Fifteen Wanganui Collegiate School students blasted off to the United States recently where they spent time on the planet Mars. Sort of.
They visited a simulator at the Kennedy Space Centre in Orlando, Florida that gave them the impression that they were on Mars doing a range of activities.
Wanganui Collegiate teacher and organiser of the trip Rachel Richmond said it was a mind-blowing experience.
"There was a console of ground control crew giving instructions to people in a simulator that projected the image that they were in a rover on Mars," Richmond said.
"It was very realistic in that if the wrong instruction was given and you went over a rock, they'd fall over and the whole thing would go upside down."
Richmond said that she had expected more to do with launching rockets on the trip, but that she was blown away by the Mars-related simulations instead.
"That's the big push at the moment, could we exist on Mars? What happens when we finally trash the Earth? That's the way we're going at the moment as a human race," she said.
"It was an eye-opener in terms of the scope for science and maths in the real world and the history of space exploration."
Although they did not launch any rockets, the students did see the launch of a satellite called TESS.
"We looked out our restaurant window and could see the smoke trail and a tiny little thing in the distance, which was pretty exciting," Richmond said.
"Hopefully the kids came away thinking it's about more than being an astronaut or going to space, you can be on ground control, or engineering and even graphics."
Collegiate student Jessica Matangi said she went on the trip to expand her knowledge of space.
"During the trip, I learned that I knew more than I had originally thought," she said.
"I was able to make connections, understand, and learn more about the history and what is currently happening, what we are capable of and what our future plans are."
Matangi said she was amazed by the graphics and displays at the Kennedy Space Centre.
"Although they were assembled many years ago, even today they are more advanced than our time," she said.
"The experience has not changed or influenced my career path in life, but now I definitely would like to keep up with the progress that the space organisation is making."