The HabForum

I think its great that their is the potential to open two new space camps. I wonder though that if the group that runs the camps we have been to is not involved then what will the quality of the new camp in maryland be like. And also will the camp in maryland sttel business from the one in Alabama so much that it may endanger its existance. The article says the involvement of the space camp foundation is still unclear though so i guess we'll have to wait and see.

LB206 wrote: And also will the camp in maryland sttel business from the one in Alabama so much that it may endanger its existance.

yeah thats a good point, if they opened a camp in maryland i would be more apt to go there than alabama, because it is a LOT closer to vermont, so traveling would be cheaper, and my paranoid mother would probably feel safer having me there than down in alabama. i dont think a great % of the space campers come from new england, but for the ones that do, if the maryland camp offered ASA and academy, they would probably go there.
geographically i would rather be in maryland too. alabama is nice but TOO HOT FOR ME ( this coming from the girl who woke up to three inches of snow).
ANYWAY, i think its really cool that they might open a new camp. as for the one in korea...thats nice LOL. its cool that theres enough interest and everything to expand to even more countries.

I believe this type of conversation came up when Space Camp Florida opened - they'll take all of the Floridians who come to Camp away from Alabama... and even when California opened it was the same way. Space Camp Alabama exists because its the first. And, outside of California, they offer Academy and Aviation Challenge, which I assume the other new camps will not.

There are only so many people who can go through a Space Camp session every week. If Florida and California haven't hurt them in the past (taking the weak economy out of the picture) then I don't see a problem with Maryland. Though, its' kinda dumb to have three Camp's so close to one another. Then again, the East does have the majority of the population in this country.

So, go figure.

Well if it wasnt for the weeke economy then i wouldnt be worried about it. However the more centralised location of the new camp may get it more business espescially since parents dont want to send their kids so far away to camp anymore. Ofcourse the article said that the maryland camp will start as only a camp program and then add older programs. Hopefully it wont hurt the alabama camp much if any.

I didn't bother to read the article so I'm not sure what's in it. I'll get around to it eventually. Too tired right now to read it =)

(though I'm sure you're asking yourself why he's reading this forum if he's too tired - yeah, I know... I'm confused too).

Anyway, I guess I just don't see Space Camp anywhere but Alabama. Maybe that's because that's where the movie was filmed. Maybe that's because that's where I first went and have never wanted to go anywhere else. Then again, perhaps its just because I've been there a lot over the years (not necessarily to camp, mind you). So... I give big razzies to all the copycat camps

Well when i think of Space Camp i'll always think of Alabama as well. And right now its not even clear the new camp in Maryland will even be affiliated with the Alabama camp Guess we'll jjust have to waoit and see what happens

Well, it'll be closer to you that's for sure

True it will be much closer to me and maybe it will be more accessible.

In this day and age you never can tell. I think if they'd bring adult programs to Florida I would go there just to experience it. It wouldn't be nearly the same... but it would be a step in the right direction for me.

Of course, for them to bring the adult programs down to Space Camp Florida, they'd first have to...yeah....

... get out of debt
... reorganize
... find someone to buy them
... Open back up?!

Yeah, I know. I was thinking more along the lines of the PAST. If they had brought down more than just the kiddie version maybe it wouldn't be so darned cash-strapped. There are plenty of adults around these parts that I'm sure would love to do Camp, and either don't know about Alabama or don't want to travel up there.

I dont know about the adult programs in florida but i do seem to remember thet had educator programs in florida at somepoint in the past. Sometimes i think i might have liked to have had the oppurtunity to go to the camp in Florida so that i could have experianced the astronaut hall of fame and Kennedy space center. Unfortunately i never did. And when i went to space camp in 1991 florida was only 2 years old and i figured the Alabama camp would be much better because of its experiance. As far as the florida camp goes someone told me they read that it had been bought but the buyer was undisclosed and the plans for the facilities were not clear either.

I remember when SC-Florida opened in 1988. The training center was in some building and trainees stayed in a hotel somewhere. Didn't sound fun to me. Which is why I ended up at Huntsville (other reasons too).

They did/do have Educator programs and I think the Parent/Child Camp program. But no Adult oriented programs. Which is a real shame considering they're near the Launch Facilities for NASA shuttles.

The AHOF is rather small. I dunno if I would have enjoyed Camp there either.

Well one diffrence here is you live in the general area around Kennedy Space center. I live in Virginia and still havent had the chance to go to visit Kennedy space center. Thats one of the main reasons i considered it. I do have 2 friends who went to camp in florida one also went in alabama. He said the alabama camp was better.