The HabForum

Posted last night on the Facebook group, there is a high probability of a week long adult camp with two options:
Sounds like Option 1 is almost certainly a go and will be up on the site for registration sometime in the next 2-3 weeks.
Option 2 is a possibility if there is enough interest (currently being gauged on the Facebook group via a poll).

Option 1 - ‘Train like an Astronaut’

Special weeklong Advanced Space Academy 6 day, 5 night program – October 11-16, 2015; $1,299 plus the $50 registration fee (minimum of 12 people)

Lodging and Meals
All participants will be housed in the Space Camp Habitat (‘Hab’) dormitories on the US Space & Rocket Center campus. Meals during the week will be upgraded from the standard camp meal offerings. These meals will include a special Pre-launch breakfast prior to the Long Duration mission.

Team Building
Participants will have the opportunity to break the ice with their new teammates at a special movie screening. This screening will be preceded by a wine and cheese reception with a special guest and brief remarks prior to the movie. Participants in the Advanced Space Academy for Adults program will also experience our Area 51 Leadership Reaction Course. This team building experience will consist of both low ropes team building training as well as a high ropes course element. Participants will also create their own team mission patch that best symbolizes their team just like the real mission crews.

Astronaut Training
Our participants will also experience several astronaut training simulators such as the Multi-Axis Trainer, 5 Degrees of Freedom Chair, and the Manned Maneuvering Unit.
We will also have a session devoted to pilot training. NASA astronauts all experience pilot and flight training and this experience will include a pilot training session at our Aviation Challenge facility. This experience will include training in our fighter pilot simulators as well as the Aviation Challenge 2-person centrifuge.
There will be simulated spacewalk training in our Underwater Astronaut Trainer (UAT) using SCUBA equipment and techniques. (For those unable / not interested in UAT training, additional training time in the simulators at the Aviation Challenge facility will be available)

Mission Simulations
(4) One-hour Training mission scenarios with 1.5 hour intensive training sessions for each. These training scenarios will place the participants in 4 different mission roles as training for the final 12 hour Long Duration Mission with specific focus on nominal procedures as well as anomalies for each role. For the final mission the participant has to have been one of the 4 roles they previously trained for in the training missions.

Participants will also experience a 12-Hour Long Duration Mission. This missions provides a more realistic mission scenario due to the extended time. Longer and more challenging spacewalks are performed as well. More complex anomalies are also used to enhance the experience. During the LDM there is potential for emergency / contingency spacewalks to be needed / performed. As part of that scenario individuals in the MOCR may be tapped for a ‘ground-based’ simulation helmet-dive in the UAT during the mission much like would occur in the NASA-JSC Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL) under similar circumstances. Participants will also have the opportunity to experience our lunar mission scenario.


Additional Training
Participants will experience several training presentations providing information necessary to mission success. In addition to these presentations participants will take a “behind the scenes” tour of Marshall Space Flight Center. with special guest tour guide(s). Due to facility restrictions the bus tour experience is only available to U.S. Citizens. Our participants will also have the opportunity to tour the Saturn V Hall with one of our NASA emeritus docents. Our docent will provide the type of stories to our guests that can only be relayed by those that lived it.

Option 2 – ‘Train with an Astronaut’

For an additional ~ $300-$400 per person (minimum of 12 people)
One of the Space Camp ‘Astronauts in Residence’ will be your instructor for the week; conducting certain briefings, sitting in/instructing during mission trainings, overseeing missions and providing a mission debriefing, and with the team for most activities including an “unplugged talk” and photos/autographs.

Sheesh. Figures it'd be the first year I can't make it to Huntsville since I started going to SC...
I was surprised at the option to have an Astronaut as a trainer. I can only assume it’d be Hoot Gibson? I’m not familiar with anyone else in the area who’d come out for something like that. My dream would be having Mike Mullane as a trainer. Man, I’d walk all the way to Huntsville for that opportunity!
But no matter what, it’s a moot point as there’s no way I can commit to a week-long anything this year. Maybe I could swing a 3-day session (I’ve made that comment to my wife recently and she really didn’t squawk too much at the idea) but that’d be the most I could hope for this year, as almost all my time off is already committed. Besides, if I flew down to Huntsville for a week, my parents in Florida would go nuts at me flying that far and not going to see them for almost as long.

p51 wrote:Sheesh. Figures it'd be the first year I can't make it to Huntsville since I started going to SC...

Bummer you won't be able to join in the fun. But I would assume that if the response is good they will run programs like this again in the future. I know there are a number of people on the Facebook group who really want to participate but that week just doesn't work for them.

And, on the plus side for those of us seriously considering going, we've got a chance of winning Best Mission Patch.

I am SO in for this. As cool as the "train with an astronaut" option would be, I'm already way exceeding my budget for just the 6 day so I'm not sure I could swing the extra few hundred bucks. Now I just need to wait for the registration to be available so I can call and have them transfer my deposit from the Sept 4 day to the 6 day. I'm just having trouble wrapping my mind around an extra $700 for just 2 more days. I think it's worth it, and it's not like it's a bad deal, just seems like the prices jump so much from 4 to 6 day.

Option 1 seems materially cheaper than what they charge for a similar corporate camp.

I imagine the "astronauts in residence" would be any of the guys who regularly do the Lunch With An Astronaut in Huntsville. That would be Hoot Gibson, Don Thomas, and Bob Springer. If I knew for sure that Hoot would be the instructor, I would sign up in a heartbeat!

Unfortunately, this is not a good year for me. I am moving into a house this spring, and there's a lot of $$$ home improvement projects $$$ that have to be done. Next year though, I'd be totally down for it.

