Astronaut at Camp!

SpaceCanada · Post by **SpaceCanada** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 9:59 am

Yes, we all heard the announcement that NASA astronauts will be visiting US Space Camp this summer, but I have different news...

Rumour has it that Julie Payette, Canada's female astronaut, may be visitng the Girl Guide camp I am going to this summer. http://www.guidingmosaic.ca Nothing has been said, but the last big camp they had like this (in 1993) Roberta Bondar (Canada's first woman in space) was there to visit with the girls.

Having never met an astronaut before, you could imagine how high I lept when I heard this rumour. I have no idea what I would do if I got to meet her in person though, probably have her sign my shirt, and then go into a string of a thousand questions... if I don't go into a daze first...

SpaceCanada · Post by **SpaceCanada** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 10:42 am

I never updated this, but Julie Payette was scheduled to be CAPCOM for a mission at the same time as the Girl Guide camp. Thus, she never came to the camp. However, the Canadian Space Agency did put up a display with informationa dn lithographs of Julie Payette. Naturally, I took a few lithographs and packed them as safe as I could for the trip home.

Well, I am glad one of those lithographs made it home safe and sound because I needed it last night when I went to a spaceflight presentation made by Julie Payette!!

Over the moon doesn't half describe how I feel today! I met Julie Payette last night at her presentation. She is a fantastic speaker and I really enjoyed her presentation, even if I heard most of the space flight stuff before. Some of it though was funny and unique!

She says the most amazing thing from her trip to space (besides seeing Earth) was the complete lack of sensation you feel in weightlessness. When all your senses are taken away - touch, sight, and your innear ear, she says it's the biggest high and you don't need drugs to get it! She also mentioned that you can tell Canada is very proud to be in space because whenever we send something to space we print our name on it not once or twice but FOUR times - just look at the two Canadarms!

Oh, and you CANNOT see the Great Wall of China from space (I knew that) but you CAN see the Great Pyramids in Egypt (I didn't know that.) Fascinating...

I posted a picture on the photo website. I brought my lithograph from the Guide camp and she signed it and everything. I was so excited I was trembling and could barely speak. I was in a complete daze with happy tears on my way home because I couldn't believe I finally met an astronaut, and Julie Payette at that, Canada's Chief Astronaut. Yup... I'm a geek! (Or a total softie space-obsessed moron, take your pick.)

Here's the photo link:
http://spacecamp.ibnerd.net/main.php?g2_itemId=10610

SpaceCanada · Post by **SpaceCanada** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 3:12 pm

Another fun piece of random trivia is that the landing gear on the Lunar Lander were designed by Canadian Owen Maynard. Thus, we could claim that Canada was first to set 'foot' on the Moon.

Sadly though, we didn't have the sense in our head yet to write our name on the feet so nobody knew - we learnt our lesson.

Harmakis · Post by **Harmakis** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 5:21 pm

Well Jennifer, I am soooo glad you finally got to meet an astronaut. This year is totally your year, girl guide camp, Julie payette, AND sts 118....!!!...

I am happy for you, now i dont have to feel bad about my list of astronauts I have meet...

cause you have offically started your own!

_______|||||

Kayla

monkeynautt · Post by **monkeynautt** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 6:16 pm

I was going to go to that, but I had tickets to the hockey game. Since tickets are impossible to get I wasn't about to give them up.

Harmakis · Post by **Harmakis** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 6:19 pm

LOL thats my kinda of hockey fan.. i probably would of made the same call.. LOL... but in Nashville hockey tickets are cheap and easy to come by.. so....

monkeynautt · Post by **monkeynautt** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 6:48 pm

Here they sell out minutes after they go on sale. There are only about 1000 tickets available to the public because of the number of season tickets and mini-packs sold.

