The dinner was awesome, and the first alumni session is going FANTASTIC.

Area 51 just happened. This was my first time on the new course! It is excellent. The old one was great and this one is even better!

But now I have to get back into the thick of it! More to come later!

The wait is over!

The first group of friends, alumni, and staff to be inducted into the fame was announced today!

Here's the list:

Wernher von Braun
Ed Buckbee
Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger
Georg von Tiesenhausen
Dan Oates
Amanda Stubblefield
James Rice
Penny Pettigrew

An article from the Huntsville Times can be read online and it gives a short overview of everyone's backgrounds (though I hope you know who Wernher von Braun is).

Congratulations to the inductees!

Come in person to the Hall of Fame event and see them inducted! Hear Shatner sing! Get your tickets soon!

Pardon the length of time for getting this out, but the April Alumni Newsletter has been released. I swear, a guy can't move down to Huntsville without tons of stuff happening. This was one of them.

Brian Matney, another Hab1-er is the featured alumnus this month. Amongst other achievements, Brian is the one responsible for THAT team patch. The one example that counselors always highlight when discussing mission patches. Read the article for a view of it. You're bound to go "Ohhh...THAT patch!"

The newsletter also features news on the 25th anniversary activities and a nice educator camp piece. Again, go read!

And this reminder is to say that any and all remaining nominations you plan to submit for someone to be considered for entrance into the Space Camp Hall of Fame must be submitted by March 31, one week from today.

The Space Camp Alumni Newsletter for March is available now.

Highlights include an overview of the festivities planned thus far for Space Camp's 25th as well as Robert Pearlman, founder of collectSPACE.com, as the featured alumnus.

I've been late in getting this one out. My apologies.

Alumni Andi was back last week to disclose the final plans for the 25th Anniversary Hall of Fame Event.

Though not yet the official word from above, I'm willing to bet it's accurate.

Details from the posting: It'll be downtown at the von Braun Civic Center. Tickets will be $100 for alumni who purchase by May 13th and $150 for the general public. Tickets will be available at the museum front desk, through reservations, and online.

I guess they decided to go big and, I assume, black tie with this! Should be a fun night!

Cooler still is the Alumni Banquet they'll be holding on June 16th with MAXQ playing the gig! Tickets for that will be $35. If you're signed up for the alumni camp that weekend, you're golden.

Finally, there was a rather disturbing piece of her post that essentially said that people such as Ed Buckbee and Dr. von Teisenhausen have not yet been nominated for the Hall of Fame!

They will of course need at least one person to nominate them to be considered. In all fairness, one would have thought a select few would have been above the standard nomination rules...apparently not!

So, let's do this in an organized fashion. Go read her post, look at some of the names she's mentioned. If you know the name and go, like I did, "Oh gosh! I can't believe XYZ-person might not make it in," then go and nominate them and then come back and post here. I wouldn't worry too much about the address and such...I'm willing to bet they know how to get hold of most of them.

I'll start with Ed Buckbee.

Andi, you can expect my form within a few days as it will be going out in the mail today.

By the way, and this is just an aside, did you know Ed Buckbee is listed in the phone book?! That seemed really wild to me! To paraphrase heavily a line from a movie, the guy that founded Space Camp shouldn't be in the phonebook. He should be on Mars or Neptune somewhere.

Anyway, that's one down.

Alumni Andi has returned with a lot of great new information! Be sure to check out her MySpace site for all the new info.

First up, the 25th Anniversary flags have returned from NASA! All 249 flags that were flown on STS-116 were delivered to the Space & Rocket Center recently. They will now be mounted in their shiny displays and given to select individuals and contributors.

Of course, one way to get yours is to send in an entry to the #1 Space Camp Fan contest. As a reminder, entries must be postmarked by March 30th.

March is upon us and I wanted to make this post to remind y'all (I'm prepping for my return to Huntsville) that both the Hall of Fame Nominations as well as the #1 Space Camp Fan entries are due by the end of this month!

