National Space Day, held on the first Friday in May, isn’t a holiday. It doesn’t come with parades or school closures. Yet each year it returns, offering a moment to reflect on the relationship between education, innovation, and space. First launched by Lockheed Martin in 1997 and later expanded by astronaut and Senator John Glenn, the day quietly urges us to keep looking forward, not only at the stars, but at the systems that make reaching them possible.
On May 2, Galactic Medallion—a Florida-based luxury space tourism company—chose to observe the day not with announcements or staged events, but by underscoring its long-standing commitment to education and access.
Showing Up With Purpose
Galactic Medallion marked National Space Day by elevating public awareness around its educational mission. Across its digital platforms, the company highlighted the critical role space plays in science education and workforce development, particularly through its ongoing partnership with the Central Florida nonprofit Fostering Kindness.
The company’s My Special Place in Space program supports educational visits to Kennedy Space Center for youth in foster care. These curated experiences, offered throughout the year, provide early exposure to the systems, people, and ideas that define space exploration. The emphasis is not on spectacle, but on structure. Students don’t just tour the grounds—they engage with real infrastructure and meet professionals working across the space economy.
Elizabeth Schneider, the company’s founder and a former educator, explains:
“We’re not promising a career in space,” she says. “We’re making sure young people know the space economy exists—and that they’re allowed to be part of it.”
This framing positions education not as charity or inspiration, but as access to tools. And on Space Day, that message is amplified, not repackaged.
Education As Infrastructure
The My Special Place in Space program is not a side project. It exists alongside Galactic Medallion’s luxury offerings as a core part of its mission. The company does not separate its educational work from its commercial services—they are both modes of contact, and both are structured around access.
While the company’s tours of Kennedy Space Center include private transportation, expert-led walkthroughs, and optional astronaut-style training, the tone remains grounded. Guests receive more than a premium view—they learn how the systems work. The experience is tailored, but never theatrical.
“Understanding spaceflight means more than watching a launch,” Schneider says. “It means seeing the work behind it, and knowing where you might fit.”
A Day Meant To Last
There were no speeches, no campaigns, and no press releases. But Galactic Medallion’s observance of National Space Day this year was deliberate. It rested on small, repeatable actions: curating educational content, amplifying access-focused initiatives, and honoring those who build the systems behind exploration.
As attention grows around space tourism and the broader space economy, the company continues to frame its work not as novelty, but as part of a larger, emerging infrastructure.
Message from our CEO, Elizabeth Schneider:
“At Galactic Medallion, we’re proud to celebrate the spirit of discovery that National Space Day symbolizes. May this day continue to fuel humanity’s journey beyond Earth. We honor the visionaries, explorers, and innovators, young and old alike, who have dared to reach for the stars and continue our quest into the cosmos and beyond.”
For Galactic Medallion, that means building systems of contact between guests and astronauts, between students and engineers, between curiosity and what’s possible.
Whether a student becomes a scientist, a technician, or simply better informed about the world they live in matters less than whether they’re given the chance to choose. Galactic Medallion’s contribution this year is to help make that choice real.
And that, in quiet ways, is what Space Day continues to be about.
