Teacher Frederik Gunther and students Eivind Roson and Nina Lisa Nordskag of Norway decided to get the audience involved this year by teaching the art of dance. Overall, I think it was very well received, even if the audience didn’t exactly pick up on all of the steps!

I would also like to take this opportunity to disparage the Canon PowerShot SD960 IS camera. It's not very good....Sorry about the quality of the video. I’ll try to have better equipment next year. Sadly, all of this year’s videos are going to be a bit out of focus. *sigh*

International Space Camp got off to a great start this evening with its annual opening ceremony!

International Space Camp 2010 has officially begun!

Here I present to you the opening procession. Enjoy!

Students and teachers have flown all over the world to a sleepy mill town, Huntsville, Alabama for a week at Space Camp!

International Space Camp begins this evening with the opening ceremony is scheduled for 5pm in the Davidson Center Theater.

As always, delegates from each country will do some sort of opening presentation to educate the audience about their culture. And there are always some very funny presentations. As always, I’ll get as much video and post the ones I like best!

In addition to the international visitors, the Teachers of the Year from each of the 50 states and territories are invited to come to camp. The National Teacher of the Year will be here as well. This year’s National Teacher of the Year is Sarah Brown Wessling from Johnston High School in Johnston, Iowa.

I can’t wait to see the costumes and presentations!

I do hope our international guests enjoy their time this week!

Well, the 2009 session of International Space Camp has come to a close. I’m sure students and teachers alike had a wonderful time and are on their way back to their home countries with some great memories and new friends.

Continuing with footage from the opening ceremony, Austrian teacher Philipp Schindegger and students Clea Kline and Stephan Pehr gave a nice overview of their wonderful country and, despite some technical difficulties with the music, danced quite well.

Enjoy!

Another of my favorites from this year’s International Space Camp opening ceremony was Norway.

In this video, Teacher Lodve Brastad and students Karn Kjerstad and Andreas Rosholt of Norway display their fine dancing, instrumental, and acrobatic skills in this very entertaining introduction.

The International Space Camp participants all performed wonderfully at the Opening Ceremonies for International Space Camp 2009 that was held yesterday evening.

Over the course of the next week, while the kids and teachers enjoy their week at Space Camp, I’ll be posting some of my favorite performances from the Opening Ceremony.

First off is probably my favorite from the evening.

Teacher Barbara Burtscher and her student, Stefanie Lang, gave a funny performance. Barbara had a slice of Swiss Cheese on her head after all! That alone deserves some credit!

Enjoy!

International Space Camp 2009 started off with a bang last night as twenty countries from around the world introduced themselves in the Davidson Center 3D Theater.

Noticeably absent from this year’s festivities were several teams. Canada, Costa Rica, Denmark, South Korea, and England have all had delegations in prior years.

But there were some new faces from last year. Argentina, Finland, India, and Slovakia had delegations this year whereas last year they did not.

The full list of countries attending this year is as follows:

• Argentina
• Australia
• Austria
• Belgium
• Brazil
• Czech Republic
• Finland
• Germany
• Greece
• Hungary
• India
• Netherlands
• New Zealand
• Norway
• Portugal
• Singapore
• Slovakia
• Switzerland
• Turkey
• United Arab Emirates

I hope the children and teachers alike have a fantastic time this year at International Space Camp!

International Space Camp 2009 begins this weekend! Already students and teachers from around the world are en route, and kids and teachers from all over the world will be descending upon the U.S. Space & Rocket Center by Saturday Morning.

No doubt the fine staff of Space Camp and the U.S. Space & Rocket Center are working hard to make sure International Space Camp goes off without a hitch and is an experience our international friends won’t soon forget!

The International Space Camp Opening Ceremony has to be, by far, one of my most favorite things.

The Opening Ceremony is scheduled for 5pm in the Davidson Center theater.

Each year, the students and teachers from each country spend a few minutes to introduce the audience to their place of origin. The presentations are always educational and are often truly quite funny!

I can’t wait to see what this year’s groups have in store!

Keep checking back as I’ll once again post my favorite countries’ presentations!

