posted 12-23-2006 11:46 AM               

That got me to thinking: How many Space Camp alumni do we have among our readership? When and where did you attend?

I'm a six-time alumnus: Space Camp in 1987 and 1988, Space Academy I in 1989 and 1990 and Space Academy II in 1991 and 1992.

posted 12-24-2006 02:46 PM               

• Space Academy Level I - Huntsville
  
• Space Academy Level I - Hunstville
  
• Space Academy Level II - Huntsville

posted 01-02-2007 04:16 PM               

And counting the days until...

posted 01-03-2007 11:06 AM               

Not that it was a bad thing, I loved it!

posted 01-08-2007 11:06 AM               

Space Camp - July 1985
Space Academy Level I - July 1987
Space Academy Level II - July 1989
Aviation Challenge - July 1990

posted 04-25-2007 09:48 AM            

• Aug 1987 - Space Academy Level I, Huntsville

• Summer 1995 - Florida Space Camp Counselor for Space Camp and Parent/Child

• Summer 1996 - Florida Space Camp Counselor for Space Camp and Parent/Child. Also was Mission Director for the simulators.

• Spring Break 1997 - Florida Space Camp Wing Commander

• 1997 - Present - JSC Flight Controller for the ISS

posted 08-29-2007 10:00 PM               

In my case, I was part of class 3 (March, 1985, if I recall correctly)in 1985, as part of the early level 2 camp (eighth grade to high school age). The simulators were basically what you saw in the movie Space Camp as they hadn't been altered much when that was filmed in Huntsville (less then a year after I was there). The camp counsellors that were part of my class also hosted some of the teacher in space candidates only about two months after I was there. A cute bit sort of related to that was my camp visit was it occurred during STS-51D, most well known (at least behind Senator Garn flying on it) for the LEESAT that didn't fire its motor and the spacewalk to attach the fly swatter snag devices to try and trip the switch on the satellite. For the missions that year after my visit, the counsellors came up with a similar scenario for the campers to overcome. It was something different, compared to the space structure they were building while I was there.

I still have my class picture on the wall, my original Space Camp flightsuit (no, it DOES NOT fit me anymore) and a Level 2 Challenger patch along with my Space Camp certificate and study book. My original level 2 T-shirt might also be hiding in storage somewhere as well. I found some of the Polaroids I shot during my visit also. Those were and still are some good memories.

I recently pulled my Space Camp book out of storage as I've been using the early shuttle press guide from NASA in it to help with research for my current Shuttle book project. There is stuff in here I can't find on the NASA websites anymore (at least not with illustrations) and even the STS hardcovers by Dennis Jenkins don't cover some of the shuttle support facilities in quite the detail as this press kit does. So Space Camp is still teaching me things after all these years.

posted 09-26-2007 02:01 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by FFrench:
I've just noticed that Robert Pearlman was showcased in a recent Space Camp newsletter.

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posted 09-27-2007 04:02 PM               

I also won the Right Stuff-award, an award given to one trainee each week that is given to the one the counselors and staff see as the definite future astronaut, scientist, teacher or engineer. That was really great!

posted 08-09-2008 12:45 AM               

I'm a 7 time alumni
Space Camp 1991
Space Academy Level 1 1993
Aviation Challenge Intermediate 1996
Advanced Space Academy 1998
Corporate Space Camp 2005
Adult Alumni Space Academy 2007
Adult Alumni Space Academy 2008

posted 08-13-2008 08:52 PM               

Displayed below, my crew patch designed by our own KSCartist, Tim Gagnon (albeit over 20 years after my flight).

Crew shirt worn proudly with Charlie Walker:

posted 10-08-2008 10:23 AM            

Space Academy I - October 1986
Space Academy II - September 1988, during the STS-26R mission - the Return to Flight mission after Challenger.

I have to say that the first visit was phenomenal - the attitude from everyone was "we are all in this together, let's get back to flight." Everyone - the campers, the counselors, the guest speakers, the tour guides, even the guy who drove the van to the airport -everyone. And we had 24 hour a day access to just about everything - I remember sitting in the shuttle simulator at night for hours with both the couselors and my crew, getting them familiar with the Orbiter flight deck, then heading over to the Marriott for the Halloween night party. And there wasn't any blind sympathy for NASA being demonstrated by anyone - we had to watch a very comprehensive video of Challenger's final launch from many angles and with diagrams of where the SRB had been breached.

The second visit in 1988, the first words we heard from the person in charge of picking us up at the airport as soon as the van pulled away fron the curb was "Please don't bother us, stay out of the wardroom." It went downhill from there.

I had reunited with members of my crew from the first visit, and we found out that they had tremendously overbooked for those days and that they were overwhelmed and understaffed, and the staff that was there clearly informed us that they had more important things to do than deal with us. We were left to fend for ourselves. What little simulator time we had was interrupted by groups of kids who were led by counselors who would yell at us that we had the sim schedule wrong (we didn't), and the flight deck simulator we were in had been trashed by the group of kids who used it before us - all the joysticks on the flight deck and the throttle/speedbrake handles had been ripped out and left on the floor.

