get support from corporate members, sponsors, individual giving, and grants. Because even space nonprofits need to pay the bills.