Harmakis · Post by **Harmakis** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 6:50 pm

thats they way hockey should be... hehehe.... I will be seeing the Oilers on dec 12th... its going to be cool to see Mark Green, he and I where freashmen at UND together, talked to him a few times at the REA cause I worked there with the womens hockey team... so ya, hockey games down here in nashville are kinda weird... in a scary way

Deimos · Post by **Deimos** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 8:02 pm

that's soo sooooo sooooooooo cool that you got to meet an astronaut. i want to so bad. COngrats. A friend of my grandpa's worked for NASA during the great space race and worked on some of the gear for apollo though. He got to test some of it. But that's as far as i have met anyone with NASA lol.

Carrie · Post by **Carrie** » Thu Nov 23, 2006 8:48 am

I'm so glad you finally got to meet an astronaut, Jennifer! It sounds like it was an awesome first meeting, too! I hope she's the first of many, though there's nothing like the excitement of the first time you meet one!

Once I met my first astronaut, I then looked forward to meeting my first woman astronaut, first cosmonaut, etc. Enjoy!

SpaceCanada · Post by **SpaceCanada** » Thu Nov 23, 2006 10:05 am

We get hockey tickets through work, so I get to see a few games per season. I'm really lucky for that!

Honestly, meeting an astronaut is more important to me than hockey, even if I had once-in-a-lifetime tickets. (Just barely though...)

I hope that next time I meet an astronaut I won't be so much in shock and might actually be able to connect my brain to my mouth and say something or ask an intelligent question. Everyone around me was asking so many brilliant questions or talking to her casually but for some reason I totally froze in shock. Maybe it was all the PhD's surrounding me... who knows... I'm also super shy.

Harmakis · Post by **Harmakis** » Thu Nov 23, 2006 12:26 pm

heheheh, Jennifer next time you meet an astronut will hopefully be at KSC with me... sts 118

hehehe.. and Ill be there to make sure you do connect brain to mouth, so no worries Mate!

Boomerang · Post by **Boomerang** » Thu Nov 23, 2006 9:21 pm

Having met many astronauts over the years i realised along time ago they are just ordinary men and women with an extraordinary job. Some are more aproachable than others. I remember when i met Charlie Walker many years ago he was a 4 time flyer a very rare thing for a payload specialist. He was layed back and friendly heck i sat and had a soda with him before he went out. But the 2 friendliest of the ones i've met had to be Dick Gordon of Apollo 12 a really nice guy and funny and by the way he says the apollo 12 episode of from the earth to the moon was an acurate portrayl of that crew. I have met him twice mainly because we have the Apollo 12 cm on display in the museum. He was willing to sign as many autographs as you wanted, and take pictures. Another great one was Tom Jones who recently write the book skywalking and a while back wrote the Complete Idiots Guide to NASA a great book. If you didnt know he was an astronaut youd neve guess it he was very layed back friendly again would sign alot of autographs and answer all your questions. Wish i could have talked with him longer. Guy Gardner was also another really good one i got to talk to while he was taking a break from signing also very friendly .

On the other hand i have met a couple who werent as acomodating. Sid Gutierez comes to mind very aloof wasnt nearly as friendly and didnt say much when you talked to him. The other Norm Thaggard i barely managed to get an autograph from and he said nothing as he signed it. He seemed eager to get out of there after his talk that night. Granted he may have had other committments i don't know but he was a good talker.

SpaceCanada · Post by **SpaceCanada** » Fri Nov 24, 2006 10:17 am

Julie Payette was also very personable and funny and signed loads of autographs and took pictures and talked to the little kids and the 'big kids' alike. She thanked everyone for coming to her presentation and stayed around for a long time afterwards to mingle with the people who wanted to meet her. She was really fantastic. I don't know why I froze so much, but I could imagine I could have chatted with her for a long time if I could have made that brain-mouth connection and rid myself of that daze of shock and excitement.

Then again... if I recall correctly, I was in a bit of a daze when I met Dr. von Tiesenhausen for the first time after his presentation at camp. I didn't even get a photo I was so much in an awe-struck daze. Thus, the first time I saw him at adult camp I basically ran up to him and asked if I could get a photo with him. He agreed, of course.

Harmakis · Post by **Harmakis** » Fri Nov 24, 2006 6:28 pm

jsut dont be freezing up on me at sts 118