AstroTrek Returns?

[majtom7]

I feel that this piece somewhat echoes what I've been saying for years. As USSRC removes missions and other activities from the adult camps to keep costs down, they become less space camp and more tourist cosplay. The usual retort to that is that there are corporate camps. Yet my general feeling is that corporate camps have also changed, that they are no longer true custom design your own camps. Rather, you start from the base of the standard USSRC adult advanced space academy (which I see has a virtual graduation, too), then substitute. I admit, I have nothing to base the feeling on other than a few coincidences. Time will tell.

[p51]

I really haven't paid much attention to any of this since the pandemic took hold and I knew it'd quite a while before I'd even think of coming back to SC (as the place was a pretty well known petri dish even before COVID).
My 2018 advanced adult academy was such a disappointment. Here I am almost 4 years later, still feeling non-plussed about SC.
reading your posts in the past, I see a theme in how SC is cuttings down sim times. I never really saw much of a change in the times I went, but so much has changed since I started going there in 2012.
I wouldn't be shocked if they were getting away from sims to a degree. The further we move forward, the less that the shuttle means to anyone showing up. And the Orion capsules still haven't been flown with a crew, it's hard to relate to that, either. Maybe once a crewed SLS takes off from pad 39B, things might 'mean' something to those who show up.
Beats me, either way.
But a virtual graduation? Yeah, at the peak of the pandemic, I can see that. But why even bother to show up for the rest of it?
Maybe once COVID is no longer the thing of nightmares that it appears to be lessening in severity, then we can look to a somewhat 'return to normal' where sims are more of a thing.
But you can't pick what you want for corporate camp? That is messed up, if it's accurate. I know Sky Pilot, PK and myself have discussed putting one on ourselves in the past but nothing came out of it. I'd be living if we committed to the expense to then be told we can't have the sims we want (because I can assure you, any camp we put on would have sims left and right).
As hard as it is to admit even to myself, I can't see myself going back there for a while. 2018 left such a bad taste in my mouth, I'm gonna hold out for things to get back into some kind of grove, judge how things are by then, and only then seriously ponder going back again.

[majtom7]

Yet my general feeling is that corporate camps have also changed, that they are no longer true custom design your own camps. Rather, you start from the base of the standard USSRC adult advanced space academy (which I see has a virtual graduation, too), then substitute. I admit, I have nothing to base the feeling on other than a few coincidences. Time will tell.

It turns out that my feeling was correct. You start with the standard, then tweak. The days of 7 mission camps are gone due to a lack of available resources.

However, USSRC is looking closer at adult camps as they had 3 teams and a waiting list for the current camp.

I asked USSRC for an all-shuttle mission academy. After all, they are the only realistic simulators that they have. The Orion sims are USSRC's guess. However, there are problems with that idea since the counselors lack experience with more realistic, aka longer, shuttle missions, not to mention that the USSRC "lost" the scripts for them when they decided to focus on the Moon & Mars. <SMH> How shortsighted not to even keep one complete set for each mission.

PC