An OLD Space Academy grad says "Hi"!

[des]

I have been lurking for several days and decided to come in and talk. I won't say just exactly how old I am, but I am probably and easily the oldest. I attended Space Academy for Adults (3 day) and Aviation Challenge (3 day). I could never go to the longer one due to the time of year it was offered. I have also been to the Space and Rocket Center a couple of other times. (I have relatives in Huntsville.)

I attended these quite a while ago, and remember all the cool brochures. I *may* still have the first adult space academy brochure, so I'll look.

Anyway, without a doubt, Space Academy, still ranks as my top 2-3 life experiences (along with swimming with dolphins and snorkeling in the coral reef).

I am a teacher (though didn't attend the Educator Space Camp). And this next summer I am going to be running a "space camp" for 5-7th graders at a local school/camp program. I have aquired a $200,000 simulator (borrowed it for free!!), am doing all sorts of neat science (model rockets, robotics, geology at a local SW rock site-- looks like Mars anyway, etc etc.). I am trying to get the authority to do a SCUBA experience-- but insurance is an issue (or so they say). Anyway, if anyone has any ideas on this I'd be interested. It will be 3 weeks half days.

They say you can get the camper out of the camp, but you can't....
You fill the rest in.

BTW, this year I went to a Space Educator Conference in Houston. It was nothing like space camp. I'd still like to go again, btw. Maybe Elder Hostel. (yikes that's frightening!)

Nice to talk to all you youngens.
BTW, it's hysterical to see me as "Junior Camper" (I know what it means, still funny!)



--des

[Boomerang]

Welcome to the hab forum des. If you wouldnt mind letting us know when you went to academy and Ac what years anyway might helps us relate better to some of the experiances you talk about. Some of us go back a ways others are fairly new to camp. Don't have to tell your age just wondering when you went.

[des]

Yeah I'll look around, as I don't really recall exactly. However, I think it was in the late 70s- or early 80s sometime (AC did not exist when I went the first time). I went to AC a bit later than that, and it was only in it's first few years I think.

I have some old photos I took, and I'll try and scan them and post them. I think it might be fun and you can kind fo see how things have changed.


--des

[Vincent]

YI have some old photos I took, and I'll try and scan them and post them. I think it might be fun and you can kind of see how things have changed.

And now would be a good time to remind everyone of the Hab1.com Photo Portal.

[Boomerang]

Early mid 80s would be the longest ago you could have gone since space camp didnt start till 82 i think academy was in 84 not sure when the adult programs started sometime after that. AC wasnt around till 89 or 90. i think there were a few sessions in 89 and full season in 90.

[des]

As I said it was awhile ago so I don't remember. I have the old VHS tape (still plays btw) that was about 15 minutes long and was a little pitch for space camp. They had the Adult camp and the Educator camp on the tape. I went after that had been done.

As I said, I may have an original (first adult camp) brochure. It was a single page sheet, and I was longing to go, but didn't get to go til later. The advanced camp was also around, but as I said I couldn't go. I opted out of the educator camp, but that had been around a few years.

I willl have to look around. I have my graduation "diplomas" and other memorablia. The flight suit got lost, but I still have the flight suit from AC. I also have a couple lined jackets. (And the shorts, which fit very wierd.)
A sweatshirt and a t-shirt that has the small logo. Also some other stuff--key rings, etc.

NOSTAGLIA ALERT NOTICE: (YOU HAVE NOW BEEN WARNED).

There was were at least a couple simulators and it may have been Challenger, but it was on a hydraulic base. There was a "baby simulator" which had about half the switches which was Columbia (I think). They had the following simulators: 5DF, 1/6 g, multiaxis trainer, a centrifuge type thing (not the newer one), a little dopy floating sphere thing (I still don't know the point of that one-- however, it rode on a column of air. The museum also had a gravity thing where they used springs to counter your weight. I don't know what it was called, but it was kind of fun. It looked a bit like a swing set. They also had a space station module. They had the harness and the UAT, which I didn't get to use. They had a multilevel space hab. Kind of cool looking but fairly impractical. It was freezing and noisy, somewhat like a tin can. The teachers did not stay in this, btw. But adults got their own area which controlled noise to a tiny extent.

We did two missions and Mission Control went into a little upper room which was cool. When I went to AC I saw adult groups on the training floor which I thought was not as nice. We had lectures with some guy from Von Braun's team, actually he was dull but I was so impressed he was on Von Braun's team I didn't care. We did the simulators and mission practice; had a "space food' meal (in a tray-- seemed very space-ish but no dehydrated stuff); saw an IMAX film (Hail Columbia); etc. The day before camp started any adults around went to the Marriot for happy hour. We had graduation and Alan Bean talked to us. There were a few awards. There was almost zero free time, and what there was we wandered around the musuem. We also were able to walk around at night, and loved the Pathfinder and blue lights at night (BTW, Pathfinder was finished.) It was absolutely the most amazingly jam-packed 3 days you can imagine.

