(Photo provided) Alethea Brown, 12, of Burton and her mother Elisabeth Brown pose while waiting for a Blue Origin rocket to launch a satellite into space in Florida during a recent SpaceKids trip.

BURTON – Alethea Brown, 12, of Burton is back from her trip to Florida where she became a SpaceKid for two days and watched a Blue Origin rocket launch a satellite into outer space.

“Alethea toured Blue Origin’s Rocket Park, NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, and received professional press training to help her report on this amazing experience and interviewed real astronauts like Sharon Hagle who flew on last week’s Blue Origin New Shepard space flight,” according to information from Blue Origin.

She learned about the opportunity offered by Blue Origin and SpaceKids Global, from her mother, Elisabeth Brown, who works as a teacher at Short Line School.

Alethea, who previously attended Short Line and is now homeschooled, had to submit a video skit of herself and then be interviewed by officials with the company.

Alethea and seven other students were chosen among 1,100 entries from students across the United States to become SpaceKids Press Squad members. During the two-day trip, Alethea visited Blue Origin’s Rocket Park, NASA’s Kennedy Space and witnessed a Blue Origin New Shepard rocket launch via a webcast of the event in Texas.

Alethea got to interview Blue Origin engineers, spacecraft designers and managers about their jobs and lives.

“It was a once in a lifetime experience. … My favorite part of the trip was probably interviewing the engineers and the nameplate we got. It said my name; it was made of metal and on the machines they used for rockets,” she said.

Alethea said she did not get to see the astronauts launch into space live, but watched a recording of the event. She got to do astronaut interviews directly afterward.

At the Kennedy Space Center, Alethea got to experience the rocket launch simulator.

Getting to see the live rocket launch of a satellite was a loud and firy experience.

“It was very loud and bright. We were outside on top of a building. We had a very good view,” she said. “There was lots of smoke. It started smoking and then it launched. We counted down and it went perfectly on the mark.”

Alethea said she would like to go to space someday as long as she didn’t have to pay thousands of dollars to do it.

“I would absolutely go to space,” she said.

Elisabeth Brown described the experience as an “amazing opportunity.”

“They got the VIP treatment wherever they went,” Brown said. “They toured two rocket companies – United Launch Alliance and Blue Origin – and Kennedy, and everywhere where they went they rolled out the red carpet for these kids.”

To be considered for the program, Alethea wrote and performed a video skit that involved her giving a fictional weather and news report from Mars. She was also interviewed.

Alethea has four siblings: Gabriel, Jonathan, Emma and Naomi. The family, including father Nathaniel Brown, moved to Burton about two years ago from the state of Oregon.

Alethea has been enjoying her new home state. She enjoys learning about math and history. She also loves rocks and wonders what other planets in the solar system and beyond are made of.

She also enjoys sports such as soccer, volleyball and wrestling. She wants to try running track. Alethea plays trumpet for the Short Line School band. She also likes writing and art.