'Just spectacular': Virginia students get a special summer learning lesson from NASA

FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. (WJLA) — People all over the world were watching on Tuesday, as NASA unveiled its first images from the James Webb Space Telescope. That included a group of students taking part in the CTE Summer Academy for Fairfax County Public Schools.

"I was just looking at them and was dumbfounded," 13-year-old Kaylee Bryson said of the telescopes' cosmic beauty shots. "They were just spectacular."

Just prior to NASA's 10:30 a.m. broadcast, Bryson and her fellow Summer Academy students got a visit from one of NASA's 'Solar System Ambassadors'.

"It's a volunteer program that does outreach for NASA missions, space, and education," explained NASA Solar System Ambassador Brian Cummins. "And to see these images for the first time alongside all the kids today, it's an absolute thrill. And hopefully, some of them are inspired to go on to a career in science or space."

That's exactly what Bryson has planned.

"I want to become an astronaut, that's been my dream ever since I can remember," she told 7News.

Cummins spent about half an hour talking to the class about the James Webb Space Telescope and the significance of the images it captured.

"The science that comes out of it will be amazing. We'll be able to see the first light of the universe, and how galaxies are formed over time," he said. "The really interesting thing about it is, it's probably going to answer questions that we haven't even thought of.

To view the images and learn more about them from NASA, click here.

"At first, I was expecting it to be like other space photos, but they're really mind-blowing," said 16-year-old Gideon Lovern, who is also interested in a potential future career at NASA. "Each photo, rather than just being a photo that's pretty and you can look at, it tells a story and has real hidden information behind it."

NASA revealed the images one-by-one during a live broadcast.

Middle and high school students taking part in the CTE Summer Academy watched the NASA broadcast from their classroom at Lake Braddock Secondary School. Meanwhile, just down the hall, elementary schoolers taking part in FCPS' Tech Adventure Camp launched hand-made rockets as part of another lesson with a focus on space.

"The fact that they're in here, learning about space, learning about technology, and showing genuine interest in it, I think it's awesome," Cummins said.

One of Bryson's biggest takeaways from the new telescope images: when it comes to the universe, there is so much still to learn.

"I think space is the realm of the future. There are so many mysteries out there, left to be discovered," she said. "And I think the next generation, if we learn about them, can be the next Einstein or the next Goddard, and help us to further our exploration."