For Teachers

As a child, Dr. Sam Dinkin, the founder of FreeSpaceShot.com, dreamt of space flight. As a student at Caltech, he realized that becoming an astronaut was far beyond the reach of most people, including him. So, as an adult, he invented a game to convert advertising placements into tickets for a suborbital ride on Rocketplane XP, an orbital ride on Kistler K-1 or a flight around the Moon.

A game with real prizes is a great way to get kids excited about science, math and statistics. FreeSpaceShot.com has a free lesson plan from Space Education Initiatives for grades 3-8 available.

You are probably asking, "How is it possible to fulfill a child's dream of spaceflight?"

To win, entrants compete in a free skill game. The game has Google advertisements. Three fourths of the ad revenue is used to fund the prizes. An additional 5% of the revenue can go to participating schools. Students can win one of the following prizes (but cannot use tickets to space before they turn 18 and pass a physical):

$300 million prizes: a trip for two around the Moon and $100 million cash
$150 million prizes: a trip around the Moon and $50 million cash
$30 million prizes: orbital flight aboard Kistler K-1 and $10 million cash
$350,000 prizes: a spaceflight Rocketplane XP and $100,000 scholarship
$300,000 prizes: $300,000 scholarships or $300,000 in cash if graduated
$6,000 prizes: a zero-g flight from Zero Gravity and a $2,250 scholarship

Since the game is self supporting, there is no upper limit on the number of prizes that will be awarded. The more players who play, the more prizes will be awarded.

You are probably also asking, “What’s the game like?”

To win, the student predicts the weather for Central Park, New York City, for the next day. We provide free game counters at T minus 60 seconds and access to weather information. The student is then paired with an opponent. Students may make as many predictions as they like each day. On the next day, the students can track how close their prediction was vs. their opponents'. If it's closer, the student plays again at the next milestone, T minus 50 seconds.

The subsequent milestones are played the same way. The student can take as much or as little time between milestones. Again, the student researches and predicts the weather in Central Park for the next day. A student who wins at every milestone wins a trip to space!

For answers to the most frequently asked questions, please review our FAQ. You may also review our terms and conditions of play.

In addition to questions at the FAQ, here are some issues that may interest teachers:

Is this gambling?: No. Gambling is a game of chance that costs something. This is an educational skill contest that's free.
If it's possible and legal, why hasn't anyone done it before?: It takes time for new technologies like the Internet reveal their true power to change the future.
Do you protect player privacy?: Absolutely. We do not collect any personal identifying information about anyone under 13. For more details please read our terms and conditions of play. Furthermore, your students will not be contacted by any player in the tournament. The kids enter weather predictions, not personal information. They are paired against another player identified only by a "call sign" or screen name and the results are posted.
What is a teacher's role in this contest?: We ask for an adult name instead of the player name for kids under 13 so that we can award the prize to the student without having any personal information about the kid online. For more information about children and the Internet, refer to this Federal Trade Commission web site: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/buspubs/coppa.htm
Do they have to decide right now to take the space flight?: No. Most students will have to wait several years until they turn 18 in order to go into space. They will also have to pass a physical examination. They can decide to take a cash alternative prize six months before the suborbital flights and longer before the orbital and around the Moon flights.
What if no commercial passenger spaceflight is available?: If spaceflight is not available after 4 years after winning and turning 18, an additional scholarship will be awarded for the retail value of the flight.
What if the winner doesn't want to go to space?: If for any reason your student cannot or doesn't want to claim a spaceflight prize, we will award an additional scholarship instead. After he or she has accepted the ticket to space and Space Shot paid for it, the player becomes a customer of the spaceflight provider and our award becomes final.
Can teachers play?: Only teachers that can dream can play. FreeSpaceShot.com is open to all ages.
What will a trip on Rocketplane XP be like?: Check out our Hi-res (6.9MB) or Lo-res (3.0 MB) animations to get a feel for what the experience will be like. (requires Windows Media Player)