Some kids buy posters of the moon landing. Others launch rockets. But few kids with an interest in space travel actually go as far as space camp.

Michael Culhane, 14, is one of those exceptions.

This past summer, he began a three-year &uot;astronaut training&uot; program at the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center. Each summer, he will go for a week to study space travel, train like an astronaut and run through space simulations.

&uot;I’m interested in space, and wanted to be an astronaut for a long time,&uot; Culhane said.

When Culhane, a freshman at Albert Lea High School, saw an advertisement for the camp in a Kansas guidebook, he asked his parents if he could go.

Since he was a small child, Culhane was curious.

&uot;I don’t know if it was the Discovery Channel or what, but he always has been interested,&uot; Richard Culhane, Michael’s father, said.

Many family vacations have included trips to space museums on the itinerary. They’ve visited the Kennedy Space Center, the Huntsville Space Center, the Huntsville Space Center and many other museums around the country.

During the next two years, Michael will get more training, which will include space flight simulations that get more and more realistic, with simulators and even a centrifuge machine.

In the last year his class will visit the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

Michael said he is excited to return to the camp, and hopes to pursue his education in science &045; especially astronomy-related fields.

Michael said he was intrigued by space travel because of the unsure nature of it.

&uot;It’s really high risk,&uot; he said. &uot;It would be fun to go up there and see the stars up close with no light for miles.&uot;

The young thrill seeker hopes he can join NASA on a space mission someday.

&uot;I like to go on rides at amusement parks,&uot; he said. &uot;But I think that’d be the ultimate thrill.&uot;

(Contact Peter Cox at peter.cox@albertleatribune.com or 379-3439.)