20 Years of the International Space Education Institute
18 Years of International Teams at NASA

April 2nd, 2025 Leipzig/Huntsville, Alabama (ISEI) Cosma Heckel is the pilot of the Rovernauts, preparing herself and her team for the NASA Rover Challenge on April 12th, 2025, and is now 18 years young. Her team includes Leander (15) from Grimma, Luiza (18) from Rio de Janeiro, Hazel (18) from Washington, DC, and the young engineer Jesco (11) from Leipzig. Never before has a team represented so much multinationality. Boundaries are blurring.

At the age of 3 months, Cosma was there for the first time when the first international junior team participated in a NASA competition. It was arranged by her parents, Yvonne and Ralf Heckel, together with Leipzig-born NASA scientist Prof. Dr. Jesco von Puttkamer, who served as Director of the International Space Station (ISS) from 1998 to 2012, said: "If we as humanity want to land on Mars, we must train young people in international cooperation. And that's why I'm committed to ensuring that international teams can participate in this competition. Don't let me hang here!"

Team Germany from the International Space Education Institute in Leipzig, led by Thommy Knabe (then 15, now head of HAFLE- Plastics technology Reichenbach), was the first international team and has already won prizes in Huntsville in April 2007. It was the experiences and reports of these and their subsequent participants that triggered an avalanche of enthusiasm. First 2, then 4, then 8, then 32, but today this competition consists of half international teams, all of whom have their origins in Leipzig's summer camps and their exchange programs around the globe.

Cosma has participated every year, even traveling the world with her father and chairman, explaining the Moonbuggy in several languages. At the age of 7, she was already driving it around Leipzig and helping every team wherever she could. Today, with 15 years of participation (the competition was suspended during the pandemic), she is by far the longest-serving participant/pilot in the NASA Roverchallenge. Their teams can look back on 7 podium finishes, 3 world championship titles, 26 participations and a total of 46 vehicles – that alone is a first.

Cosma represents her generation in the Leipzig Youth Parliament, the Youth Council of the US Consulate General in Leipzig, and as a training ambassador for skilled trades at HANDWERK (handcraft). Cosma is a prospective industrial mechanic with a high school diploma from 1st Mould in Pirna. Her teammates from previous years are already studying space-engineering or training to become astronauts.

On April 5th, she will fly to the USA for the last time as a competition participant. She wants to be the first all-girl team on the rover, at least for a complete run. This was a last wish from Jesco von Puttkamer. After that, there are exams, studies, and careers.
The ISEI also sees its mission fulfilled after 18 years of this competition. "We have achieved everything, made the world aware of it, helped shape it, and produced brilliant young scientists. No team can compete with us on this competition course. We're too well-rehearsed for that, and the design has evolved too far over the years of its own evolution. We want to move on, and unfortunately, that's no longer possible here."

ISEI is taking a preliminary farewell tour of several NASA centers with the NASA Rover Challenge team 2025. The young people will once again encounter US and international teams and have the opportunity to prove themselves, meet with astronauts and colleagues of Prof. von Puttkamer in Washington, D.C., and once again, a new generation of students will see a rocket launch at Cape Canaveral. This will be the 12th launch experience in 20 years.

But what's next?

President Ralf Heckel says: "We're celebrating our 20th anniversary this summer. It's time to print these experiences in book form for future generations, to thank our sponsors, and to show that there are no limits and that anything can be achieved when everyone pulls together on one rope."

"We will establish a "Hall of Fame" for the 46 successful Leipzig Moonbuggies and produce with our past drawings a series of electric-powered kits for schools and training workshops around the world, thus launching a new competition in Europe. This is missing here.

We will also leverage our experience and construct inclusion-tandems for Leipzig and Europe, exchange international students, and launch a commercial series for sports, health, and youth. Micromobility has a future not only in space, but especially here on Earth. If it brings even more young people and ideas together, it's worth it."

The International Space Education Institute operates the 2000 sqm Puttkamer Campus in the heart of Leipzig with workshops, laboratories and overnight accommodation for international exchange students.

In 20 years, ISEI produced over 3000 press articles in total 30 countries, 500 TV reports and has an archive of around 300,000 photos documenting this extraordinary work.

www.SpaceEducation.de

www.nasa.gov/learning-resources/nasa-human-exploration-rover-challenge/