Day 5

GRADUATION DAY!!!!!!!

You could tell even at breakfast that it was going to be a great week-ending day. The kids were extra chatty, already talking about going back to their mountain air, best friends and families, but also mentioning how much they'd miss each other. Friends became inseparable and flashbulbs were constant, but we forged on.

The graduation ceremony took place beneath the Pathfinder located in the center of Space Camp. All of the students, donning team colors, paraded to their seats and we began. The director of Space Camp spoke about how wonderful the week had been and made the exciting announcement that a former Space Camp attendee had recently been involved in an actual space mission!

After each team graduated, the group and individual awards began. Like a beaming parent, I watched as Matthew and Gerson's team won "Best Team" for the low ropes activities, KelliJane and Brandon's team won "Best Mission" for their Alpha Mission, and Mimi and Taylor's team won "Best Team Attitude." It SEEMS like every team won something, but in actuality, SCSDB just has phenomenal kids!!!! Lastly, they presented a medal to the most outstanding in each of the age groups (approx. 30-50 students per group) and KelliJane won!

After the ceremony, more pictures were snapped and we went to the G-Force and SpaceShot to ride them as many times as possible before it was lunch time. We ate a quick lunch, took more pictures and hit the road.

After 2 construction delays and Atlanta traffic, we arrived to SCSDB about 10:30 to the loving arms of parents and each students happily fleeted to their cars, parents said their "thank yous" (and I thanked them right back for being so supportive and having tremendous kid!) and we all headed home!

Day 4

MW- We went to mission control room for our Alpha Mission. I was CAPCOM so I had to tell the pilot and commander many things! For the second mission, I was in the International Space Station (ISS) with the other two mission scientists and we did one experiment called alien toothpaste that looked really weird. Then, I sat on a "nebulizer chair" spun around really fast with sunglasses on and when I stopped and took the glasses off, my eyes kept moving around!

Thursday was a busy one! Matthew, as stated above, had a blast as did Gerson! Their team had 3 missions today (whew, they were exhausted) and successfully completed all of them!

The highlight of Thursday (possibly the week for some of the students) was Escape and Evasion where Team Von Tiesenhausen became Navy Seal and had to complete a night mission in full camouflage (look out, James Bond!) The planes and base were all secured, the bombs were successfully planted and everyone made it out alive, way to go!

While Team Von Tiesenhausen was busy finalizing missions and learning how to evade the enemy, both Team Orville and Team Wilbur were busy doing a final dogfight tournament and everyone did very well! KJ and Mimi advanced pretty far into the tournament, but ended up losing to some very talented pilots. I was quite jealous that both teams got to watch the new iMax movie, Hubble, right after lunch, but I caught up with them to launch their rockets and to ride the simulator to provide a satellite-like experience. The evening wrapped up with dinner and then Space Bowl, a Jeopardy-style game to review all they've learned this week.

Day 3

Again, quite the day!!!

The day began early with prepping for the day at 7:00 and then we all proceeded to another delicious breakfast of sausage, eggs, biscuits and tater tots. The students also enjoyed various juices (I got my morning coffee) and milk.

Team Orville and Wilbur worked together to learn how to use aviation radars to track other airplanes (friend and foe) and how to gun them down (yes, getting a little violent here at Space Camp!) Mimi, Taylor, KJ and Brandon all did very well with the dogfighting and will have a "tournament" tomorrow related to their newly acquired skills.

Next, Mimi and Taylor learned land survival skills (eating proper berries, building a shelter..etc) and Brandon and KJ learned about current aviation projects around the globe. After lunch, both groups learned orienteering skills (using compasses and gaining information about their locale), first aid to keep themselves safe and also, very importantly, discussed their missions from earlier in the week. It seemed that all of the participants learned a lot about NASA, Space, shuttles, each other and themselves!

Right before dinner Mimi and Taylor took part in a thermal design competition to build a capsule that wouldn't burn up upon reentry to earth's atmosphere. Taylor's team won the competition, their capsule survived 47 seconds of blowtorch heat before burning off. After their pyrotechnics lesson, Mimi and Taylor simulated the MASTIF trainer the astronauts used to train for the Mercury program.

KJ and Brandon simulated 5 degrees of freedom (working on a satellite, rolling and "floating" in various directions) and did their best to NOT giggle their way all the way from their shuttle to the satellite and back.....I think both failed (at not giggling) but they definitely passed their mission relating to the satellite fix-up. They then learned how difficult it is to pack a shuttle with their required materials (oxygen, food, clothes).....and they thought it was hard to pack for this ONE week excursion to Huntsville!

