Space Camp (Adult Space Academy 49 - 4 Day) was a Blast! or is it Blast-Off?
Got into Huntsville around 12:30AM Thursday Night (9/4)... Because of the Wing-Dings event in Huntsville, all the hotels were booked up…so I had to reserve the night at the CandleWood Suites…which is about 2 miles away…just across the highway from the Space and Rocket Center.
The hotel was really nice…and quite cheaper than the Marriott. Space Camp sent a shuttle and Marvin picked me up about 10:30AM… I was able to get my badge and was told I had until 1:15PM before I had to be back to complete registration.
So, I was able to get my linens, pick the best bed in the room I was assigned… and enjoy the museum for a few hours. AWESOME!.... I ate lunch at the Mars Grille.
At 1:15 I met many of the others who were arriving… Some from my team (Columbia) and some from the other adult team (Challenger). There was also a family camp that weekend so I met some of them.
Great, Awesome people… all very interesting people and I think our team certainly bonded. I know the other adult team had some challenges, and maybe a “mutiny” along the way but our team was a family for the 4 days.
First we took our team photo under Pathfinder. Then we went to orientation. Then right onto the low ropes course for some teambuilding… Where we stole golden objects from the Pharaoh and crossed a deadly river of mulch and cinderblocks. We then had to cross a chocolate river on candy canes…then onto standing on a ladder and performing a crew rotation through an airlock…Our team mottos were Communication, Cooperation, and Selflessness.
Then onto dinner…actually all the meals were quite good… Chinese, Canadian, American…all very good.
The main space camp training floor was closed due to the fire on 9/2. Small fire damage to wall, but because sprinklers went off and there was a lot of smoke, Space and Rocket Center had to contract with Serv-Pro to cleanup. So, we were not able to use any of the sims in that entire area. Our sims were all in Astrotrek…using Endeavor and the ISS.
We began Alpha Mission training… I was assigned as Paycom…Fun, but kind of isolated as you pretty much are on your own with little interaction from the others in mission control.
We then met to come up with a mission patch…sketched out the concept, then I volunteered to complete the patch using some colored pencils. After that, I went back to the Hab and drew out much of the patch (I would later finish it on Sunday night).
First full day, Saturday, awoke, ate breakfast, and had our Alpha Mission as Paycom…solving anomalies and ensuring the ISS stuck to schedule…even had the crew doing exercise during their exercise period!
After the mission Crew Trainer Duckie took us to the Rocket Garden and went over some space history…including a monkey dressed like Hannibal Lecter (you have to see it).
Next we had Bravo Mission Training… I was Pilot for that one. It was a blast…too bad pilots do not fly though…. God it was a lot of switches.
We then had some free time in museum…awesome place!!!!!, Lunch, and we could then use Space Shot, and the other museum simulators.
We than had the Bravo Mission… The Capcom, the commander, and I got along well and we helped each out with the checklists. Mission was pretty successful although we touched down just short of the runway…yes, in the swamp.
We then moved on to the MAT…which was a lot of fun….Then to Rocket Construction…. Not my favorite part, but our team had a lot of fun cracking jokes and socializing….spray painting the rockets was a funny experience.
We then had dinner and moved on to the Aviation Challenge area where we had brief training and about 90 minutes in the simulators…first just takeoff and landings (way difficult), then guns armed, then missiles armed. Some people liked it, other did not...I loved it. The grounds there are awesome….amazing aircraft on display including an F-14 that was in the movie Top Gun.
That was then end of the day…but THE MAJOR PERK of adult Space Camp is getting to wander the museum at night…AMAZING!!!!!
Next Day we had breakfast and then began training for the Charlie Mission. Our schedule had us in an extended duration mission, but the team opted for a normal mission and a chance for everybody to wear the EVA suits for photos. So we ran a normal mission (I was Capcom this time….we had to abort to orbit at launch and then they threw a full panel anomaly at us…those in the ISS had a fire… ISS crew died…. Shuttle landed at Edwards but unfortunately in the dirt)
As for the EVA suits… We did get to enter the normal training area they had cleaned and they arranged for us to get green screen photos in the EVA suits….They put me on Mars in the finished product.
We then moved on to the zipline…it was awful hot and buggy in Alabama at 12:30PM but we had an awesome time…pretty much everybody did the zipline…and we really all knew each other by that time.
We then had some museum time…then onto IMAX. Unfortunately the IMAX movie died about 20 minutes in…oh well…But Duckie saved the day...She is an AWESOME Crew trainer and very knowledgeable about everything space!...She spent like 15 minutes answering audience questions about space while they tried to fix the IMAX. They were unsuccessful at fixing it, but the people in the theater certainly learned a lot from Duckie.
So we went over to the Davidson center where a NASA Emeritus gave us a tour ( Placide Nicaise …was with NASA for 34 years working on the Von Braun Rocket Team during the Apollo Program…AMAZING KNOWLEDGE AND STORIES…he is also an author…you can look him up)
We followed that with dinner then onto the MMU simulators and the 1/6 gravity chairs.
At end of day we headed to museum and then all around campus to find geocaches…one of the guys on the team does geocaching as a hobby and there are at least 4 to be found right on the campus.
The final day, we got up…ate breakfast then launched our rockets…lots of fun…beautiful morning…and only 1 ended up in a tree.
Then onto Space Bowl and Graduation. My team, Columbia won big at Space Bowl, won the patch and received Commander’s Cup patches.
We graduated, got our wings.
I spent the last few hours bopping around the museum with others on my team and having lunch at the Mars Grille. My flight was at 4:30…I wish It was later because I would have been able to take the bus tour to Marshall and the engine test platforms and ISS control…Something to do for next time.
Oh Well, back to Earth now, all adjusted to Gravity and looking forward to the next time I get to travel to Space (camp).
Stephen
