Nigerian Teen to Take Zero-Gravity Trip

Stella Felix, 17, a schoolgirl who will become the first Nigerian to experience space flight, gives an interview in Lagos, Nigeria, Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2006. Felix was selected out of more than 400 students who applied for the zero-gravity flight, which will take off Saturday from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. (AP Photo/George Osodi) (George Osodi - AP)

Spaceweek International organizes educational events for the United Nations World Space Week in early October each year.

"We don't want to just inspire students, we want to inspire countries," Dennis Stone, director of Spaceweek International, said in a telephone interview from Houston.

Nigeria was selected to inaugurate the space experience program because of its active space program _ the country launched a satellite in 2003 _ and to highlight the way that space can assist developing countries, Stone said.

To those who question the wisdom of a space program in a country where 70 percent of the population lives on less than $2 a day, Stone pointed out that space technology has helped in disaster relief and in development.

"In the Asian tsunami, (space technology) helped direct assistance to exactly where it was needed," Stone said.

Felix, who divides her spare time between extra physics classes and helping her mother in the market, said she wants to bring attention to the ways that space exploration could help her country. She ticked off communications and disaster and weather monitoring on her fingers.

"I feel so happy to be the first person," Felix said. "I wish to learn more so I can teach my peer group."

Felix will spend six days in the United States, her travel paid for by the Nigerian space program with the zero-gravity trip and other expenses covered by TerreStar Networks Inc., a Reston, Va.-based satellite company.