The Netherlands came to International Space Camp 2008 not in what might be thought of as traditional dress for the Dutch (namely clothes that look good when worn near windmills), but rather dressed in attire better suited to the modern soccer-hooligan Dutch.

Go Orange Crush!

First up from the International Space Camp opening ceremony international presentations is Australia.

The Ausses decided to help the rest of the world decode their “English,” and that was mighty kind of them!

This past Saturday opened International Space Camp 2008!

Here I present to you the opening procession.

A few things to keep in mind:

1) Not only are international students and teachers invited to International Space Camp, but the United States Teachers of the Year from all states and territories come as well, including the overall teacher of the year.

2) It is customary for the international students and teachers to dress up in native attire (and thus the Canadians come in jeans and a hockey sweater), the teachers from all of the states dress up so as to represent some facet of their state.

2) The teacher of the year this year was Michael Geisen.

3) Michael Geisen led the group. He’s the first one in.

Well done indeed, sir!

ISC kicked off this morning for America’s Teachers of the Year as well as the international teachers with a presentation by Christa McAuliffe’s mother, Grace Corrigan.

Grace is an absolutely wonderful lady who continually does her daughter’s memory proud by speaking to groups around the country about her daughter and what she strived for as both a teacher and an astronaut.

It was absolutely wonderful to hear her speak. Grace was also kind enough to autograph for the teachers copies of one of her books, A Journal for Christa: Christa McAuliffe, Teacher in Space.

But that was just in the morning. Later that day, during lunch, the teachers were able to hear five-time shuttle astronaut Robert “Hoot” Gibson speak about both his early days flying jets off of aircraft carriers in the Navy as well as each of his missions in space.

Hoot is a real upstanding guy, personable and easy going. It’s really great how often he comes down to Space Camp to speak to both kids and adults alike.

And all of this excitement at International Space Camp 2008 before the opening ceremony!

It will no doubt be quite a week for everyone involved!

After last weekend’s events, there’s no rest of the possibly-weary staff of the Space Center. They worked really hard to make sure last weekend’s festivities were fantastic and they’re no doubt working just as hard to make sure that the 2008 International Space Camp opening ceremony goes off without a hitch this Saturday, July 26 at 5pm.

The International Space Camp Opening Ceremony has to be, by far, one of my most favorite things.

Last year, the opening ceremony was held in the Educator Training Facility. I imagine it will either be there again this year or, perhaps more likely, in the Davidson Center. If it’s the latter, I can’t imagine them not letting the public attend as there’s more than enough room to accommodate everyone that would show. If it isn’t open to the public, sneak in (just kidding).

Worry not though, just like last year, I plan to be on hand to get as much video as possible. And, just like last year, I’ll be posting my favorite presentations right here!

Space Camp Turkey is looking for counselors for the Summer 2008 season. It'd be a heck of an adventure! And an excellent, safe way to get great experience living and working in another country! And, if you think about it, it's a pretty inexpensive way to spend an entire Summer abroad!

Check out the ad:

I just received an email the other day from one of the members of the International Space Camp 2007 Norwegian delegation, Kim. Prior to his visit to Space Camp, he found his way to the HabForum and was able to have many of his questions answered.

His letter brought a smile to my face and I wanted to post it here as I think it will bring a smile to yours as well.

Hi!

I just wanted to say that your site helped me a lot in preparing for International Space Camp, especially about what to expect what to bring and stuff. I didn't know you were at the opening ceremony, and it was a pleasant surprise to see some of the presentations when I came home.

I was part of the delegation from Norway, you may remember me being dressed in a national costume mostly black in color. Our presentation was not as good as I hoped for, mainly because we never rehearsed or had much time to discuss it beforehand. We were planning to create it on the plane across the atlantic, but then our teacher had to take a separate flight. Nevertheless I hope Torgeir as King Olav of Norway taught you a bit about old Norwegian culture and history as it was a major event in my country's history.

The opening ceremony was great! It was so fun and interesting seeing all the US teachers and then the international delegations. I really liked the running gag with "best beaches in the world" which I think even our viking mentioned.