One month left! Hurry!

The February Alumni Newsletter is out now, for your enjoyment. Go check it out!

Speaking of the newsletters, the January Alumni Newsletter's "Alumni Spotlight" section featured none other than me, myself, and Hab1.com (I was shocked too)!

I would like to thank Holley Gautney for the excellent write-up! And whoever had the idea of putting me in there in the first place, thanks!

That, for the record, was Space Camp's first public acknowledgment of our little slice of the internet.

On a somewhat related note, while I'm on the subject, I have been pleased to see their recent efforts to keep their alumni engaged.

I think the repeat attendance it leads to can be (and is) a core pillar in keeping Space Camp financially healthy. I've said many times that this site is only around because Space Camp needed it (granted, I did too) but wouldn't do it. Congratulations, Jason!

Finally, I missed mentioning earlier that the HabForum's own Jason Schreck was the featured alumni in the December Alumni Newsletter for, amongst other achievements, his good work at the NASA Langley museum.

Space Camp has released information regarding the Space Camp Hall of Fame induction.

To get someone in, here are the criteria and how to nominate them...from the website:

1. 
   
2. Nominations: A nomination for induction into the SPACE CAMP Hall of Fame may be submitted by any Alumni or friend of the U.S. Space & Rocket Center. A nominee must meet the criteria in one of the following categories (nominee may meet criteria for multiple categories) :
   
   • 
     
   • SPACE CAMP Alumnus : A former graduate of any SPACE CAMP and/or AVIATION CHALLENGE program. Must be at least 21 years of age and must have graduated from the program at least five (5) years prior to date of nomination. Nominees must be, or have been a credit to himself and the SPACE CAMP programs and have distinguished him/her self in their chosen professional field. The inductee may be either living or deceased.
   • 
     
   • SPACE CAMP Counselor/Staff : A nominee must have been a member of the professional staff (including counselor, support staff) for at least 1 full season but that has retired or left the employ of the U.S. Space & Rocket Center at least 3 years prior to nomination. Must have distinguished him/her self by demonstrating exceptional leadership, character, and achievement in his/her chosen professional field. The inductee may be living or deceased.
   • 
     
   • SPACE CAMP Friend : Any person who has been a loyal and devoted supporter of the U.S. Space & Rocket Center and/or SPACE CAMP for a minimum of 5 years. The inductee may be either living or deceased.
   • 
     
   
   
3. How many to be inducted: No more than ten (10) nominees from across all of the categories may be inducted in any given year.
4. 
   
5. Selection Process: A nine-member selection committee made up of friends of the U.S. Space & Rocket Center will make selection of each year's inductees.
6. 
   
7. Nomination Form: should solicit the following information from nominator:
   
   • 
     
   • Candidate Name (Maiden Name if applicable); Address; Phone
   • Dates Attended and/or Employed
   • Nominated by; Phone
   • Outstanding Achievements while attending/employed
   • Personal/Professional Achievements to date in chosen professional field. (Where are they now?)
   • 
     
   
   
8. 
   

No word on when nominations are due, so I would suggest you error on the side of caution and get them in sooner rather than later.

In honor of the 25th Anniversary, Space Camp is having a contest to determine just who is the #1 Space Camp fan!

The prizes are excellent, including VIP treatment at the 25th Anniversary events in June!

All you have to do is make a 3-5 minute video explaining just what makes you Space Camp's (or Aviation Challenge's) number one fan!

You can download the rules and entry form here.

The deadline for submission is March 30, 2007.

Finally, here's an idea, if you're stuck thinking of something:

Make a video of yourself getting the Space Camp or Aviation Challenge logo tattooed on your arm or something! That's gotta show you're a pretty big fan of Space Camp.

You know, not that I seriously considered doing that myself for even a minute...Really!

Space Camp has been soliciting alumni photos for some time now. They've gone and posted some now!

