Capt. Ronnie Bishop, right, Space Systems Command’s liaison officer to U.S. Forces Korea, helps students launch paper rockets during a Space Force Command STEM event at Osan Air Base, South Korea, on Sept. 4, 2026. (Alejandro Carrasquel/Stars and Stripes)
OSAN AIR BASE, South Korea — Space Force personnel helped elementary school students launch paper rockets and explore how satellites work during a five-day program aimed at cultivating the next generation of scientists and engineers.
The Space Systems Command STEM program, held Aug. 31-Sept. 4 at Osan Elementary School, marked its first visit to South Korea and second overseas expansion following an earlier program at Yokota Air Base, Japan.
Students from kindergarten through fifth grade used satellite models, plush planets and other props to learn about space before testing their own designs through hands-on activities.
Space Systems Command targets younger students because developing an interest in STEM — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — becomes more difficult as children grow older, the command’s STEM director, Nicole Palmer, told Stars and Stripes at the event’s final day.
Students at Osan Elementary School construct paper rockets during a Space Force Command STEM event at Osan Air Base, South Korea, on Sept. 4, 2026. (Alejandro Carrasquel/Stars and Stripes)
“Our goal is to really get kids interested young so that when the time comes, we will have a very sturdy, a very promising pipeline of scientists and engineers in the future,” she said.
The program began five years ago at Los Angeles Air Force Base in California, headquarters of Space Systems Command, and has since expanded to communities around several Space Force installations.
Lessons are tailored to students’ ages and encourage them to experiment rather than simply learn established concepts, said Nicole Tibbets, the command’s STEM executive lead.
“This is meant to inspire them to go, ‘Hold on, I can play with this toy. I can make it do anything,’ ” she said at the event. “Because they can make it do anything. It’s their imagination.”
Capt. Ronnie Bishop, Space Systems Command’s liaison officer to U.S. Forces Korea, helps Osan Elementary School students build paper rockets at Osan Air Base, South Korea, on Sept. 4, 2026. (Alejandro Carrasquel/Stars and Stripes)
That willingness to experiment is particularly valuable for younger children, who are still developing how they approach unfamiliar problems and may be less constrained by conventional ways of thinking, Tibbets said.
The program can turn a child’s natural curiosity about space into a broader interest in engineering and technology, said Capt. Ronnie Bishop, the Space Systems Command liaison officer for U.S. Forces Korea.
“There are a lot of curious kids out there that are probably wondering, ‘How does that satellite work? How does that antenna work? How do they communicate between the Earth and space?’ ” he said at the event.
During the 2025-26 school year, the program reached 12,141 students through more than 106 events supported by 132 volunteers, Tibbets said.
At Osan, local guardians participated in lessons and rocket activities so they can carry out future STEM events without relying on the Los Angeles team.
Palmer said one guardian has already expressed interest in bringing the program to a school at Camp Humphreys, about 15 miles from Osan.
Capt. Ronnie Bishop, Space Systems Command’s liaison officer to U.S. Forces Korea, answers Osan Elementary School students’ questions during a STEM event at Osan Air Base, South Korea, on Sept. 4, 2026. (Alejandro Carrasquel/Stars and Stripes)