Some dreams are fulfilled at ground level, some require airplanes and trains and some come to fruition 103 kilometers in outer space. Amidst cosmic darkness and brilliant starry skies, University alumnus Kamil Stelmach could live the dream he’s had since childhood. All he has to do is win it first.

When a call from his sister, Kasia Stelmach, senior in LAS, informed him of a commercial for the AXE Apollo Space Academy, he was immediately drawn to the competition. Without any hesitation, Kamil bought an astronaut suit from Amazon and a foam board to begin his campaign as “Kam the Astronaut.”

In the competition, the two contestants with the greatest number of votes are sent to the AXE Space Camp, where one winner is ultimately chosen at the Global Space Camp to fly with the space tourism company, Space Expedition Corporation.

“There is no doubt in my mind that Kamil has wanted to explore space ever since he was a kid,” Kasia said. “I remember him immersed in astronomy books, both in English and Polish, and he had all kinds of posters up in his room, showing planets or stars.”

Starting around the age of eight or nine, Kamil was nearly inseparable from his first telescope. Gazing through the device, Kamil attempted to share the wonders he saw with his younger sister, though most of the time his explanations went over her head, Kasia admitted. His fascination with space continued into his undergraduate studies, as he majored in biology and chemistry and minored in astronomy at the University. He also had a few internships with NASA. Now, Kamil studies space chemistry at George Mason University and manages to fit campaigning into his schedule.

“It’s a little difficult, I’m losing some sleep,” Kamil said. “But luckily, one of the pieces of equipment that my research project uses was broken for most of the semester while I was trying to get the campaign up and going.”

The first time he went out in his astronaut suit he almost got arrested — it’s a class 6 felony to conceal one’s identity in Virginia — but he’s since been more successful. Posing with strangers, Kam the Astronaut asks his fans to upload their picture to Facebook, tag him and then submit a vote online to the AXE Apollo Space Academy website.

With photos from Chicago, Champaign-Urbana, D.C. and Boston, Kamil plans to continue his campaign route to St. Louis, Philadelphia and New York. Though he still needs thousands of votes to reach the top two places, his friends and family has aided him in achieving his current spot in ninth place. Kasia informed the residents on her floor in Snyder Hall, Kamil’s friend Jason made a promotional video on his YouTube comedy channel Make ‘Em Laugh Films, and January Boten, area coordinator for University housing, provided him with campaign ideas.

“I want Kamil to win this contest because he wants it so much — he’s very serious about it,” Boten said. “I feel like others in the contest just want to win something.”

Currently, many of the contestants with more votes than Kamil are online celebrities, but he is determined to spend the next five weeks devoting his efforts toward winning the contest. At midnight on April 27, two people will win a trip to the AXE Space Camp in Orlando, Fla., and Kamil will discover if he’ll have the opportunity to live his lifelong dream 103 kilometers above Earth’s surface.

“He has never wanted anything more, and I think the prospect of gazing upon the stars and planets closely with his own eyes really drives him,” Kasia said. “He will be able to say he was up there, and I do not think too many people really have that privilege.”

Alice can be reached at [email protected].