BALTIMORE — A new program takes Baltimore students to the stars...without leaving the ground.
On Thursday, more than 200 students met astronauts, engineers, roboticists, and a lot of other experts.
It's so students from underserved communities can learn about STEM-related fields.
Students spent the day in workshops and career panels with people like former NASA astronaut Don Thomas.
His lesson to them: Never give up.
"It took me four times applying to NASA to get into the astronaut program. I got turned down, got turned down, got turned down, and then the fourth time I made it. So, I tell the students, whatever you want to do in life, you'll get rejected, you're going to get turned down, you're going to fail along the way. Don't let that stop you," said Thomas.
Students also got a chance to take a look inside the human body.
One 8th grader wants to become a medical researcher focusing on blood diseases.
"Blood diseases are those things where there's a positive and a negative side to it. So, from my research, I learned that sickle cell anemia is actually an advance for a control of malaria. Malaria, so, mosquito disease, but actually it's bad for them because it affects the livers, the kidneys, all of those," said Alexa Richardson, a student at Green Street Academy.
She's also a part of the University of Maryland, Baltimore Cure Scholars Program, which prepares middle and high school students for healthcare careers.
She says her next goal is to do sickle cell research and she used Thursday's event to get tips from scientists.
