After the interviews in the cafeteria were done, all the
kids and adults present joined together to sing "Happy
Birthday" to Space Camp on the news. After singing,
everyone made a mad rush to the cake.
Both child and adult alike swarmed around the cake, leaving
little left in the end. Thankfully, the logo remained
untouched. It's a good thing, too, as it left the rest of
the staff to joke to Chip about freezing it for him until
the 25th anniversary where he could then take it out and
share it with Space Camp, much like a married couple saves
a piece of their wedding cake to have on their first
anniversary. Then again, they may not have been joking! :-)
After the cake, the party pretty much broke up, and the
news crew moved outside near the Saturn V to further plug
Space Camp's 20th Anniversary. I went with Wes and another
member of the Space Camp staff from the cafeteria into the
bowels of the Space & Rocket Center (okay, well, maybe
not the bowels, but I got to see places in the Space Center
I didn't know were there!) to fetch TOPS, the lovable Space
Camp "mascot!" After donning the TOPS costume, Wes made his
way out to greet the people in TV Land, hoping to bring
them out to the Space Center.
CEO Larry Capps was interviewed once again. Don Phelps's
son can be seen in the red shirt, helping out the news crew
with the broadcast. As I took this particular picture, I
was a bit nervous, as I had just been informed that I was
wanted to go out on camera as well. I guess they figured
the yahoo who came all the way down to Huntsville to join
in the celebration had some PR value. If it helped get even
one more person in the door, I figured it would be
worthwhile, so I had of course agreed to do it. Later on,
they interviewed me outside the entrance to the Training
Center Floor. I heard it made it on to the 10:00pm news,
but I didn't get a chance to see it (oh darn! :-)
As the evening came to a close, Wes was kind enough to take
me down to the Aviation Challenge area and give me a little
tour. It was a great deal of fun, as I got to see parts of
AC I didn't know were there! I thought I had seen most of
the area they use on my way to and from the lake during the
Camp/Academy/ASA, but instead found out that there's much
more to see... including this great view of the AC
tower/lake! After the tour, my evening came to a close. I
went back to my hotel room and waited for Saturday to
arrive...
Saturday, May 25th, 2002 ->
Hab1.com
