The HabForum

There is supposedly a $100 discount if we book before Sept 7! So hopefully we will get some details real soon!!!!!

This would be a private booking, so no discounts would apply. I will have more details later this week once I hear back from Space Camp. Keep watching this tread for updates.

SpaceCanada wrote:This would be a private booking, so no discounts would apply. I will have more details later this week once I hear back from Space Camp. Keep watching this tread for updates.

Thanks to both of your working on the week long, Space Canada & Hotdog.

Hi, I was cleaning out some shelves today and came across my old space camp schedules from several times I attended, including the Adult 8-day in 1996. My Kennedy Team from 96 had several reunion get togethers and even tossed around the idea of a special reunion Advanced Adult Academy. I found my notes about what we wanted to include in our special camp. Sadly it never happened, but here are some of the ideas that we had:

Lectures on rocketry, robotics, space psychology and international space history.
a Mars Rover exercise.
Scuba training for all.
A day of Scuba EVAs in which all participate in 3 different dive missions with more involved objectives to achieve.
2 2-hour missions in simulators
One day of Aviation Challenge training including water survival, land survival, a top-gun exercise and Escape & Evade exercise followed by debriefing at Otters.
EDM of 6 to 12 hour length, depending on team preference.
Tour of Marshall Center

In 1996 we had a 12-hour EDM and it was grueling but very satisfactory and much more realistic than the 6-hour one I did at my second Adult Advanced Academy, which was a 6-day. I don't know if we could include any or all of this in next year's alumni camp, but I am interested in the opinion of all of you. If we are doing it like a corporate camp, we should be able to have some special schedule items.

I heard back from the USSRC yesterday. This is what they have proposed:

6-Day Adult Space Academy including:
Aviation Challenge flight simulator training and missions
Aviation Challenge lake based activities (early/mid September only, before they close/drain the lake)
Centrifuge
Space Camp missions with final 24-hour mission
Astronaut training simulators
Rocket construction and launch
Area 51 challenge course activities
IMAX and digital theatre films
Lodging in Habitat
Meals

Total cost = $20398.45 for a team of up to 16 participants
For ten people that breaks down to $2040 per person
Obviously, the more people the better on this one

Must confirm details 5 months ahead of time

Honestly, I am not sure how they can fit all of that into 6 days, especially with the 24-hour mission... it will be busy, that's for sure! We may want to add some lecture time in there, if it's not already included. SCUBA is not included on this preliminary schedule but if there is a high demand for it we could see if we can add it in. Also, no tour of Marshall was included because some of us aren't American and wouldn't be allowed to go. Anyone wishing to do the tour can do the public tour before/after camp.

What do you think??

SpaceCanada wrote:Total cost = $20398.45 for a team of up to 16 participants
For ten people that breaks down to $2040 per person
Obviously, the more people the better on this one

That cost is a little scary to me.
Even with 16 people that's $1274.90 per person plus transportation (airfare in my case). Not undoable, but certainly more than I was expecting (regular (youth) 6-day advanced space academy is $899 max).

Would there be an additional $50 registration fee with this?

I have some thoughts about the included activities as well, but that's moot if I can't make the cost work in my budget. More thought and spreadsheet work required.

SpaceCanada - Thanks again for keeping on this.

There is no additional registration fee.

Flights for us are $800+ per person, so I can relate to high transportation costs. Plus a night at the Marriott before and after since our flights arrive late at night. The adult 8-day camp was $1299 + $50 registration, so it's not that far off if we get a full team.

WOW that's a bit much...I was expecting $900-$1000 range for six days. Ask them if that's the best they can do! Have them take off Area 51 or some of the non-space stuff if it saves cost.

Yeah, that'd be tough to sell to the wife for sure.
I did talk with some people there when I was just there and they said they could pretty much tailor any program a group wanted.

It is a lot, but I can handle it, if we can get enough people. I will drive instead of fly in.

Aww, no Scuba?

Yeah, I would suggest taking off the AC stuff, even though I enjoyed the Area 51 stuff for the 25th, to focus on the space side completely.
Though, what would we do during the day?

I'd rather give up the Aviation Challenge than the Area 51.
When I went to Adult ASA a few years ago it was the Area 51 activities, particularly the pamper pole (possibly/probably because it built on the low ropes elements the previous day) that really helped to solidify my team.

Interestingly, most of us in the engineering track had little interest in flying the simulators at AC. I'm not entirely certain why. For me I know it's partly because I sometimes get to fly the flight sims at work and I'm a lousy pilot. It's a nice change to get paid to play in the big video games but at camp it was a little too much like work for me.

I also really enjoyed the scuba, particularly the "helmet dive"/EVA during EDM. I got to do that and it was one of the coolest things I have ever done. Just such an amazing experience, even more so than just the regular scuba. I wish everyone on my team had had that opportunity.

Is there any chance we can get a break down of how adding/subtracting different activities would affect the cost? That might help us be able to come up with a "custom camp" that balances activities and affordability.

What about an "Aerospace Track" and an "Engineering Track" like we had in Level II/ASA? Then those who want to go to AC can go fly the jet sims, and those who wanna do scuba and Area 51 can go do that.

Hotdog wrote:WOW that's a bit much...I was expecting $900-$1000 range for six days. Ask them if that's the best they can do! Have them take off Area 51 or some of the non-space stuff if it saves cost.

I agree, that is a lttle much for a week. I expected $1200.00

My husband might be interested in joining your group if you still have space. We just finished an Family 4-day and while he enjoyed himself, there were a lot of things he really wanted to do (SCUBA). I think this would be very interesting to him.

Hotdog wrote:What about an "Aerospace Track" and an "Engineering Track" like we had in Level II/ASA? Then those who want to go to AC can go fly the jet sims, and those who wanna do scuba and Area 51 can go do that.

That would be more in mind for what I would like. Frankly, I was never happier than when I was in the cockpit. I did well on the F18 simulators and I felt at home on the flight deck of the orbiter. For me, climbing into and later out of the cockpit of the enterprise was what made camp for me. If I could have kept doing that, I would be a truly happen person indeed.
Still, two grand is way more than I could look my wife in the eye for. I can't justify that much even if I were single.

It sounds like the general consensus is that ~$2000 is too expensive for most people here, but that ~$1200 is doable. If that is the case, it sounds like we have two (non-mutually exclusive) options. The first is to contact Space Camp to see about reducing the cost of the program, possibly with an associate reduction in scope. The other option is to make sure that we have a full team, 16 people, willing and able to go. Even with the current cost, a full team would get us down into the $1200 range. Other than that, well, we're all probably a little too old for lemonade stands but there's still car washes and bake sales.

Anyone else have any ideas?

I posted it on my Facebook page to see if any of my other alumni friends might be interested. It would help if we could select a week.

Thanks for all the comments and input. The alumni group I went to camp with is heading to camp for 6-12 October. When they get back I will pick their brains to get more reviews and revisions to the Adult Week 2013. I've asked one of the guys to see if any of their team would like to join our group or possibly book two teams in the same week. I'll be sure to let you in on all the details once they return. We should be able to pick a date shortly thereafter.

SpaceCanada wrote:Thanks for all the comments and input. The alumni group I went to camp with is heading to camp for 6-12 October. When they get back I will pick their brains to get more reviews and revisions to the Adult Week 2013. I've asked one of the guys to see if any of their team would like to join our group or possibly book two teams in the same week. I'll be sure to let you in on all the details once they return. We should be able to pick a date shortly thereafter.

Excellent! Thanks for doing that.