NearSpace Education announced the opening of their new maker space with a ribbon cutting at Dream Big Park on Aug. 31.
The new building is located at 33. North Main St., near Patent Pending. The space is over 7,000 square feet, said Alex Reno, director of Outreach and Operations at NearSpace Education. NearSpace Education’s previous location was about 700 square feet, he said, and was shared with NearSpace Launch.
NearSpace Education is a spinoff from NearSpace Launch, Reno said. NearSpace Launch is a for-profit satellite building company that has partnered with Taylor University for a number of different projects, including the Main Street Mile Initiative and partnerships with engineering students to send satellites to space.
“We were kind of a spin-off from launch at this point,” Reno said. “They support us in a lot of different ways. And when we’re doing our satellite projects, they help build out the hardware, they provide the engineering that we need for that.”
NearSpace education is a nonprofit with the goal to inspire, equip and impact students, Reno said. The organization does this through balloon launches, camps, hosting events and having interns and programs to train students.
The ribbon cutting was held after the groundbreaking for the Upland Public Library Expansion and opened with remarks from Reno. Matt Voss, president of the board, and Indiana State Representative Lori Goss-Reeves spoke as well.
Voss told the crowd NearSpace was there to inspire kids of the next generation.
“We’re also here to inspire, and hopefully helping get the kids of the next generation excited about what they can do,” Voss said. “There’s no reason they can’t do anything …So we want to see them inspired by clone launches. They can go to space.”
The actual ribbon cutting was done in conjunction with the launch of a high-altitude balloon. Reno invited kids who were part of NearSpace Education’s space camps or aerospace club to help cut the ribbon and launch the balloon.
After the speeches, guided tours of the new maker space were offered. A projector playing live information from the balloon launch had been set up so people could watch its progress.
After the ribbon cutting, Street Fest began, which included vendors from the community and live music by James Beers and the Wandering Woodsman.
Street Fest is the vision of NearSpace Launch, said Stephanie Osborne, who organizes the Upland Farmers Market and served as the organizer for Street Fest this year.
“Street Fest is kind of NearSpace Launch’s vision,” Osborne said. “This is the third year they’ve done Street Fest, and this year it just happened to coordinate with the completion of their new maker space.”
Osborne said the event grows each year. This year they had more vendors and more to offer. Street Fest brings the community together, providing some fun amidst the chaos of construction, she said.