“As the CEO of a space company, the struggle to recruit and retain talent in an industry marked by workforce shortages is real and only projected to get worse. The more I looked into it, the clearer it became that without broadening the base of the workforce pipeline, we were never going to break the cycle. We weren’t starting early enough. By early elementary school, many kids have already started to rule themselves in—or out—of science. That’s why Lift Off Kids starts in K–3, when curiosity is natural and imagination is wide open. If we want enough students excited about space years from now, we have to start building that pipeline today.”