The rest of the week was even better! I was part of Team Oberth, and was designated as a PLT, just what I hoped for! Our counselors were also great. My daytime counselor was Ellie Hattery, and nighttime was Percy Goode. I can't imagine a better pair of leaders for our team. They got along very well with everyone and I never experienced any of them in a bad mood or being bossy, they were more like members of the team rather than just people telling us what to do, and when to do it.

I also got to be CDR for the second part of our EDM. We had a thinking anomaly with a fuel cell that we regrettably never got fixed, but we managed every other anomaly. I was also very satisfied with the landing, I hit right on the centerline, even though I came in a bit low and touched down a little early.

Another thing I really enjoyed was High Ropes, and Area 51. Those truly bonded the team closer together and I think it made us work better together later on. And of course the slidewire after cimbing the wall was awesome.

Oberth also won the space bowl, and the team mostly meant that was my achievement. Our last question was something like this "These three astronauts on this Apollo-mission did not know what hit their rocket during launch". That's easy, I thought! So we scribbled down the answer and at graduation we were announced as winners.

I also won the Right Stuff-award. That was a surprising moment, but one I really appreciated nonetheless.

Next year I think I'll go back to space camp, but then I'll of course have to pay for it myself. Nevertheless I think it's worth it, and I look forward to seeing the Saturn V and Pathfinder once again.

Sorry for going on abouit this, have a great day!

Best wishes,
Kim Spildrejorde

He later wanted to add:

Of course I can't forget Mouse, who had to put up with all of us on our first day at the camp, before the opening ceremony. He was great, and I had a really great time that day, learning my way around and checking out the museum. Putting me in the museum was like putting a kid in a candy store!

I still have many impressions to digest from the camp, and I feel extremely fortunate to have been given this opportunity to see so many people from different countries, each with their own culture, and then learning to work closely together with them as a team. I think at the end we didn't even think about the fact that we were all from different places in the world. We just went along very well.

Indeed this is part of the magic that is Space Camp / Aviation Challenge. I think Kim captured it wonderfully.

The last ISC clip I intend to show here should, I hope, put another smile on your face.

The delegates from China decided as part of their presentation to perform a very traditional, very ancient Chinese song.

I can't stress enough how edu-taining all of the international visitors' presentations were. Having said that, here is what made the New Zealand team, in my opinion, the best presentation of the lot:



Speaking of which, in the spirit of a good international ribbing, I'd like to share with you the best (and only) New Zealand joke I've ever heard. It's really sort of an addendum to the kids' presentation:

New Zealand is home to 14 million sheep, 4 million of which are under the impression they are people.

I'd worry that those rugby hooligans would storm my door, but by the time their flight would have landed, 22 hours later, they'd be too tired to care!

By the way, I know things have been getting pretty video happy around here as of late. But I really love the ISC opening ceremony! And stories of the events never seem to do it justice.

Though I don't expect them to be this numerous the rest of the year, do expect a jump in quality in the future (assuming YouTube isn't the only limiting factor) as a shiny new camera has just been acquired!

International Space Camp 2007 is on day two now. As promised here is another video from the Opening Ceremony.

This video shows the best bit of Belgium's presentation as they played their national anthem.

Check back later for New Zealand!

International Space Camp 2007 started with bang this evening quite literally as fireworks were set off to mark the occasion.

Preceding the fireworks was the International Space Camp Opening Ceremonies.

After the procession of teachers and foreign visitors, the event kicked off with comments from U.S. Space & Rocket Center CEO, Larry Capps.

The 2007 Teacher of the Year, Andrea Peterson, was then invited on stage to provide her remarks. The United States Teachers of the Year representing the 50 states, District of Columbia, and various territories were then brought up one-by-one to introduce themselves and briefly provide some information about where they are from. Despite some quibbles about who had the nicest beaches (Florida, Hawaii, the North Mariana Islands, etc. -- it was all in good fun), the teachers were dressed up in outfits appropriate to their origins and proved to be quite entertaining.

After the teachers from the United States were done, my favorite part of the opening ceremonies began. As I said last week, the visiting nations always give short presentations to educate the audience about where they come from. They're always informative and are often very funny. This year didn't disappoint.

