24 hours, good stuff... spoiler free, I promise

CastAway · Post by **CastAway** » Sat Jun 05, 2004 9:54 pm

Alright... well, I'm back, and I'm here to report. I promise I'll only go over the general outline, and I won't spoil any major surprises or anything. But I will give a general review, which is that it was FREAKIN AWESOME! You've already seen day 1 of my journal, and since I personally hate uber-long posts, I'm going to be posting my journal from the week one day at a time, starting tomorrow. I'll make sure to remove anything I consider spoiling, although I will mention special activities that we did do, like what special type of rocket construction we did and what the briefings were. I won't tell you anything I interpreted as a something that was supposed to be a nice surprise, however. But be warned, and read at your own risk. I will post about Sunday tomorrow, seeing as my post about Saturday already is up.

Oh, and by the way, in case you were wondering, I can confirm that Vincent is a cool guy in person.

meg · Post by **meg** » Sat Jun 05, 2004 11:36 pm

thank you! im totally excited to hear about it, though i don't want to spoil anything thats freakin' awesome! lol. i can't wait. i can't wait. i can't wait!!!

meg · Post by **meg** » Sun Jun 06, 2004 11:07 am

okie doke. since you were there and are back...i have questions:

did the edm work well?

the flight suits: do we only wear orange? or should i bring my blue one?
(haha, we'll look like we were just picked up from juvie!!)

ummdeeeummmdeeeummm...i had another question...grrrrrr.

ill remember it later...i think...

CastAway · Post by **CastAway** » Sun Jun 06, 2004 12:49 pm

Alrighty. I have the answers to your questions.

1) The EDM worked great! As I said in what Vincent posted, they took the flight plan of STS-54 and actually used that to add realism to the mission. Plus, everything was organized really well, mainly thanks to Tony and Nathalie, it seems. It was some good stuff.

2) Nope, the orange suits are just pressure suits you wear during launch (and maybe landing... I was station second half, so I don't know). The new blue ones that started last year are still the standard.

tennisrox014 · Post by **tennisrox014** » Sun Jun 06, 2004 1:42 pm

Hey, MNathaniel, did you see any AC people who were there for the 8 day program? I heard from a counselor that we get nomex fight suits and patches. Woot.

Benji · Post by **Benji** » Sun Jun 06, 2004 3:41 pm

How did the EDM work?

CastAway · Post by **CastAway** » Sun Jun 06, 2004 11:49 pm

I gave a brief mention of the EDM above, and I don't have time to talk about it right now. I'll give more details later. As for my journal for Sunday, I only did an outline (the only day where I didn't write stuff out). Here's my outline of the day... I talk about Area 51 (no big deal, not very spoiling, although I briefly mention the one change without telling how to solve it) and one briefing:

Day 2:
-didn't do ANYTHING, or so it seems, mainly because there were no briefings and a surprising amount of free time
-Area 51 alpha - same as always, except no "river crossing" and one new one, which I won't describe
-Shuttle Systems I - briefing thing, basically on the main parts of the shuttle stack and stuff
-Alpha and Bravo mission trainings, both times I did MOCR (due to the small size of our group, 4 did MOCR, 4 did Orbiter, none did station, so each MS had to do MOCR twice out of three, plus we all did station for the fourth mission. This is not how it will work out for the July session, which is almost fully booked).

Day 2.5:
1:30 AM-ish... I get suddenly awoken and have to go to the bottom of Hab 2 for a tornado warning... yay. I had to sit across from some Academy kid because I was initially sitting against a bed in Orion bay, but apparently you're only allowed to sit against the wall, so I had to move away from my friends. Yay.

meg · Post by **meg** » Mon Jun 07, 2004 10:36 am

did they cut down on the amounts of briefings? cause we know a lot of it. its not like there is a newby (sp?) on the team...

lol, gosh i love being a veteran!

SpaceCanada · Post by **SpaceCanada** » Mon Jun 07, 2004 11:25 am

Why is it that they reduced the amount of briefings? What took up so much time that they were not replaced with more intense, more in-depth briefings?

Oh, how I wish I were young enough to attend the special sessions... Then again, they do offer an 8-day session for adults in October, although I could not go that week; so sad.

CastAway · Post by **CastAway** » Mon Jun 07, 2004 12:48 pm

The deal with the briefings is that they took them out because we've all heard them. They then added back in a few "shuttle systems" lectures, but that's about it. I pretty much begged and pleaded them to put Russian Space History back in, so I'm guessing that one will be back for the next 8-day. Other than that, I asked for Radio Telescope, but that's about it.

Details about things you still do follow below... so you may or may not want to read it. I recommend you do, but then again, I was there.

You still do Night Telescope, SCUBA, Area 51, and AC helodunker and rescue thingy (I told them they should add zip line... so maybe if you're lucky). I think there were a few other regular activities you still do. If you have anything that sounds like it was left out, let me know, and I'll send it in an email with suggestions that I plan to send eventually.

monkeynautt · Post by **monkeynautt** » Mon Jun 07, 2004 4:04 pm

The reason it seemed like we had so much free time is there were only 8 people on our team so we finished activities fast.

SpaceCanada · Post by **SpaceCanada** » Mon Jun 07, 2004 4:11 pm

I am surprised they ran a session with so few people. Even more surprising is that the special session was not full!

monkeynautt · Post by **monkeynautt** » Mon Jun 07, 2004 4:38 pm

There were supposed to be two teams of 16 and each would do a separate 24 hour mission. That is all I am saying. You will have to wait to find out more. And I know a lot more than just that.

