8 NASA Internships for High Schoolers That Should Be On Your Radar
Applying (and getting accepted) to top colleges becomes significantly easier when you’ve secured a prestigious high school internship, such as those offered by NASA — one of the leading space agencies in the world. NASA offers exciting internship opportunities for high school students spanning diverse fields including space science, engineering, aeronautics, technology, space microbiology, ecology, communications, and more. Interning at NASA provides solid opportunities to gain hands-on experience, collaborate with experts, and contribute to cutting-edge research projects.
Participating in internships like these showcases your dedication to your chosen field and ability to excel in competitive environments, setting you apart from other applicants. An internship with NASA can also help you get strong letters of recommendation from professionals in the field, adding value to your college applications. Overall, NASA internships can help you pave the way for a future career in space exploration.
Here's our curated list of 8 NASA internships for high school students that you should check out!
1. NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement (OSTEM) Internships
Location: These internships are offered across NASA facilities. Depending on the project, interns will work either remotely or on-site at any of NASA’s 10 field centers across the country.
Eligibility: Applicants must:
- Be a U.S. citizen.
- Have a cumulative 3.0 GPA (on a 4.0 scale).
- Be a full-time student (high school through graduate level) or a part-time college-level student enrolled in a minimum of 6 semester hours.
- Be a minimum of 16 years of age at the time of application (no exceptions).
Application Deadline: Varies depending on the internship opportunity.
Dates: These internships are offered in 3 sessions –
Fall (16-week program, from late August or early September to mid-December)
Spring (16-week program, from mid-January to early May)
Summer (10-week program, from late May or early June to August).
Cost/Stipend: No cost; Interns may receive a stipend based on academic level and session duration.
NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement (OSTEM) offers paid internships to high school and college-level students based in its various sites across the country.
These internships provide training, mentorship, and career development to over 2000+ students annually alongside exposure to leading experts in science, engineering, finance, IT, and business. The internships are offered in a range of subjects and disciplines, including space science, engineering, aeronautics, technology, space microbiology, robotics, ecology, and even outreach and communications. You will get to design experiments, analyze mission data, and develop innovative technologies.
You can explore different internship opportunities here by using the ‘Filter’ option to view the options open to high school students.
2. NASA and UT Austin’s SEES High School Summer Intern Program
Location: Part online and part on-site at the University of Texas, Austin, TX.
Eligibility: Applicants must:
- Be current high school Sophomores or Juniors ONLY (will be rising Juniors and Seniors) who have not worked as a SEES intern previously.
- Must be 16 years old by July 1, 2024.
- Must be US citizens.
Application Deadline: February 24, 2024.
Dates: July 27 - August 4, 2024 (10th graders) | July 7 - July 20, 2024 (11th graders).
Cost/Stipend: No cost; Unpaid (Upon completion of the internship, both virtual and on-site interns will receive a NASA certificate of completion).
During the STEM Enhancement in Earth Sciences (SEES) High School Summer Intern Program, each intern selected will receive links to virtual SEES distance learning activities on or around May 1. The required activities must be completed by July 1 or students will not be eligible to participate in the internship and an alternate will be accepted in their place. Both on-site and virtual interns will work with NASA subject matter experts in July 2024.
The 11th-grade residential internship is 2 weeks long at the University of Texas Center for Space Research and the 10th-grade residential internship is 1 week long. The 11th-grade interns can choose to work from different project themes like Astronaut Photography, aerospace engineering, Mars Rover resource utilization, and more. Over a week, the 10th-grade interns will collaborate with ZERO-G flight mentors to engineer and develop a compact, one-of-a-kind research payload to be tested in microgravity on board the ZERO-G parabolic aircraft. Each virtual project has a different timeline and theme. All 11th-grade interns will participate in a virtual SEES Science Symposium July 22-24, 2024 where teams will present their research to NASA, scientists, family members, and guests.
3. NASA Johnson Space Center’s Texas High School Aerospace Scholars
Location: Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX | Virtual.
