More than 500 Andover teachers are readying their classrooms for the upcoming school year, and one of them is totally spaced out about it — in a good way.

West Elementary School fifth-grade teacher Tim Harkins spent a week this summer at space camp. Chosen from some 1,500 applicants, he was among 284 teachers from around the world selected for the U.S. Space and Rocket Center space camp in Huntsville, Ala. Three separate weeklong camps were held, and Harkins said his experience prompted him to launch a space theme for his classroom this year.

"Learning about space is not part our curriculum but there is so much crossing over into all subjects with this theme," he said. "I came back with tons of activities for my kids who will write, read and participate in hands-on activities related to space.

"It ties in easily and I'm excited about this. And, if I'm excited, the kids will be excited," he said.

Heading into his seventh year of teaching at West Elementary School, Harkins said his camp covered a galaxy of topics including bottle rockets, Mars landings and lunar colonies.

"In addition, we took part in their aviation water challenge. This consisted of a heli-dunker which simulates a helicopter crash landing in water," Harkins said. "We also did a reverse zip line into water to simulate parachuting out of a shuttle into water."

Teamed with 15 other teachers, including ones from England, Oman, India and Puerto Rico, Harkins said he was thrilled to be chosen for a session from June 24 to 30. He has always had a keen interest in space technology.

"The expectation is to take the information we learned and implement it into our class," he said.

With the help of about 500 photographs he took while attending camp, he plans to present a slide show to colleagues as well as students.

Harkins said he learned about the camp through an e-mail distributed by the school department. Grants Coordinator Lisa Glickstein informs teachers about various grant opportunities. Honeywell Corp. paid for Harkins' camp expenses including airfare, food and lodging.

"It was a terrific experience for me and kids really benefit when teachers have the chance to do something like this," Harkins said.