Richmond Hill Middle School student Jackson Bethel recently attended Space Camp for Interested Visually-Impaired Students (SCI-VIS) at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Ala.

The week-long educational program promotes science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), while training students and adults with hands-on activities and missions based on teamwork, leadership and decision-making.

RHMS teacher Patrick Welch sponsored Bethel’s trip to Space Camp through the Miles to Space scholarship program. Welch plans to have a 5K run in the spring to raise money to send another visually-impaired student to SCI-VIS next year, he said.

Bethel was part of the Space Academy Program, which is specifically designed for participants who have a particular interest in science and aerospace.

Bethel spent the week training with a team that flew a simulated space shuttle mission to the International Space Station. Once “aboard” the ISS, the crew participated in experiments and successfully completed an extra-vehicular activity, or spacewalk.

Space Camp has hosted the program for visually-impaired students for 26 years. Nearly 200 students from around the world attended the 2015 SCI-VIS program.

Space Camp operates year-round in Huntsville and uses astronaut training techniques to engage trainees in real-world applications of STEM subjects. Students sleep in quarters designed to resemble the ISS and train in simulators such as those used by NASA.

More than 700,000 trainees have graduated from Space Camp since its opening in Huntsville in 1982, including STS-131 astronaut Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger and European Space Agency Astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti.

Last year, children and teachers from all 50 states and 64 international locations attended Space Camp.