Forty-two students from Eastwood Public School are about to discover what it feels like to walk on the moon when they set off for space camp at the US Space and Rocket Centre in Huntsville, Alabama.

Living many a child’s dream, they will participate in simulated space missions, experience three times the force of gravity on the “G-Force Accelerator” and train the same way the Apollo astronauts did by taking a walk in the 1/6th Gravity Chair.

The 11-day trip in September was proposed by assistant principal Jackie Slaviero after she visited the Huntsville centre last year on a Honeywell Educators space camp scholarship.

This year Cammeray Public School teacher Alex Ball also received the scholarship and Mrs Slaviero will return to participate in the advanced academy program, also funded by employees of the technical company Honeywell.

During her stay last year Mrs Slaviero won the Right Stuff award, which included a student scholarship to space camp.

Upon her return to the school she suggested the funding go towards a group excursion, opening the trip up to any student who wanted to discover what it felt like to train as an astronaut.

Each participant will pay around $3,500, although Mrs Slaviero said the school was “madly fundraising” to help reduce the cost.

“It’s not the academically gifted that we’re taking, it’s basically just kids who really, really want to go and in some cases, really need to go,” she said.

Among the students going on the camp, some have had significant disruptions in their home life recently and would benefit greatly from the experience.

One student with Asperger’s syndrome was keen to go and so his father is one of the 12 parents and seven staff accompanying the children.

Mrs Slaviero said the school’s strong interest in space had been fuelled by her regular Friday bottle-rocket classes and discussions of her experience last year.

“The kids will be blown away – there’s an IMAX theatre, a museum with relics from every Apollo mission, real space shuttles, two Saturn Five rockets and missiles in the rocket park. There’s even an amusement park,” she said.

Days at space camp start at 7am and are packed with activities until lights out at 9:30pm. Mrs Slaviero said the students would participate in bottle- and air-rocket workshops, physics and chemistry experiments, and would learn about the past, present and future of space travel.

“It’s their future,” she said. “[Scientists] believe today’s Year 4 and 5 students will colonise Mars.”