“I am passionate about people flying, living, working and eventually populating Space! I have been alive for the entire Space Program. All of my life I have been interested and involved in learning more about Space. I applied to NASA’s Teacher in Space Program with Christa McAuliff and thousands of other teachers in 1984. I made that application a blueprint for professional development activities and was rewarded for that, by being selected in 2004 as one of the top 197 Educator Astronaut Applicants. Those who were not selected to fly became participants in the NASA Network of Educator Astronaut Teachers (NEAT Teachers). I spent 4 years training at NASA facilities (all but NASA Stennis) learning about implementing NASA Education Programs and Activities in all aspects of curriculum. I have drawn on this training while developing TIS training programs, which are the essence of what was the best part of NASA education programs. As a trainer of teachers, I feel it is important for me to experience flight into space so I can use that experience to develop relevant training programs for teachers. I have pursued flying in space my entire life and hope to make that dream a reality with Teachers in Space!”
Hi, I’m Jim Kuhl
My Teaching Experience
I retired after teaching at the elementary and middle school levels for 38 years in the Central Square Central Schools District in Central Square, New York. During those years I taught many subjects, but always science. In the last 20 years of teaching, I exclusively taught earth science. I have also spent more than 27 years of my career teaching other teachers. I was a volunteer member of programs developed by the NY State Education Department to train other teachers to raise the knowledge base and teaching strategies of science teachers. I also presented workshops for teachers at local, state and national conferences. Currently, my classroom has moved to the waters adjacent to Cape Cod, Massachusetts where I work in the educational and enforcement position of Shellfish Warden for the Town of Chatham. I also teach sailing in Flying Scot and Cape Cod Cat Boats to Blind and Visually Impaired (BVI) and multi-handicapped children and adults at Pleasant Bay Community Boating (PBCB).
Flight Experience
I have more than 100 hours of experience flying single and multiengine aircraft and gliders. I have participated in stall and spin recovery training, aerobatics training and training for recovery from unusual flight attitudes. I am currently fine tuning my piloting skills in anticipation of passing the check ride for the Private Pilot License, which I hope to complete before October 2026. I have participated in both tandem and solo skydiving, freefalling from 10,000 feet and multiple ZeroG flights.
Flight Experiment Experience
I am the last founding member of Teachers in Space (TIS) who is still involved with the program. I helped develop and implement all educational programming conducted by TIS since its inception including the teacher training workshops, Space Science and Human Factors in Space Flight. I developed preliminary lessons for CubeSat and Arduino teacher training. My students developed one of the first CubeSat experiments flown by TIS, an experiment that flew on the Perlan 2 glider in Argentina. I served as ground crew in El Calafate for that mission. I helped develop the protocols that guide the safe launch of high altitude balloons which is an instrumental part of the TIS Program. I developed the experimental training program for participants in the TIS Zero-G campaigns and train participants for this program in both pre, post and inflight segments of Zero-G flight. During TIS teacher trainings I continue to help train teachers in all aspects of CubeSat experiment development for flight.