Access to Space, developed at the University of Washington seeks to provide science majors and nonscience majors an opportunity to fully appreciate Earth's upper atmosphere and near space environment, as well as chance and to learn how to accomplish working experiments in these extreme environments.

The course — offered at UW as ESS 205 during spring quarter — provides hands-on experience through two high-altitude balloon experiments, one launched on campus and one in Eastern Washington. Through their experiments, the students learn basic principles of space science and engineering.