Students and teachers from the following countries all got up to tell the audience a little about their country:

Australia Austria Belgium Canada China Costa Rica Czech Republic Denmark Finland France Germany

Greece Hungary The Netherlands New Zealand Norway Portugal Republic of Korea Russia Singapore Switzerland Turkey

I promise to get more video up soon, but for the moment, I will provide you with one or my favorite ones from the ceremony. Switzerland didn't come with a teacher in tow. As such, they were able to do this sketch:

Hab1.com bids welcome to all of the students and teachers from around the country and the world. Enjoy the week!

I thought I would mention that the 2007 session of International Space Camp begins this Saturday, July 21, with the opening ceremony. That means that in a few short days, visitors from around the world will arrive at Space Camp to take part in an what should be quite an exciting week!

I'm really looking forward to the event as delegates from each country always do some sort of opening presentation to educate the audience about their culture.

During the opening ceremony of International Space Camp in 2004, the Belgium contingent gave the most excellent of presentations.

So in honor of ISC 2007, I thought I would share with you their presentation from 2004. I do still laugh every time I watch this video.

Space Camp Turkey has launched a shiny new website to better show its visitors what an accessible camp it is for those in Southeast Europe and Southwest Asia.

It's quite a nice site. I would encourage everyone to go check it out to see what the world's most readily accessible International Space Camp is up to, especially if you think you might want to work there this Summer.

Whatever plans you've been making for this Summer (other than visiting Huntsville for the 25th), you should cancel them and travel abroad instead!

Space Camp Turkey is now hiring counselors for the 2007 Summer season. It's a tremendous opportunity to visit far away lands. And you get all the comforts of being at Space Camp for the Summer, to take the edge off of the unfamiliar territory.

Take a look at and download the advert here.

And you can contact Beth at Space Camp Turkey if you're interested or have any questions.

Finally, if you want the perspective of a camper who has been working at SCT for several Summers running (including this upcoming one), you can talk to Matthew Danner in the HabForum (or email him).

While Space Camp periodically has an astronaut or two drop by for a vist, Space Camp Turkey has seen its share of astronauts as well.

Cosmonaut Dorin Prunariu and astronaut Shannon Lucid made appearances this past August and, most recently, astronaut Steve Lindsey stopped by.

He won't be the last though. Space Camp Turkey will be seeing more visits from the space-faring portion of our population next year!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

And, since it is Turkey time, I thought I would mention that Space Camp Turkey is also looking for employees for the 2006 Summer season.

So give the advert a perusal and think about applying for the job. I'm sure they'd love to have you as a member of Space Camp Turkey!

And you'll be in good company there! For one, Mdanner423 from the HabForum did it last Summer and he enjoyed it so much, he may very well be back this coming Summer!

Matthew Danner has again updated his blog detailing more adventures from Space Camp Turkey!

Go take a look

From his most recent update:

Three new counselors have arrived: Connie, Jon and Audrey. Connie arrived a little over a week ago, Audrey arrived this week and Jon just arrived today. Connie is from California, Jon is from Canada and Audrey is from California. Audrey and Connie are former Space Camp California Counselors.

Space Camp Turkey is still in need of two counselors: one female and one male. It's not too late to work with a lot of great people at Space Camp and possibly influence the lives of great campers throughout the world!

If you're interested, you should get in contact with Beth Mitchell immediately!

For some more information, you can read the job advert and see the official job description.

And if you're considering it but are unsure of travelling all the way to Turkey, do yourself a favor and watch this video about Space Camp Turkey (it's 79MB and you'll need the Divx codec installed on your computer)!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

And, speaking of which, Space Camp Turkey is looking for employees for the 2005 season.

You can find the advert for the job here and a full job description here.

So think about applying for the job. I'm sure they'd love to have you as a member of Space Camp Turkey!

Not to mention:
1) You get to work at Space Camp
2) It would be a great opportunity to see more of the world!
3) You get to work at Space Camp

I've updated the campers' sites links section with a link to the webpage for International Space Camp 2000.

Enjoy!