I'm looking into doing back to back sessions this year, first ASA then CSC. Saving up the pennies!

Hotdog wrote:If I knew for sure that Hoot would be the instructor, I would sign up in a heartbeat!

Yeah, it's hard to beat a past NASA Chief Astronaut as your personal trainer!
As tempting as this is for next year (just dropped all my requests for vacation for 2015 today and there's simply not enough days left for this), I can imagine the look my wife would give if I even suggested plopping down $1300-1600 for going off alone for a week for that.
I just did a week off for space stuff, in October: https://habforum.hab1.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2657 and there's no way I'd be able to ask for a repeat of that for a while now.
My wife is very understanding of my varied interests, but she has a limit, and this would way exceed that.
All that said, I'm oh so very envious of anyone who's able to pull this off. PK, I have no doubt in my mind that you'll make it there!

I put in my vacation request at work for this. Just waiting to hear back. I am hoping to attend the With and Astronaut option. Fingers crossed. It is more expensive than the four-day because they have put in special meals, the scuba training and the 12-hour EDM, all of which add to the costs, but it will be worth it.

Phoenix PK wrote:I'm looking into doing back to back sessions this year, first ASA then CSC. Saving up the pennies!

Any by that you mean CSC then ASA, right? Because my calendar has it that way around. Unless I missed an update somewhere.

I'd love to do back-to-back, but we're going to Norway and that will suck up the remainder of our travel funds for the year. I wonder what options they'll give corporate groups if these are the ones offered to the public.

SpaceCanada wrote:I wonder what options they'll give corporate groups if these are the ones offered to the public.

I wonder if there'll be a market for the corportate camps for the most part, given these new options. Sure, you get a custom program for you and your like-minded friends, but at what cost? Do you get that much a better experience with a corportate program than you'd get if you just signed a bunch of pals up to be on the same team?
Just wondering. I'd wanted to be invited to one of these but it never came to pass I actually had the time and funds in place to do that in 2014, but nobody went that year. So I did a week-long experience with 3 solid days at KSC and 4 at SC with my pals Steve and PK.
But with an option to have not only a week-long program again, but an astroaunt as a trainer, I don't see what a corporate program could add to that, given the extra expense.
It'll be interesting to hear how this pans out this year in that regard.

One big advantage of the Corporate route is choosing who's on the Team, meaning no
strangers who don't, well, fit in. With an open ASA, you never know who will show up.
I have to say that in the past I've been on open ASA Teams with members who were
very hard to get along with.

Also, with CSC sessions, you get what you pay for, and if you consider some activity
"BS," you don't have it on the schedule. Having a House Astronaut is definitely cool,
but could it possibly be a distraction? It could, quite honestly, if it doesn't enhance
the Sims. CSC is all about the Sims, everything else is gravy.

It will be interesting to see what effect, if any, these options have on corporate camp pricing. Option 1 is, in my opinion, materially lower than what a similar corporate camp would be. Then again, I do not have the pricing data as USSRC wants to price as a whole rather than ala carte. I know that USSRC is trying to push a cost increase through to corporate camps yet will it fly in face of these options. I don't think that USSRC can assume that people will sign up for their options if they raise the corporate camps.

Phoenix PK wrote: CSC is all about the Sims, everything else is gravy.

Amen to that, brother!!!

p51 wrote:

Hotdog wrote:If I knew for sure that Hoot would be the instructor, I would sign up in a heartbeat!

Yeah, it's hard to beat a past NASA Chief Astronaut as your personal trainer!
As tempting as this is for next year (just dropped all my requests for vacation for 2015 today and there's simply not enough days left for this), I can imagine the look my wife would give if I even suggested plopping down $1300-1600 for going off alone for a week for that.
I just did a week off for space stuff, in October: https://habforum.hab1.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2657 and there's no way I'd be able to ask for a repeat of that for a while now.
My wife is very understanding of my varied interests, but she has a limit, and this would way exceed that.
All that said, I'm oh so very envious of anyone who's able to pull this off. PK, I have no doubt in my mind that you'll make it there!

Got to admit, they have put together a great package for camp. One thing I have seen from this, they have listen to campers & that speak volumes. Yes PK will be there for sure. I say SC & Alumni Advancement Board thanks so much for caring & listening!!!!

[quote="Hotdog"] If I knew for sure that Hoot would be the instructor, I would sign up in a heartbeat![quote]

It was announced late last night that the "Train with an astronaut" astronaut instructor will, in fact, be Captain Robert 'Hoot' Gibson. Registration is set to open sometime later this week. Registration for this option might have special instructions. I'll post them here as soon as I'm able.

That knocking sound you're hearing off in the distance to the northwest is me banging my head against my desk.
Man, what a year to not be able to get to Huntsville...

There is a similar knocking going on here just east of Huntsville in Chattanooga. I want to sign up for this so bad! This is the "come out of Space Camp retirement" opportunity I have been waiting for! If this were any other year I would be first in line for training with Hoot Gibson, but I am remodeling a house right now and I do not have not the money nor the free time to commit to this. Frustrated is not the word!!! Hoping things go well, and Hoot signs up to do it again next year.

Hotdog wrote:Hoping things go well, and Hoot signs up to do it again next year.

I'll promise you this right now: If he commits to this next year, I swear that I'll meet you in Huntsville in 2016 for that experience.
Deal?
I'm sure PK and Steve her would want in on that, too!

Registration is now available online and I have booked for the Advanced Space Academy with Astronaut! I can hardly wait the next 7 months. I hope I see some of you there.