The U.S. Space and Rocket Center Museum’s education program, SPACE CAMP has challenged and edified young people from all 50 states and over 40 countries since it was founded in 1982. Rocket scientist Dr. Wernher von Braun, who led the team of scientists and engineers that sent astronauts to the moon, inspired the camp, which is among the premier math/science/technology education programs in the United States.
At Advanced Space Academy, high school “trainees” forge futures, build friendships, and explore careers. During the five-day program, trainees get hands-on training and also learn about the mental, emotional, and physical demands astronauts, engineers, and technologists face. We will participate in the microgravity of the Underwater Astronaut Trainer, experience a tumble spin in
the Multi-Axle Trainer, and learn what it’s like to walk on the moon in the 1/16th Gravity Chair. The Academy is a college-accredited program; students earn one hour of freshman-level science from the University of Alabama-Huntsville.
Day 4 is spent on EDM’s (Extended Duration Missions). Each student has a critical job to perform from Pilot, Commander, Astronaut, or Mission Control. Many anomalies are thrown in to see whether they know how to react to bad situations.
Here are a few pictures from the current mission.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, temperature here started to drop drastically. We had to layer up in order to stay warm.
Yesterday, we did space mission practice, rocket modeling, and rock climbing. Each team was divided into three groups and had to design their own rockets for the launch on Thursday. Our mission was to build rockets with eggs inside them that would fly 3m above the ground and land safely. Building rockets from scratch was difficult because we had limited budget of $5000 with no knowledge about building rockets. After spending hours on Tuesday and Wednesday, all groups were able to pass flight tests to launch the rockets Thursday.
Rock climbing definitely was the most difficult activity of the day especially for a not athletic person like me. It took a lot of body strength to pull the body up. Fortunately everyone at least tried to climb the wall and almost everyone went up to the top and conquered the rock climbing course. Through rock climbing, we learned how to be self-confident and encouraging. Because we trusted out teammates we were able to climb the wall without worrying about falling off the wall or getting hurt.
Today we did more space mission practice, lectures, and team bonding activities. In the morning, we finally got to finish building our rockets. We also built paper modeled airplanes and did few tests with them. After lunch, we did more space missions and, for teaming bonding, we did pole climbing. Just like the rock climbing, we were able to climb the pole because we trusted each other and ourselves. Of course, Dr. Eagen and Ms. Erba’s Chipotle plan definitely made us push ourselves to complete the challenge! Everyone at least got all the way to the top of the pole, which was a huge achievement. We also experienced 1/6 of gravity and 0 gravity. For dinner, our chaperones surprised us with cookies!
Thank you so much Dr. Eagen and Ms. Erba for always looking out for us and getting us Chipotle tomorrow for climbing the pole today.
“I hope that your nights are spatial and days are astronomical,” was said by one of our counselors. Just like what he said I wish that every moment in the space camp will be spatial and astronomical to everyone.
Despite the fact that we had only a little amount of sleep, we learned a lot about the history of rockets. First, we got to know people from Costa Rica when we were divided into two different teams: Holderer and Von Tiessenhausen. Team Von Tissenhausen attended a briefing that talked about electrolysis. After the briefing, we team bonded through games. After lunch, we were assigned with jobs in space and practiced how to react to anomalies. Right before lunch, we took more time to learn about space shuttles and rockets. After dinner we split into two groups: one group scuba dived when other group was being lectured on space suits.
“If it hurts, don’t do it!” is the quote of the day because scuba diving instructors told us that we should not go down to where water pressure is high if we feel even a slightest bit of pain.
After a long travel day, Foxcroft’s future astronauts and their great chaperons landed at Space Camp in Huntville, AL, in the late hours of the night. Looking forward to reports on their activities and adventures this week!
After two hours of flight we finally landed in Nashville. Now we are driving to Huntsville, which will take us another two hours… Space camp, why are you so difficult??
