Adult ASA?

[Revan]

I'm considering going to Adult ASA with my Dad after I turn 18. Simply put... what is it like, vs regular Space Camp?

[Conan]

I have been to Adult Aviation Challenge a couple of times and I loved it. Unlike Space Camp, you spend a lot of time out of doors. You do survival training both on land and in the water. Indoors there are great flight simulators where you do attack missions and dogfights. To win Top Gun, you have to shoot down everyone else on your team. And instead of a long space mission at the end, you have the Escape and Evade which is done at night and outside. You are role-playing a downed pilot in enemy territory escaping to a pick-up zone. You have to hide and crawl through the woods while the enemy (counselors with super-soaker guns) are hunting for you. It is more physically challenging than Space Camp but lots of fun.

[Conan]

Ignore below. I read your request wrong and thought you were asking about AC. I also attended Adult ASA. It is more intense and interesting than the 3 day program. You get to scuba dive and the missions are longer. It is very similar to the Advanced Space Academy for high-schoolers.

[SpaceCanada]

You and your dad are going to have a great time!

The adult programme is a lot like ASA for youth, with a few additions. You get more freedom to do things after hours (no curfew, freedom to walk around Rocket Park at night), more in-depth briefings, modified sessions here and there, fewer people to a room in the Habitat, the odd specialty food item at meal times, and stuff like that. It depends on what your team is like, but you could get more interesting mission anomalies as well. (i.e. if someone on your team builds solar arrays as their job, the station solar array may break down a whole lot more than it should)

You still do similar missions to the youth ASA, which is I think 3 short missions and one long one; same simulators (multi-axis trainer, five degrees of freedom chair, 1/6th gravity chair); similar briefings (space suit design, shuttle systems, space medicine, etc.); similar activities (Area 51, rocketry, tour of Rocket Park, etc.); and you get all the fun that goes with it.

[Revan]

Wow, thanks for the warm reception, y'all. I love Hab1.

The AC information was actually very useful. I've always been very curious about trying it; I like the military style of it, and I think it'd be interesting. The only thing is that I would DEFINITELY want to to ASA along with it; I would miss Space Camp waaaaay too much to do only AC. It sounds like it'd be awesome, though.

SpaceCanada, thanks for the info on Adult ASA. It sounds just like ASA, but alot freer with free time. It'd be interesting to attend; I would love to take my Dad. He's always been interested in it.. I think I should buy him a ticket for his birthday and go with him. It'd be awesome. ^_^

Anyway, thanks everyone! Much love to you.

~Revan

[SpaceCanada]

SpaceCanada, thanks for the info on Adult ASA. It sounds just like ASA, but alot freer with free time.

I'm not saying you get more free time... but you can choose to spend it in different ways. We had an elaborate game of hide and seek in Rocket Park and the USSRC one night (it was a scheduled activity that we stretched out way longer than it should have been), some people went over to the Marriott for drinks (just don't come back inebriated or you won't be allowed through security), other people arranged for more time in the shuttle sims to practice checklists (I think they knew the security officers), most everyone spent time in the computer labs e-mailing home or practicing on the computer shuttle sim software, one night we raided the mess and made banana splits (the bananas were still out on the counter so we made use of them), there was a run to the 24h Wal-Mart one night for supplies before the big mission, and I got yelled at twice for being out past 'curfew' because anouther counsellor thought I was a Space Academy kid. Good times! All that on top of the regularly scheduled activities. Again, how free time and after-hours is spent depends a lot on your team mates and counsellors

If you and your dad are really well versed in spaceflight details - how things work, how missions go, etc. and/or have been to ASA before, you may want to sign up for the 8-day camp held in late September/early October each year.

Ack, I really need to go back. Six years without camp is too long.

[Revan]

Wow, SpaceCanada. Sounds awesome! ^_^ I'm almost too eager to turn 18 now . Just kidding.

Thanks again. I definitely will go to AASA with Dad.

~Revan

[Benji]

Adult camps are the best, you have freedom to do so much more than as a kid. I remember the time that we all went over to the ████████ in order to ██████ ██████ ████████ with ████. Once we actually ██████ a █████████ and ████████████; we even took a picture of that one! If you're super stealthy*, you can even ████████ in the ████ ████████ ████ at night; if you do this, be sure to tell us all about it°.

*like ninja stealth. seriously.
°stealthily, of course

[Revan]

Ahah. Sounds ████████████ fun. I'll be sure to ████████████ with a ████████████, and especially ████████████ penguins.

~Revan

^_^