Video: Aspiring Astronauts Get a Sneak Peek at Trip to Mars

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COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) – It was an “out of this world”  experience for some aspiring astronauts in Columbus Tuesday.

Thanks to a partnership between the Columbus Municipal School District and Mississippi State University,Fairview Elementary students spoke with members from NASA about their upcoming Mars rocket launch .

Educators and engineers hope the talks will inspire students to reach for the stars.

“Whether they become astronauts or engineers or scientists, or they simply write about the science and they’re the person who makes sure the astronauts have the food they need, or they’re just interested citizens who support us. We want all of that from our students today.”

“To make sure that they’re on the forefront, that they’re going to be the ones who are leading that journey and leading that development, because that’s where its going to come from. It’s going to come from our kids who are in school right now to be the future engineers, the future rocket scientists and those kind of things”

The NASA Mars rocket is set to launch in 2018.