Ryan Keltner is a sophomore at Deerfield High School (DHS) in Deerfield, Illinois. He is an aeronautics and space enthusiast and a 3-time participant (2016, 2018, 2019) in the Go For Launch! Program with Higher Orbits. He was also a participant in the NASA/Kennedy Space Center Team Curiosity camp in Cape Canaveral, Florida in 2018 where he especially enjoyed the Mars rover simulator and anti-gravity simulator, which mimicked a spacewalk on the International Space Station.
He is a member of the Deerfield Aero-Space Association (DASA) model rocketry and radio controlled airplane club, the DHS Science Club and is a builder and pilot of model rockets, drones and airplanes. Ryan is a competitive golfer on the DHS golf team, a black belt in taekwondo and enjoys downhill and water skiing, fishing, video games, and collecting fossils and artifacts from prehistoric times. He is most proud of being a two-time winner of the Glencoe (Illinois) Park District cardboard boat regatta competition in Lake Michigan where he designed, built and sailed winning boats, which were featured on the cover of the local newspaper. Ryan is thrilled to be on the Higher Orbits Foundation Advisory Board to help a program that is out of this world!