It wasn't until after registration that they found out there were only 19 people on 2 different teams. Since it would have been impossible to do a 24 hour mission with only 8 people our teams combined for the 24 hour miision. We ate meals together and did some activities together to get to know each other and although we were two separate teams by the end of the mission we got along great. Our mission was run different than how the July mission will go but a lot will be the same. We are not to tell you a lot a details about what happens on the mission. I will tell you this. Before this trip I was thinking of coming back as an adult camper. After the mission I decided not to. The 24 hour mission is so awesome that I would never be able to go back to a six hour mission. My counsellors were incredable and this trip was by far the best. I was worried going into it that my team wouldn't be a good or I wouldn't have as much fun but this was by far the best Space Camp experience I have ever had.

meg · Post by **meg** » Mon Jun 07, 2004 7:35 pm

im so excited!! you guys are making the anticipation much more that it was...and that was kinda a lot!!!

Space Nerd · Post by **Space Nerd** » Tue Jun 08, 2004 2:28 am

They should let us do the centerfuge down at AC that thing rox big time! I so want to do that again lol.

tennisrox014 · Post by **tennisrox014** » Tue Jun 08, 2004 6:49 am

I love the centrifuge!!!!!! I especially love it when the counselor makes you give the person next to you a high five and you try and hit each other in the face...

Kemara · Post by **Kemara** » Wed Jun 09, 2004 7:37 am

I think someone above said they didn't want to do adult camp because adults don't get the alumni camp. From what I understand, there will be an adult alumni session in October...and the people who will be going are very devoted to Camp, some having gone as many as 12 times to Adult ASA.

Also, the regular adult ASA does the AC centrifuge if they want to and a bunch of water stuff including the zip line if the weather is warm enough (in Sept.). In 2002, we did zip line, raft race, helio dunker, and helicopter hoist. They also showed us the then new, E&E course and POW camp at AC. In 2003, we just did the MACH I sims and the centrifuge, but the lake was already drained since it was October.

Of course, some of this may have changed after this year, but it seems like adults get to do *more* than the kid programs.

SpaceCanada · Post by **SpaceCanada** » Wed Jun 09, 2004 9:32 am

Excellent!!

I absolutely loved the activities at AC while I was at youth ASA. I wondered if the adult programme included anything from AC. Now I am even more excited!! I cannot wait to strap myself into the centrifuge or the zip line! The raft races and helo dunker are heaps fun too. I would love to do more from AC since I never went to youth AC (although I wanted to be a RIO) and they do not offer a week-long programme for adults right now.

Even if things have changed, I will be sure to ask my counsellor if we can do as much AC stuff as possible during the week! It will be such a great week! I cannot wait!

Then again, my last time at camp the lake was cold and we went against the nurses' advice and spent the afternoon in it anyway! I just want to get the best out of every moment at camp! (The lake wasn't cold to me, but apparently it was several degrees below the minimum temperature for people to go in it.)

SpaceCanada · Post by **SpaceCanada** » Wed Jun 09, 2004 1:08 pm

What happened to the day-by-day reports, or were those put to rest for spoiler reasons? Also, when do you think photos from the special session will be posted? I would love to see more pictures and hear more stories about the new and improved programmes and TCF.

CastAway · Post by **CastAway** » Wed Jun 09, 2004 4:38 pm

I sorta got behind on the journals... sorry about that. As for photos, my dad made me use his mail-order developing service, so I have to wait until like next Tuesday... bummer, I know. But then I'll post them! I didn't take any EDM photos (dunno why... it would have all looked the same as always, anyway, though), but there are bunches of fun general photos... but yeah... I'm growing impatient, myself... I wanted to get them 1-hour developed! Anyways... day 3:

I swear we're not doing anything. Again, today, Area 51 (indoor-all the same) after breakfest, then...well, the entire morning was composed of walking time (not needed due to rain and whatnot) and walking back time and recovery time and maybe another break, then... lunch! What a morning.
After lunch, we had a mission training (Charlie) and some museum time (the new simulater of a "tour of the ISS" where the Mars coaster used to be just plain sucks... plus it's innacurate) and the main thing we did was Rocket Construction I. (I had details... but since I'm not giving spoilers, I'm not posting them here...) I... well, I slept through my group of 4's planning session, and during building, I sanded some spare balsa wood into some sawdust. Yeah... rocket construction isn't my favorite part. But I promised to help in building session II, and I will! Yeah... then it was finally time for dinner. I was extremely hungry. Dinner was all right... surprisingly decent pizza for a cafeteria. After dinner we did (something new and special... sorry, can't say!). After that, we had Delta mission training (part of which was a really cool tour of the all new station modules we'll be working in. They are really nice, although all the connection nodes aren't in yet, so you walk outside them and through a white hallway and stuff instead of through the nodes. Apparently, it will all be ready by next summer.) When that was over, we had a little free time, so we went over to the Saturn V mock-up and had somewhat of a team moment. If the photo turned out well, I'll post it. After that, we went to the corporate classroom for a breifing on (I don't consider this a spoiler, but whatever)
D
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communications from the orbiter,
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given by Melissa, who is really great at giving briefings (plus I was on her first team ever, which was a while back...). Officially, it was Advanced Orbiter Systems III, but we never actually had II... don't know what the deal was there. (note... I think I was confused when I wrote this) Anyways, we headed back to the hab, and the guys in my room didn't really do much because the two guys from the other team wouldn't be there for another half hour. So yeah, now I'm writing this before I go to bed. Yay.