I was Commander which was all determined by a little test which measured how much you knew about the Shuttle, etc. I might have missed one question. Yes I admit to being a geek. I have pictures as me as Commander, and one hangs in my bedroom.

Maybe this helps figure out about when this was.
And also what the various activities were.


--des

[Boomerang]

Well that is narrowing it down a bit to the late 80s and no later than 1990. And for Pathfinder to be finished no earlier than 89. Also the hydraulic simulator would have been discovery. Later they added a second one in 1991 called Endeavour. The stipped down one was Columbia it was used by the programs for the youngest kids and was replaced with Intrepid later renamed Endeavour when thge first Endeavour was removed in 2002. So that narrows it down to one of those two years.

[Boomerang]

By the way thanks for the memories on alot of that stuff brings back some great memories of my first camp experiance. By the way yhe sphere on the cushion of air was the maneuvering pod it was supose to give you brief weightlessness when you reached the top however it was very brief. I think at one time they actually let trainees steer it which it would react similar to a spacecraft in a frictionless enviroment. by 91 we were just along for the ride.

The adults on the traininc center floor you saw later were probably using the Endeavour mission control. All of the control rooms are now off the floor and in seperated rooms.

[Hotdog]

Sounds like you were there in '89. Pathfinder was finished in late '88, but Hab 1 (where you slept) was new in early '89. AC started the following year.

Yes, the rooms inside the "tin can" (Hab 1) would get very cold at night. So cold, that, my 1994 bunk-mates and I removed the grates off of the life support system (air vents) and stuffed pillows in them to restrict airflow. I have pictures of us doing this (along with other modifications) stashed somewhere...haha

[des]

I would recommend your little environmental control trick. (Unless the current hab has better controls!) I am planning, if I go in August, to bring lots of polar fleece. When I went last there was no polar fleece.

Also I found my pix and a letter re: the first adult space camp. But not the program description. I have to scan things as the pictures are not digital (they hadn't invented that yet, hard to believe).

--des

[SpaceCanada]

Hey Des:

I think I chatted with you about your camp late last year. I helped plan the summer space programmes at the science centre in Edmonton. I tried to e-mail you around Christmas with no reply. I hope your camp planning is going well. If you need any more help or succestions please let me know.

Cheers,
Jennifer

[jagsvolleyball14]

since u all were talking about your enviromental control trick i thought id bring up that the hab has gotten ALL NEW showers...yes they r very nice!!!
NO more community showers or crappy crutians....all of them are single stalls with a glass door... a little changing area and of course the shower...
***but caution though, with all good news, there is bad news*** you will have to be willing to take cold showers all week bc the hottest they get are luke warm

[des]

Oh, ok! I know who you are. I probably will respond to the old email later, but I have kind of more pressing things to worry about, like what will I do with 5 classes of kids who read below a fourth grade level. I hate it when reality impinges on other fun stuff!!!

I haven't done much planning. I just averted a near disaster which I'll tell you about later.

The Houston conference was fun, but not nearly as fun as Space camp or the NASA program that came to our college xxx years ago.

--des

Hey Des:

I think I chatted with you about your camp late last year. I helped plan the summer space programmes at the science centre in Edmonton. I tried to e-mail you around Christmas with no reply. I hope your camp planning is going well. If you need any more help or succestions please let me know.

Cheers,
Jennifer

[Boomerang]

I bet the three of us have some stories to tell from teaching science camps for kids outside of sopace camp. I love the job and though i do get somne kids who are just there because their parents want them to be, sometimes i've otten some really great kids who you know will go far. It makes the job worth while. Working for the museum here during the scjhool year though more restrictive on what we can do has also been great just remember its our job as teachers to inspire the next generation of explorers, just like space camp was an inspiration to us. By the way if anyone is intrested in seeing our museum website it's www.vasc.org

[des]

Great site. I'm hoping that among other things we can put some stuff online over the summer. It's somewhat a shame that I can't do this via a museum (maybe later?) so that income isn't a factor. However, all the kids that go are not wealthy, and we are thinking of a way for a pretty low income kid in a friend of mine's class to go. I agree about the kids who are there because their parents want them to be. Yes, I get a some of that, and then there are those kids who are as much science nuts as I am. I get one or two kids that are diffiicult to deal with at home because they are so bright. That's fun for a change, after working in special ed. for years and years. (Of course there are bright kids in special ed., but I don't get to work with that side of them.)

Of course, your comment about "inspiring this generation like we were inspired" is interesting. Of course, I never was your generation. I went to space camp as an adult. But for sure I was inspired. I'm sure I wouldn't want to do all this if I had never gone.

I might go and put up a separate thread re: space science education (informal).

--des

I bet the three of us have some stories to tell from teaching science camps for kids outside of sopace camp. I love the job and though i do get somne kids who are just there because their parents want them to be, sometimes i've otten some really great kids who you know will go far. It makes the job worth while. Working for the museum here during the scjhool year though more restrictive on what we can do has also been great just remember its our job as teachers to inspire the next generation of explorers, just like space camp was an inspiration to us. By the way if anyone is intrested in seeing our museum website it's www.vasc.org