Eligibility: Applicants must be high school juniors who are U.S. citizens residing in Texas.
Application Deadline: Applications typically close in October. (Applications for the 2024 session are closed and will re-open in August 2024 for the 2025 session).
Dates: This is a year-long program. November-February (Online course) | Late July: 4-Day Onsite Residential Experience. For other important dates, check here.
Cost/Stipend: No cost; Unpaid. (Upon successful completion of the online portion of the course, students will be awarded a 0.5 Science elective credit).
Texas High School Aerospace Scholars is an authentic STEM learning experience for Texas high school juniors to engage with NASA’s missions and become the next generation of explorers. HAS is a year-long commitment for Texas high school juniors which starts in the fall with a four-month online learning experience related to space exploration, Earth science, technology, and aeronautics. Highest achieving students receive an invitation to a five-day gamified virtual summer experience (Moonshot) mentored by NASA scientists and engineers.
Online activities during the school year include interactive lessons on NASA activities related to space exploration, Earth science, technology, mathematics, and aeronautics. You’ll get to participate in design challenges including 3D drawings, science and math quizzes, discussion posts, and technology writings. You’ll get to chat virtually with NASA engineers and scientists.
If selected for the five-day gamified summer experience, you’ll get to participate in team projects and briefings directed by NASA engineers and scientists, hands-on design challenges, and engineering activities to plan a mission to the Moon and Mars.
4. Goddard Institute for Space Studies’ Climate Change Research Initiative (CCRI)
Location: NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, CUNY City College of Technology in New York City; or NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD.
Eligibility: High school students who are at least 16 years old, with a minimum 3.0 GPA on a 4.0 scale, and are U.S. citizens, can apply.
Application Deadline: February 2, 2024.
Dates: June 17 - August 9, 2024 (6-8 weeks).
Cost/Stipend: No cost; A stipend of $2,400 is provided to high school interns.
The CCRI is a program for educators and graduate students to lead research teams for NASA projects. However, the year-long program has a summer component that high school students can take part in as well. As an intern, you will aid the team in completing the research, delivering presentations, creating a scientific poster, and publishing a research paper that will be presented at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, and other science conferences and symposiums.
Previous projects included topics like ‘Deciphering Changing Probabilities of Extreme Climate Events in Climate Models and Measurements’ or ‘Monitoring and Studying Lakes from Space in a Changing Climate’. You can read about them in detail here. This is a great choice for those interested in research and who would like to have a completed project on their resumes.
Location: Multiple in-person and virtual opportunities are available. Check here.
Eligibility: Applicants must:
- Be at least 18 years of age by the start of the term for which they are applying.
- Be U.S. citizens to apply to DEVELOP in-person opportunities at NASA and NOAA locations. (International students may apply to regional and virtual locations).
- Have a minimum 3.0 GPA on a 4.0 scale (either cumulative or most recent) from the current or most recent institution of higher learning.
Application Deadline: Spring Term (October 2023) | Summer Term (February 23, 2024) | Fall Term (June 14, 2024).
Dates: Spring Term (January 22 - Mar 29, 2024) | Summer Term (June 3 - August 9, 2024) | Fall Term (September 16 - November 22, 2024).
Cost/Stipend: No cost; Participants are paid on an hourly basis. Rates are based on current level of education, applicant classification, and locality.
The DEVELOP experience is focused on both conducting and communicating an applied Earth science feasibility project. As an intern, you’ll get to spend your time engaged in a literature review on the scope, methodologies, and types of NASA remote-sensing data applicable to their project. You will have an opportunity to utilize Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and remote-sensing data to conduct application projects.
Teams will communicate with partner organizations that can benefit from the methodologies, results, and enhanced decision-making tools created by the team. You‘ll spend a substantial amount of time on the creation of professional deliverables, including a poster, presentation, technical report, and video, as the program emphasizes building your capacity to communicate project results to a variety of audiences. You’ll also get to partake in personal development activities like personality typing, and team-building exercises, as well as networking with your team, advisors, and partner organizations.
