Space Camp

After graduation we were able to turn our name tags right side up to show we had completed our training=)

Sunday July 15, 2007

I really didn't want to get up this morning-but I did want to go home. Miss the husband, kids, cat, bed, pillow, etc. I'm very tired of packing around a heavy backpack. We turned in dorm keys at the desk and loaded luggage on the bus for the last trip to breakfast that has been exactly the same each day: scrambled eggs, bacon, french toast fingers, biscuits/gravy, cereal /milk, and coffee that the drinkers say is terrible. Actually, though, the food has been pretty good and I have been impressed with how they feed us all so quickly 3 times a day. Some of these kids (20-30 somethings) have gone to the bar each night but I guess I'm too old for that stuff (not that I ever bar hopped=)) There was a presentation of the mission patches and they were absolutely fantastic. There was a cute slide show with pictures of what we have done all week. Then we were graduated by groups and we got to turn our names right side up. We left on the bus at 1:30 pm to go to the airport which is quite close. We took off on time from the Huntsville International Airport, but once again Dallas/Fort Worth gave me heartburn. The plane that was supposed to go to Phx was having mechanical probs in Houston and was going to be late. Finally, the plane from Phx came in and tuned around to go back to Phx...we were 90 minutes late. Roy came to get me with Marx and Maddox and they spent the night with us. Oh, how I love my bed=)



The amazing helicopter rescue.



Going off the edge of the zip line.



Arabella was the spider in space that learned how to spin beautiful webs after a couple of days in space, this is her cousin who bit me in the space station=)




This is our space walk, we had to construct this structure. It was tough to do and I dropped a connector, oops more space junk.


Saturday July 14, 2007
Breakfast and off to the 'lake'. There is a 40 foot platform with a zip line. A parachute harness was attached to me and then I was gently pushed over the edge to 'zip' into the water like jumping from a helicopter. It was fun, but pretty mild, there were several people who wouldn't go: afraid of heights, too heavy, afraid of water-whatever. Then we race in paddle boats, three people per boat, 1 straddling each side and a rudder person in the back. I was the rudder person and my boat beat the other boat by about 3 lengths...I'm not telling you about the 250 lb. woman in the other boat. Then we bailed out, swam to the helipcopter basket and got lifted out of the water-very fun again. After we were all done we went back to the dorms, got cleaned up, and had lunch (spaghetti.) After lunch there was a living and working in space presentation that had great infor but not such a great presentation. We had mission training then our mission. I was in the space station doing science experiments and got bit by a spider (not really) and we had to do first aid. Then we did a space walk in a crazy chair that turns 5 different ways, it was very awkward, but we got the truss support together in good time., There was also a fire (pretend) and I got burnedd-more first aid. We also had solar flairs and we had to get under a solar blanket until it was over. This mission was sooo much fun-much better than the first one=) Dinner was in a different dining room-spaghetti again, not so good. Then we went ot the IMAX and waited for the 9:45 pm 'Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix' showing. It was cool to watch a feature length movie on the IMAX screen and it was a good movie. I think I went to bed at 1:30 am.




Here is one of our designs for the Design Challenge, it held up about 17 seconds.


Friday July 13, 2007
Oh my, I am being run ragged!! I haven't had one minute to get to a computer!! Today we wore our flight suits to breakfast and then went to out Atlantis mission. I was the INCO/EVA in MOCR-I was in charge of the space walk for the people in the space shuttle. I didn't have much to say and I couldn't see my EVA people. The two hours flew by and it was great. After our mission we did a Design Challenge to shield a screw glued to a dowel from re-entry. We had a piece of copper screen, foil, two nuts, and a washer. This is great, similar to the Earth to Orbit Design Challenge. The problem is the propane canister and the fire-I'm not sure about that in the basement of Frost Elementary. Then lunch, more carbs and talks from two 'ancient astronauts'=) Cunningham (Apollo) was kind of a sour puss and Bob Springer was a really nice guy who had been on the Space Shuttle. There was an autograph session and we ran to the gift shop just so we could move. It was raining like crazy this am, but cleared up in time for the Fourth Annual Saturn V reunion and the 25th anniversary of Space Camp. We had a briefing on the new Space goal for NASA- to the Moon and Mars and the ARES 1 and 5 space crafts. I am of the opinion that we don't need to send people, they are way too much trouble, just send those cute little rovers like Spirit and Opportunity.




The 1/6th chair simulates the gravity of the Moon, it is very awkward to maneuver.



The Multi Axis trainer where no one ever gets sick=)



We designed, built, and launched water rockets, it was very fun and doable in a classroom.

