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.