Click here to learn more about the projects and areas of research.
6. GeneLab for High Schools (GL4HS)
Location: Virtual.
Eligibility: Applicants must:
- Be at least 16 years old on or before December 31, 2024.
- Be entering their junior or senior year of high school in Fall 2024.
- Have a GPA or equivalent of 3.0 or higher (on a 4.0 scale).
Application Deadline: Applications for the Summer 2024 Program Have Closed. Check the website in December 2024 for the 2025 application information. Applications are usually open in January or February for 3-4 weeks.
Dates: July 1 - 26, 2024.
Cost/Stipend: No cost; Students will be provided with a small stipend to help cover miscellaneous expenses.
Sponsored by NASA’s Ames Research Center, the GL4HS is a virtual training program in the field of omics-based bioinformatics research, which is the science of collecting and analyzing complex biological data such as genetic codes and computational biology. You will learn about the field through interactive classes, computer laboratory training, virtual field trips, and networking opportunities.
The program also includes a research training competition where you will develop a research proposal in teams and the best team will be selected by NASA to present their work at the annual conference of the American Society for Gravitational and Space Research (ASGSR). The 4-week summer program is conducted virtually between the hours of 8 am to 3 pm (Pacific Time) Monday-Friday. The 2023 cohort included 27 students from across the country, so the application process can be fairly selective.
7. George Mason University - NASA Data Science Analysis and Scholarly Research Paper Writing
Location: Hybrid (primarily virtual, with in-person options at the GMU Fairfax Campus)
Eligibility: Open to all high school students.
Application Deadline: Available seats are on a first-come, first-served basis. (For the first 50 students)
Dates: June 15, 2024 - August 16, 2024
Cost/Stipend: The fees have not been mentioned on the website (Interested students can reach out to execed@gmu.edu for the fee structure); No information about a stipend is specified but students may be eligible to receive awards and scholarships.
The Young Scholars NASA Data Science Analysis and Research Paper Program offers you an engaging and authentic professional, cutting-edge research experience in NASA space data science and statistical analysis. You will engage in a comprehensive program delving into astronomy and space sciences through a combination of research projects and lectures. Working collaboratively on current NASA mission research, you will receive guidance on crafting professional-quality scholarly papers to enhance your research and communication skills.
During this program, you will be participating in a guided astronomy-based research project applying some of the following methods, including but not limited to:
Astronomy data analysis on NASA missions
Observational astronomy and statistical analysis.
Quantitative Research
Scientific methods of inference
Observational data collection and management
Statistical science inference
The private space revolution and its impact on astronomy and space policy
You can check the different software and data used for research - here.
You will have the benefit of having your research paper posted on the official George Mason University webpage see Schar School Young Scholars Journals page.
8. NASA’s Communications Internships - Public Affairs Intern
Location: Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA (Both in-person and virtual options are available).
Eligibility: High school seniors with U.S. citizenship can apply.
Application Deadline: Applications typically close in February.
Dates: 8 weeks between June and August (Varies depending on the internship opportunity).
Cost/Stipend: No cost; Interns may receive a stipend based on academic level and session duration.
As a Public Affairs Intern, you will work on content creation and engagement in support of NASA Langley’s communications team. This experience will allow you to see the inner workings of a communications organization from multiple facets. Your duties will include content creation, editing, review, research & analysis, and event planning support. You’ll also get to work on creating, organizing, and distributing informational materials, exhibits, and artifacts. You’ll also be involved in database management in support of the speaker’s bureau and outreach events and have an opportunity to assist with business operations.
As an intern, you will receive experience and mentoring from communications professionals at Langley Research Center, and an understanding of how to communicate to and excite audiences about aerospace missions at NASA.
Looking for an immersive internship experience?
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Stephen is one of the founders of Ladder Internships and a Harvard College graduate.