Thursday July 12, 2007
Breakfast on a beautiful sunny day-then we went to the ASTI (Alabama Science and Technology Initiative) the teacher, Steve, did solar system stuff and preached the glories of science kits that Alabama uses in their schools. It was OK, not great. Besides, Mesa already does that and maybe better. We made bottle rockets with Rhonda and launched them on a $140 PVC launcher. (Maybe I should buy one of those=)) That was fun and very doable in a classroom. Lunch. Then astronaut SIMS First the MAT-Multi Axis Trainer-it spins you around and around in all different directions. They assured us no one EVER gets sick- I didn't throw up, but I felt quesy when I got off!! It was a long 45 seconds=) Then the 1/6 th chair to simulate the moon's gravity was harder than it looked-it was very clumsy. We were supposed to bunny hop, side step, jog, and then chose what we wanted to do-the side step was easiest for me. I can't imagine doing that for 2.5 hours on the moon. We bought tickets to Harry Potter for the IMAX on Sat. and it took about 30 minutes. Bus back to the dorm and off to Huntsville proper for a bar-b-que and Bluegrass music sponsored by the Art Museum. Actually Huntsville is nicknamed 'Rocket City' because there is such a rich history of aerospace and NASA. Werner von Braun was here for years and the beginning of NASA. Lots of people dressed up and had nice clothes on-I didn't have anything to change into-so...We went to a childrens museum and walked to the art museum which had great exhibits of folk art, armor, and silver, sculptures and the blue grass music was wonderful at a grassy park with a beautiful evening that actually cooled off. The band was made up of 'kin' and there was a 10 year old girl that really belted out a song. It was a fun night.




Don't I look official in my flight suit?



There were 84 teachers at the Boeing Space Camp divided into 6 teams of 13 or 14 each. This is team Destiny.

Wednesday July 11, 2007
I slept well last night and feel like a real person. Breakfast was followed by a group picture dressed in our flight suits. Rhonda took us to rocket park to look at rockets and missiles. We listened to Catherine Thimmesh talk about her book 'Team Moon'. We had an activity to make a LEM (Lunar Module) which was kind of fun. The batteries in my camera are dead. Mexican Wednesday for lunch-it was okay. We went on a ride that simulates 0 G's. It was scary and then when it was done it was fun-might have lasted 15 seconds. I sat in chair facing out on this very tall tower, people were all around in a circle on their chairs, and then we were suddenly pulled up and then dropped several times. It's best not to do this if your bladder is full=) We went to Mission Training and I am INCO/EVA in Mission Control (MOCR). I am totally confused and it is good to be on this end to experience what the kids experience at times. Next was Martian Math with good basic Math ideas that I already knew, but it was good to be reminded. Did I mention that many of these teachers look young and lots are Travis' age (30ish), they have tremendous energy and go to the bar each night, I collapse in bed=) Space gardenting was one I was excited about because I wanted to learn about hydroponics but it wasn't that great. Not one work about hydroponics. Design a container for the moon to grow plants, no larger than 1 cubic foot. Homer Hickham, the author of 'Rocket Boys' aka October Sky, was delighful, he told stories in a very relaxed way and signed books after dinner. They had us go up in groups of 20 to get autographs, it took forever because Homer chatted with each person and had photos taken. Back to the dorm and to bed.

Tuesday July 10, 2007
The alarm went off at 6:20 am (4:20 AZ) and I was up and dressed and to the bus by 7:30 am. We were taken to breakfast in this really big tent. There are 84 Space Campers (from Japan, Australia, Italy, Israel, Singapore, Korea, Germany, and US) divided into 6 groups (of 13 or so). I'm on the team Destiny with Rhonda and Tenille as our leaders. We went under the Pathfinder Shuttle (just a mock up, it never flew a mission) and did a couple of team building activities. We got in order of birthdates without using numbers or months, and took the first 13 pages of a book called 'Zoom' in order without letting anyone see your picture. Great Activities. It started to rain-a soft gentle rain-not a monsoon. We went into the museum to do a history activity and answer a few questions. We saw an IMAX movie 'Magic of Flight', it was good but of course I have to fall asleep in an IMAX movie=) We had Shuttle O-orientation with the thousands of acronyms they use, it's confusing. We got a copy of 'The Real Space Cowboys' and Ed Buckbee, the author, talked to us and told stories about the old days. He was great and it was amazing. We had dinner and then worked on the mission patch activity. We have a guy on our team from Italy who teaches drafting, he did the art work for our patch and it is really fabulous! We were bussed back to the dorms-I talked to Roy, took a shower, and went to bed.


Travel Day Monday July 9, 2007

Not Really. Mostly what I did was sit still. I went to bed Sunday night at 12:30 and got up at 4:20 am, was at the airport by 6:00 and on the flight to Dallas/Fort Worth by 6:30 am. We were supposed to take off at 7:05 but the captain said, "We have a leak that needs to be fixed, it will take a few minutes." Two hours later we took off-the connecting flight was missed. I was sent to gate D6 and waited patiently. I talked to the guy at the desk and he said I was on standby for the 4:10 flight. At this point I started to bug them and check my status often. I saw the little 50 seater arrive and heard the desk people talk about restricting weight because of weather probs. I didn't panic, just kept checking with Daniel and Bernard, or course by this time we were on a first name basis. I was on the flight first thing in the morning. Then the flight was cancelled and there was a stampede to the desk. I called the number to space camp and Kat said, "Get on a flight to Birmingham and drive to Huntsville." I went to the front of the stampede and said, "Who is going to Space Camp?" Nine people responded we all got on the Birmingham flight, of course this flight didn't take off on time-mechanical problems that needed fixing-we were an hour late for take off. We called Kat and asked if she would send a bus. The bus was waiting when we got to Birmingham, we piled on and headed to Huntsville. To continue the airport tour we had to go to the Huntsville airport-hoping to find luggage. Three people didn't have luggage, but I did!! YEAH!! We went to the University of Alabama dorms, checked in and went to bed. Did I say Collapse? It was about 10 pm Alabama time.