We finally had to have a talk with the head counselor on duty, a gentleman by the name of Richard Nixon, and tell him that we had enough and that situation needed to be addressed by an executive, ASAP, and if it meant calling someone in on the weekend, it had to be done. Richard asked for our understanding because of the coincidence of our stay and the RTF mission, and both our teams for that weekend reminded him that we had booked this weekend several months in advance, they knew that we were coming and regardless of the very important mission in progress and the media in attendance, we deserved their full undivided attention, fully equipped facilities in good repair and be given the program that they had promised.

We were told that we could leave and that we would get some money back. Most of us were from the West Coast and had airfares that could't be changed without a very high change fee, so going home wasn't an option.

So we stayed and made the best of it with whatever we could get access to. I wound up being the tour guide going through the museum for both our teams. Getting to play around for most of the night in a space museum was pretty much the lone highlight of the weekend. We bought an Orbiter model from the gift shop and had our own "Right Stuff award" ceremony.

posted 10-13-2008 02:59 PM               

The mid/late-1980's and into the 90's seemed to be a highwater mark for Space Camp. For me, what really sparked my interest was the movie Space Camp (of course), a cover story in Boy's Life magazine, and this little vignette on Space Camp that was featured on the old PBS kids' show 3-2-1 Contact (anyone remember this show? I used to love it!). Of course, I had a Space Camp program brochure and read it over and over and over. I must have brought that brochure with me everywhere I went.

However, the year before I went to Huntsville, my folks sent me to a pseudo-space camp at Camp Manison in Friendswood, TX (kind of near JSC). Camp Manison was a typical arts and crafts/outdoor youth camp that had definitely seen better days. I guess that they were trying to cash in on the space camp craze by making one of their own. They had one consultant who was moonlighting at Camp Manison while keeping his day job at JSC. I remember that he looked like astronaut Joe Allen and always wore one of the old blue nomex pre-Challenger flight jackets, which we all thought was pretty cool. We built rockets, practiced water rescue exercises in the camp pool, and toured JSC (this was in the days before the House of Mouse "imagineered" Space Center Houston, cheapening the JSC experience. Ah, the good old days, but that's a separate discussion item on collectSPACE). The highlight of the week was the shuttle simulator. They bussed us to a business park where this half-completed low-fidelity shuttle flight deck had been built. It resembled some of the low-fidelity sims at Huntsville (with diagrammed instruments and switches instead of the real thing), and we flew a "night mission" since the monitors weren't working. At the end of the week we were all inducted into the "Junior Astronaut Corps." I guess since they were ripping off USSRC's Space Camp, why not go ahead and rip off Young Astronauts also?

posted 03-18-2009 02:48 PM            

For those who have attended, can you tell me what the difference is between the two programs?

posted 03-19-2009 11:57 AM               

Also with the week long program you have more control over what positions you will have during shuttle missions as well as having longer and more missions than the weekend camp. For the weeklong you pick a track either pilot or Mission Specialist. This determines what positions you will have in the shuttle, station, and mission control or your shorter missions and for your long mission as well. You will have a chance to rotate through each location during 3 1 hour missions then pick a position for the long duration mission the length of which i'm not 100 % sure of anymore but its atleast 6 hours long. Weekend camp has no tracks so anyone could conceivably have any position but you may get a team where you have 6 people wanting the same spot so someone gets dissapointed.

Also with the mission soecialist track for weeklong if you qualify medicly you get to do SCUBA in the space camp UAT. Pilot track trainees go to aviation challenge to fly the flight sims though i have seen some ocassions where they alow pilots to do scuba too youd have to check to be sure. Scuba is not done on weekend programs.

With week long programs your lectures will be more in depth as well and it will not be nearly as rushed. I would recomend week long over weekend if you can swing the time off though weekend is a good intro to the camp if you cant.

If you have more specific questions and want to read abou others experiences or ask more questions visit Hab1.com its a website set up by a former camper turned counselor who last year also made it into the space camp hall of fame. The forum is frequented by many former and current campers and counselors lik myself who are always willing to talk about their experiences and answer questions. Its totaly free to register and you will find tons of inforation there.

posted 01-29-2010 01:01 PM               

Right now - he seems to be leaning toward wanting to go the aviation challenge route. Needless to say being a fighter jet pilot and shooting at bad guys is cool to him.

My question is: 1) which one is best for his age? 2) can anyone tell me what they do in each one of them and 3) what is the difference between the 3 day and 4 day program for the aviation challenge (I know they do the Mars Mission at Space Camp on the 4th day).

Thanks a lot!

posted 09-22-2011 12:36 PM               

Now, alas, it really is a fantasy camp, with the Shuttle being history. The bright side is that the new Orion-type sims will put you on the cutting edge of what's to come. That's very exciting to an old Shuttle jockey like me.

And now the Bad News: The adult Advanced Space Academy, the week-long session, has been canceled for next year. It was a shock to find out this year that we were the last of the line, but that's the way it goes. No one gets to be an astronaut for life.