After dinner, both Wilbur and Orville experienced the 1/6th gravity chair and walked on the moon! All 4 of the students did an amazing job and KJ won the "most dramatic slow jog EVER" award! Be sure to check out the video! Before hitting the hay for the evening, each student used the Space Camp telescope to see Saturn and 2 of its moons.

Matthew and Gerson also had a fun-filled, exhausting day! They began the day with some Russian Space history, followed by training for their third (Charlie) mission. Gerson successfully replaced 2 lights on a satellite and Matthew carefully and agilely piloted the shuttle for the mission. After lunch, both Matthew and Gerson launched their rockets, both successfully launched, their parachute deployed and no one caught fire!

Matthew and Gerson both were very enthusiastic for the low ropes activities before dinner. Matthew climbed all the way to the top of the WomPom tower (~30 ft) and jumped off, and Gerson overcame his fear of heights to climb half way up! Way to go!

After another quick flying lesson, learning the same tactical moves that KJ, Brandon, Mimi and Taylor did in their dogfighting sessions, Matthew and Gerson continued on to learn about patrolling (which they'll do tomorrow) and how and why it's important.

Day 2

What a great day! The weather has really shaped up to be wonderful and beneficial to our astronauts! As is par for Space Camp, we were all on the go from about 7am-9:30pm, and boy did we accomplish a lot today!

While Matthew and Gerson trained for their Bravo (2nd) mission, Mimi, Taylor, KelliJane and Brandon were mastering their navigational skills in their airplane simulators. I'm not quite ready to jump into the co-pilot seat with them, but their skills have really improved since yesterday's training session (disengaging the wheel brake and turning the engine on are DEFINITELY important! :) )

Brandon and KelliJane then proceeded to learn how to survive on the land if they were forced to eject from their plane (NO, you can't kick them out of the house to test them, Holst and Barnes families!) We also learned that 90% of the time, red berries are safe to eat and aggregate (example, blackberries) berries are 100% edible. Another fast fact for you, the average person can go without air for 3 minutes (I still think this is a bit high, but the counselor claimed it was true) without water for 3 days and without food for 3 weeks.

KJ and Brandon then moved onto the low ropes course and did some teambuilding activities. Both were team leaders at various times and did a great job explaining the job at hand and successfully completed every obstacle the staff threw at them!

Right after lunch, Mimi and Taylor learned different ways to build a fire and how to protect themselves from the elements if they were stranded in the wilderness (again, this doesn't mean they'll be forced to try it at SCSDB :) )

Gerson and Matthew learned take-offs and navigation in the airplane simulators late this afternoon and both did really great work! I was very impressed with Gerson's ability to calmly (some of the other students were cruising ON THE GROUND at 100 knots (approx. 120 mph!) whereas the limit was 20 knots while on the runway.

A big "congratulations" to both the Orville and Wilbur teams; they both finished their Alpha (first) mission tonight!!!!!! Both groups were successful and everything ran smoothly. KelliJane was the pilot for her mission tonight, Mimi was the commander for hers, Brandon was in charge of ground communication and Taylor worked on a satellite while being suspended from the ceiling (I mean, while floating in space :) )

All of the students from the various schools are meshing really well and becoming fast friends. Their confidence in one another is building and some seemingly life-long friendships are forming. Hooray! :)

KJ- We had an awesome day today! I did those stuff today: listening to some boring lectures, making stuff, working on our missions (IT WAS AWESOME!!!) , and some other things!! I cant believe that time has gone fast enough that tomorrow will be Wednesday!! I DON'T want to leave!! Thanks for your support!

Day 1

Whew! I know I can speak for myself and the kids when I say WHAT A DAY! We did soooo much!

You're going to have to ask the students what all they did today (and for the week) because I'm sure even if I type until I can't feel my fingers, I'll leave something out.

Though the students complained that last night's bedtime was premature, I think all of them would agree that their sleep was a little too short, especially to prepare them for the day we had! Huntsville's weather cooperated today, so instead of shielding ourselves from rain, we were hoping for a few clouds to block the never-ending sun!

Lucky for me, KelliJane, Mimi, Brandon and Taylor were all together this morning, learning how to fly planes! As expected, all of them picked it up pretty well. Mimi has the most incredibly steady approaches to land that I've ever seen and somehow, after seeing it explained once, Brandon was an expert, helping other students with takeoffs and landings. Way to go!