You can view them on the Alumni Photo Gallery and submit your own photos as well!

This is really old news that I have been incredibly negligent to have not posted sooner, but Brent Simon has been making rounds on the internet for months now with his "Space Camp" song.

What should be the true Space Camp theme song, here's the original:



Well, he's been appearing on real shows as well (the G4 network, for example).

But, as Alumni Andi recently pointed out, he just made an appearance on Live with Jimmy Kimmel to sing "Space Camp!"



Alumni Andi's comments were most amusing as well:

Consider this, with the flood of 25th Anniversary excitement is there anyone that can compete with Brent's display of SPACE CAMP LOVE in the upcoming #1 Space Camp Fan contest?

If it's going to take getting on the Jimmy Kimmel show to win the contest, I would say everyone has their work cut out for them! But the results should be quite interesting!

I'm so late on this one, but thought it was still definitely worth mentioning.

Charity Nehls was recently revealed as the one who has been putting the effort into the myspace page. Along with that site, she along with many others have been preparing for the 25th anniversary celebration.

I'm sure it's going to be one great time. And she hopes (like I hope) to see everyone there!

Alumni Andi is you and me, but pull back the curtain and there is Charity Nehls doing all the work for our cause: this site, this anniversary, for each of us. She works in Planning and Logistics at the USSRC making all the schedules and duty rosters, so that camp will run well. She is a 3 time alumni, Right Stuff recipient, and lover of Space Camp!

Update: It has come to my attention from this recent blog post that Charity Nehls may not have been happy with my choice of photo. While I felt that she looked perfectly lovely in the photo I chose to post, I will admit that it is a few years old. And if I were luckily enough to be someone who happens to grow more beautiful as time goes on, I too might be upset. So this is understandable. In the interests of good diplomacy, I have replaced the photo circa 2004 with the more patriotic one as presented in the blog.

So there seems to be some mystery surrounding the identy of Alumni Andi and her MySpace alumni page.

Apparently once 200 people add her as a friend, all will be revealed. In the meantime, a photo is to be released (I can only guess it will be shot from afar or something).

So I am going to post a picture of myself tomorrow. Since I will be passing through Huntsville, where would the group like to see me at?

Regardless, head on over, either to add a new MySpace friend or to suggest where the photo should be taken from!

Even if you don't want to sign up for a MySpace account, I would like to stress that you should definitely go check out the Space Camp "Alumni Andy" page!

The blog is an especially good read (and not just because this site was mentioned)!

In it are some very good details (with many more to come, I'm sure, so keep reading) including:

Space Camp has registered spacecampalumni.com to reach out to alumni (it's about time...they have a start, at least).

Also, there's a sweepstakes you can enter to get a free trip to camp (or a shiny 25th anniversary rubber bracelet, at the very least).

But you'll have to visit the blog for that link!

In what has surely been a long time coming, Space Camp now has an astronaut to truly call its own!

Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger who is one of the new batch of astronauts also attended Space Camp!

To be more specific, I believe she attended Space Academy for Educators in 1990...the details have been a little unclear.

Regardless, it's nice to finally have one! While it may have taken twenty-two years for it to happen, such a thing certainly was inevitable!

Recently crowned Miss New Mexico and two time Advanced Space Academy alumnus Jenna Hardin will be competing on Monday in the Miss USA Pageant!

The pageant will air on NBC Monday night starting at 9:00PM Eastern Daylight Time. A special Miss USA FearFactor will be on right before that, but I don't believe they've announced which women have been chosen to participate.

Watch and support your fellow Space Camper! Also, during the pageant, make sure you visit the Miss USA website and vote for Miss New Mexico for the "Miss Photogenic Award!" The online votes will be tallied and announced at the end of the competition. So be sure to go vote!

And to find out just how she got involved in such a crazy event, see here.

Update: Jenna's made it into the top 15!
Update:And she was just robbed, not making it into the top 10. Tough break indeed!