Growing up, kids learn more about their interests and their dreams. They also begin to learn what they need to do to reach them. One youngster’s love of the galaxy has him doing just that, thanks to an opportunity of a lifetime.

“I played baseball and lacrosse, but now I play soccer and hockey,” Malaki Sandejas, 8, said.

Sandejas is your typical third grader. However, he also has another love: outer space.

“I like to swim, read, play video games,” he added. “The things I love about space is that it's very big. You can learn many things about space.”

Through books and other research, Sandejas wants to learn something new about space every day.

“There's many more planets than I thought in first grade," he said. "I thought there was eight, really there are 4,000.”

It's a love so obvious, his mom signed him up for a national contest without even telling him.

“She probably knew I was going to do it,” Sandejas said with a smile.

He submitted a video application, and won.

“Very, very, very lucky,” he added.

Sandejas is one of eight kids from across the country who will soon fly to Orlando, Florida to take part in a program known as SpaceKids Global Press Squad. There, he will learn everything space and even get to interview astronauts.

“I feel happy and excited and very proud of myself for all the work I've done,” he said.

If the timing works out, he may even get to see a rocket launch.

“I was wondering how it would feel with the launches and how much pressure it puts,” he said.

However, there is one other very important, critical aspect of an astronaut’s journey in space that Sandejas wants to ask about, and that is space ice cream, because he says they can't eat regular ice cream up there.

“What? Why not?” we asked him.

“Because if it gets into the the filters on the ship, it'll ruin the ship,” he explained.

During our interview, we also asked Sandejas what advice he had had for kids his age about following your dreams. He says everyone should work hard, especially in STEM programs like science and math and research and learn as much as you can.