Three Mountlake Terrace High School juniors have earned spots in a week-long residency session at Seattle’s Museum of Flight this summer that will give them a chance to work face-to-face with professional engineers and aerospace scientists on a simulated space expedition to Mars.

Theodrose Kifelew, Reid Brodrick and Brandon Elias have qualified for the Washington Aerospace Scholars (WAS) Summer Residency after scoring high enough in the WAS Phase One curriculum this school year.

Kifelew, Brodrick and Elias were among 200 students in the region that participated in the Phase One curriculum.

By qualifying for Phase Two, the MTHS juniors will participate in a six-day experience at the museum that will challenge teams of four to plan a human mission to Mars with the support of professionals, educators and university students. Participants in the Phase Two program will also receive briefing s from aerospace professionals, tour engineering facilities and compete in hands-on engineering challenges.

Kifelew and Brodrick will be part of the Phase Two program June 25-30; Elias will participate during the week of July 16-21.

The Washington Aerospace Scholars program, sponsored by Wells Fargo, will be accepting applications for its 2017-2018 program year starting in August. For more information, click https://www.museumofflight.org/WAS.

–By Doug Petrowski