Special Education's Orbit

When Mike Kersjes, a high school special education teacher and football coach, read in 1987 a magazine article about Space Camp, he knew his students would love to go. Located at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Ala., the camp allows students to spend six days training and living like astronauts. But Mr. Kersjes and his co-teacher, Robynn McKinney, knew they faced a major obstacle: The program had been designed for gifted and talented students. A group of special education students had never before participated.

A Smile as Big as the Moon , published in February by St. Martin's Press, is Mike Kersjes' account (written with Joe Layden) of how he and Ms. McKinney dodged the unwillingness of their school's administrators, convinced NASA's education program that their special education students belonged at Space Camp, and put their young charges through a rigorous period of camp preparation. In the excerpt below, Mr. Kersjes learns firsthand about the emotional hurdles his students must maneuver every day:

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