Artemis II Changed Things

Four years ago, Patrick Stacy of the Kansas City Royals had a very cool idea: to transform the Royals' annual Student Day at the K, where local kids are welcomed at Kauffman Stadium for a day of STEM activities and a baseball game, into a memorable space-themed program. Supercluster is proud to assist the Royals in this endeavor, and each year, the excitement grows more and more.

For 2026, Supercluster and the Royals invited our friend, hero, and Astronaut Dr. Sian Proctor, pilot of the historic and barrier-breaking Inspiration4 mission, to be recognized at Student Day at the K.

Dr. Proctor greeted hundreds of students personally, spending individual time with each kid to answer their questions and show off photos taken during Inspiration4, which was led by current NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. Dr. Proctor was interviewed on-field for television and was honored with the first pitch of the game.

Just under 12,000 students were in attendance.

Dr. Proctor's impact on each student she engaged was undeniable. But for the first time since Supercluster has been attending Student Day at the K, we noticed parents and teachers in line for a greeting and photo, too. Why?

Two reasons: The Inspiration4 mission is widely celebrated and broke through mainstream popular culture, with Netflix doc, etc. The second reason is Artemis II, the legendary trip around the moon made by our Astronaut heroes Reid Weismann, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen.

To celebrate the occasion, Supercluster printed just under 1,000 Astronaut Database "Baseball" Cards featuring the crew of Artemis II and their stats. In 2024 and 2025, it took about 3 hours to hand out roughly 400 baseball cards to attending students. This year, our 1,000 prints were gone in about 30 minutes. With students requesting their favorite astronaut by name.