Gerson and Matthew built their impressive model rockets today and did wonderfully with it. Matthew and Gerson also learned what a payload is and how important it is to keep it safe. They learned about various capsules and protection techniques the US has used to keep payloads safe. As their application for this concept, they had to build a capsule to protect their precious payload (an egg) from a fall of 25 feet. They worked together very well with cardboard, cotton balls and a makeshift parachute from a plastic bag. Their egg "survived" the fall, so they were very happy! Matthew and Gerson also used the simulators for weightlessness (multi-axis trainer) and the 1/6 chair to simulate 1/6 gravity (same as it'd feel on the moon). I personally think (though I may be a bit bias) they'd make great astronauts!

KelliJane and Brandon's group learned how to build a shelter and fire in shoddy conditions, ask them what to do next time you're in a bind in the woods! I missed the presentation, but they also saw a presentation about "Toys in Space," which seems like some out of this world playthings to see! With a lot of cooperation and motivation, KJ and Brandon's group got ahead of schedule, so with the little extra time they had, they got to rock climb, they both did very well! Team Wilbur did a wonderful job tonight training for their first mission. Teamwork, cooperation and communication were abundant and fluid, I'm sure they'll easily succeed tomorrow night with it.

Mimi and Taylor did an amazing job leading teamwork exercises in Area 51 here at camp. They both communicated superbly and led their teams to achieve success with many different, difficult tasks! Check the video below for some of what they learned :) Team Orville also underwent training for their first mission (Alpha) so that they'll be ready for tomorrow's official mission!

Gerson and Matthew got to begin their SCUBA training tonight and did an incredible job watching an interpreter, responding to the dive master's questions, swimming and learning how to breathe properly through a regulator....all at the same time! Taylor was an AMAZING photographer with me out on the deck. Her underwater camera was a hit, as well as watching the "fancy" underwater camera that videoed some of the "satellite work" underwater.

The students are fast asleep and I need to get some rest as well so tomorrow will be as (if not more) successful than today, thanks for reading!

Arrival to drippy and dreary Huntsville...Forecast; better weather and lots of learning to come!

We departed SC School for the Deaf and Blind this morning at 7:00 and promptly ate a dozen doughnuts within about 4 minutes, between the 7 of us (I'd say a good start to the trip :) ) We laughed, giggled, semi-trunk honked our way north of Atlanta and took a pit stop (nothing too eventful to report) We then continued a bit farther before deciding to eat at McDonalds. We're apparently a chicken group, 6 of the 7 of us bought the Golden Arch's tasty grilled, nugget-styled or select strip meals. We enjoyed our meals, KelliJane emptied 2 huge jugs of sweet tea (into her stomach, not the floor) and Gerson did a great job ordering his food!

Either their food was dosed with someone, the excitement of Space Camp finally hit or riding on a bus past 5 hours energizes kids, but that's when the endeavor to make semi-trucks honk at us began. Other than the short reprimand for having 9/10 of his body out the bus window, Brandon is a pro at getting trucks to honk (you should be proud, Calvin and Cathi! :) ) The honking somehow filled all of the students' bladders with excitement (I'll have to reread my science textbooks, I've never learned about that phenomenon) so we stopped again.

Naturally, being in Alabama, we HAD to stop at Big Daddy's Fireworks. For better or worse, I prevented the students from buying any fireworks, but we did play with the cat that was perusing the store and discussed how much fun it would be to launch a rocket AND launch a firework inside of that rocket.

We finished our journey to Huntsville and the students anxiously jumped off the bus to see their new home for the week. Everyone seemed pleased with their "habitats" (Space Camp's word for dorms) After checking in with their team leaders and sick bay (health center) The students broke up into their groups.

Matthew and Gerson- Team Von Tiesenhausen (designer of the Lunar Rover)

Mimi and Taylor - Team Orville (famous Wright brother, first manned flight)

KelliJane and Brandon- Team Wilbur (other famous Wright brother, first manned flight)

I'm interpreting for Team Wilbur, but will jump around to the other groups to take pictures and make sure everyone is doing well. This evening I was with KelliJane, Brandon and their crew and we learned about the missions we'll be doing later this week. We also learned about Kaika the Space Dog sent up in Russia's Sputnik 2 and several early astronauts and rocket builders. Did you know that Sputnik 1 was only the size of a volleyball?

I caught up with Matthew before bed and he wanted to add, "Space Camp is already really fun! I've met new people, and re-met friends from Mason Dixon Tournament, San Francisco and the RIT Science Fair I went to a few weeks ago. This week will be tough (a lot of information) but F-U-N!!"

Space Camp 2010

Well, we're about a month away from liftoff for Space Camp 2010!

The students (and of course I) are amped up and ready to enjoy all that Huntsville has to offer!

Stay tuned for more details, students' writing, pictures and videos of all the cool Space activities we'll be doing.