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The 1992 Highlands graduate has been selected for the Level 2 division of NASA's Educator Astronaut program.

For the next several years, Derda will speak at community events and conduct science demonstrations in an effort to pump up interest in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Now a high school biology teacher in Raleigh, N.C., Derda also will continue his Level 1 training, including running and learning how to speak Russian in preparation for becoming a full-fledged mission specialist astronaut.

"I am incredibly excited about the opportunity," Derda said. "I've always been fascinated by space and NASA, so this is really wild."

Derda was selected for the program from thousands of applicants nationwide. NASA required applicants to have an undergraduate math or science degree, hold a teaching position at a middle or high school, write essays and gather letters of recommendation.

When one of his students brought the program to his attention, Derda doubted he had any chance of being accepted.

"I thought, I'm just a biology teacher," Derda said. "With so many thousands of applicants, it seemed like such a long shot for me to get it, so I didn't want to tell anyone about it at first. I really didn't think anything would come of it."

Derda and almost 80 other finalists spent a week training in Houston -- including briefing on NASA programs and goals and a trip in a space simulator.

"It looked like a ride at Kennywood," Derda said. "You're hanging upside down most of the time, strapped into flight seats. It was quite a ride."

Derda hopes to advance to Level 1 status in two to three years. That would require him to leave his job as a teacher to work as a full-time mission specialist.

In the meantime, Derda plans to incorporate his new experiences into his job teaching biology, studying such things as NASA's development of fast-growing plants capable of producing food and oxygen for long-term space missions.

Karen Derda, of Natrona Heights, is pleased for her son but anxious about the idea of him venturing into space.

"He was always a curious person," she said. "It still causes my heart to beat a little faster when I think of it, but my pride in his accomplishments overrides all that."

Jeff Derda hopes to be able to make it into space within the next five years.

"The neatest thing about all this is it's realistic for almost anybody to do if you work for it," Derda said.

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