Mike Buran has always had his feet firmly planted on the ground but last month, he got to pretend he was flying.

The sixth grade teacher from the Drummond District went to NASA's Space Camp.

The native of Hughes, Wisconsin has always been interested in outer space.

"It's one of the things we teach in sixth grade. It's a big unit for us. You think you know a lot about it but then you go down there and you find out you don't know as much as you thought." said Buran.

The camp is in Huntsville, Alabama.

Teachers usually assign 500 word essays to their students but to get into the program, Buran had to write one himself.

"You talked about what you did in your classroom and why you thought you'd be a good candidate." Buran reports.

Mike and several hundred other teachers from around the world were put through their space paces over twelve hours a day.

"We did simulations of being in the shuttle and being in a space station and control center." said Buran.

Mr. Buran looks forward to telling his students about the experience this fall.

He'll tell them that their generation will be the ones to fly the first manned mission to Mars and someone from Drummond could very well be aboard.

The 6th grade teacher tells us, "The kids in grades 4, 5 and 6 right now are going to be the astronauts going to Mars. It's exciting. It could be somebody!"

Buran's camp was sponsored by Honeywell.

The Space & Rocket Center began International Space Camp in 1990, realizing that human space travel of the future would not be solely a U.S. effort, but rather an international undertaking.

By including teachers in the program, the expertise and voices of exemplary teachers across the nation and world create informed advocates of space science and exploration.