✨Day 1: Still not in space ✨from country music to space 🎶🎶
Going to space camp can be adventurous. Our flight got cancelled and now we are heading off to Nashville, TN! Then we will drive down to Huntsville and arrive at camp. Thanks to Dr. Eagen and Ms. Erba’s determination we will be able to continue our journey to space camp
It’s been a crazy last day!
Today we spent most of our time doing our Extended Duration Missions (EDMs). They were three hours long and TOTALLY insane. People were dying all over the place. The “space ghosts” (read: counselors who were there to give assistance when needed) could basically just pull us aside and tell us we were dead, or that we had contracted a disease and would die in a short time. The rules in terms of death were: there are no rules. I, personally, died one and a half times. Once from a cracked helmet, and two other close calls from CO2 and Asthma. The stakes were high, and describing the mission in detail would take about two whole blog posts.
We also launched our rockets! There’s not much to say about them really. Most of our Eggstronauts did not survive the flight, even though we put 3 and 1/2 hours of work into those rockets.
On a sad note, it’s our last night. It’s kind of weird, actually. We started Space Camp last Saturday and honestly, I think the group wasn’t feeling too thrilled about it.
Our feelings have completely changed.
I don’t know if our activities have gotten harder or we’ve just grown to like it more, but we love it now. More than that, we love the people we’re at the camp with — other Foxcroft girls as well as our new friends from China. I know we’ll be sad when we leave tomorrow.
But it’s not over yet! We still have graduation and our goodbyes to say.
I hope to update everyone on tomorrow’s final goings-on!
Avery ’13
Today we took our leap of faith.
We climbed to the top of a 25 foot pole, stood up, turned around, and jumped off. It was terrifying but incredibly rewarding, and everyone who did it looked thrilled, albeit a little breathless, when they were lowered to the ground.
We also did our four hour long missions today. We could either be in the orbiter, in mission control, or in the space station. Everyone really enjoyed every position and the missions as a whole. They were challenging and involved a lot of teamwork. During the missions, problems were liable to arise. In Space-talk, they’re called anomalies. Each anomaly required a different set of instructions to be solved, and the rush to find the right solution and finish it in the right amount of time was exciting.
Tomorrow we reach the pinnacle and complete our three-hour long missions. We’ve all picked our positions and hopefully they go well, although now there’s a new twist; the possibility of a medical anomaly and/or “death.” I’m really enjoying the fact that if we die on a mission, it’s our counselor’s prerogative to give us the task that brings us back to life. This could be anything from singing in front of the cafeteria audience to hopping on one leg. It ads adventure to the already insanely exciting adventure.
See you when we land!
Avery’13
The past two days have been incredibly busy.
Yesterday we built our model rockets, which we will launch on Friday. The rockets have to carry an egg safely to and from the ground, so we’ll see what happens in terms of that whole scenario.
More excitingly, both teams have now gone Scuba diving as well as ziplined! I haven’t heard any horror stories from either adventure, so I’m going to go ahead and say that they went very well. The zipline was pretty short, only about 70 feet long, but the snag was that we had to climb a fifty foot tower to get to the actual zipline, so it was kind of a two-part challenge. The scuba tank was fun, perhaps a little nerve-wracking in the beginning, but incredible just the same. The tank is 24-feet deep with a jungle gym-like structure inside, as well as a basketball hoops, bowling balls, and larger balls. We also built a tetrahedron underwater, which was a lot of fun. Our teams had a blast with both activities, and I know that the Foxcroft girls are making fast friends with the students from Shanghai in both groups.
Tomorrow we begin our actual missions. We’ll get to wear flight suits and “fly” a shuttle and do spacewalks. The challenge is daunting, but the reward will be thrilling. I’ll keep everyone updated with how those go tomorrow.
Avery ’13
We had another very busy day that I’m sure our other bloggers will speak about. Tonight, half of our group did their underwater training in the 24 ft deep pool. They spent time being trained in the use of their equipment including the basics of SCUBA diving. Seven girls spent about 30 minutes at depth playing games like basketball using a bowling bowl, building structures, and working on control panels. There were smiles all around!
Where’s Foxcroft? 