ISC 2015 Begins in One Week!

International Space Camp LogoJuly 18 marks the start of the 2015 session of International Space Camp!

It’s just one week away!

Teachers-of-the-Year from around the United States along with two students and one teacher from various countries around the world are in for an experience they won’t soon forget!

The students will attend Advanced Space Academy while the teachers attend Space Camp for Educators.

As usual, things will kick off with the International Space Camp Opening Ceremony, where everyone attending will introduce themselves and their countries.  To see presentations from past events, check out the ISC playlists on the Hab1.com YouTube page!

Ahead of their travels, there’s some news out of a few of the countries regarding their students.

Sarah Callinan, one of the Australian students, was interviewed about her upcoming trip to America.

The New Zealand Herald wrote an article about Grace Jacobs Corban, one of the students coming from NZ.

Finally, the organization that decides who from Austria attends requires students to submit videos as to why they wish to participate.  Both the male and female students, Lukas Traxi and Chiara Martyka, respectively, have their videos available here with the announcement.

100 Year Old Teacher at Space Camp

It appears Space Camp lacked the same level of ambition as Mercedes Fox when they wrote the copy, “For ages 9 to 99.”

Mercedes is attending Space Camp this week at the ripe old age of 100!

This morning the very first Space Camper in orbit, Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger, met with Mercedes and made this tweet:Dottie with Mercedes the 100 Year Old Space Camper

AL.com wrote about Mercedes Fox’s trip to Space Camp as well!

Alumni Festival – Win Two Passes!

Space Camp Alumni Festival LogoSpace Camp and Third Rock Radio are conducting five random drawings.

Those chosen will receive two free, all-access passes to the entirety of the Space Camp Alumni Festival!

Head on over to the contest page at: http://www.spacecamp.com/alumnifestival/contest, enter your info and (maybe) win!

The drawings dates for the tickets are 6/26/2015, 7/3/2015, 7/10/2015, 7/17/2015, and 7/20/2015.

You can enter up until 07/19/2015 and be eligible for any drawings that have yet to take place!

Good luck!

 

Speaking of Third Rock Radio, TRR recently interviewed Space Camp Alumni Advancement Board Chair John Ramsey about the Alumni Festival, and you can listen to that interview online, if you are so inclined.

Help Induct Susanna Phillips into the Space Camp Hall of Fame

Susanna Phillips Performing on StageRegrettably, Susanna Phillips will not be able to attend the Space Camp Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony in person on July 25th.

She has a gig.

If you happen to be in Santa Fe that evening, or on the evening of July 29th, you should definitely check her out at the Santa Fe Opera House as she performs in La Finta Giardiniera.

If you happen to be near New York City this Thursday, June 18th, you should head over to The Juilliard School, Susanna’s alma mater, at 4 pm EDT and help U.S. Space & Rocket Center CEO Deborah Barnhart welcome Susanna formally into the Space Camp Hall of Fame.

Video will be recorded and played back on the evening of the Hall of Fame, much like what was done last year for Sam Cristoforetti, and it would be truly excellent to have as many Space Camp alumni as possible in attendance for the presentation!

If you will be able to make it, please send an email to [email protected] with the subject “NYC Event RSVP.”

Red Bull Gets Wings

Ruth Marie Oliver (Red Bull) on the Roof of the USSRC with the Saturn V in the BackgroundIt’s a sad day at Space Camp today.

The long, impressive tenure of Ruth Marie Oliver, aka Crosswind, aka Ping–but best known as Red Bull–comes to an end today.

For many, many years Ruth has been the one most responsible for making sure the trains run on time down at Aviation Challenge, along with a myriad of other tasks through the years.

Beginning as a counselor, Ruth has worked as management, she has handled writing educational materials, grant writing, etc.  And many of those things and more at the same time!

It’s definitely going to leave a void not soon or easily filled at Space Camp!

But we wish her all the best on her new ventures!

 

 

 

Alumni Festival – Last Chance for Early Bird Pricing

Today is the very last day that current pricing will remain in effect for the Alumni Festival.

Though the sale was originally scheduled to end June 1, the sale was extended an additional week.

After today, the $125 all-access weekend pass will increase in price to $150!

If you’re planning to come, and I hope that you do, it would behoove you to purchase tickets today!

Alumni Festival Banner

Updates from Space Camp Turkey

Uzay Kampi - Space Camp Turkey - Medium LogoIf you’re not following Space Camp Turkey on Facebook or Twitter,  you probably should!

Though Space Camp in Huntsville is the epicenter of, well, Space Camp, Space Camp Turkey has a lot of exciting things going on as well!

They lead the mothership when it comes to number of videos on YouTube; that’s for sure!  They currently feature 81 videos versus Space Camp USA’s 77.

In fact, they’ve recently uploaded a few videos that might be worth some of your time!

Space Camp Turkey has done some remodeling and they’re showing it off with a new promo video!  They also just uploaded an episode from what appears to be a Turkish children’s program, ThÇocuk Kulübü.  The episode is unsurprisingly in Turkish, but still offers an excellent view of Space Camp Turkey!

Where the promo video provides fast cuts of a lot of Space Camp Turkey, this program takes its time and lets you see a lot of their facilities in greater detail.

Four Members Into the 2015 Space Camp Hall of Fame

In addition to the previously announced selection of Kate Rubins, Space Camp today announced the names of the three remaining individuals into the 2015 class of the Space Camp Hall of Fame.

In full, the four new members shall be:

  • Elizabeth Bierman
  • Susanna Phillips
  • Bobak Ferdowsi
  • Dr. Kate Rubins

Elizabeth Bierman is a Senior Project Engineer at Honeywell Aerospace and currently serves as President of the Society of Women Engineers.  You can learn more about her from her bio on the SWE Page, or follow her on Twitter (@SWE_President and @Ekbierman).

Susanna Phillips is an accomplished opera singer who grew up right in Space Camp’s backyard!  She is currently on tour, with quite a busy schedule!  If you are unable to see her induction, she may likely be in your neck of the woods soon!  In the meantime, you can head on over to her homepage, learn more about her, hear her lovely voice, and follow her on Twitter (@sopsus)!

Bobak Ferdowsi is a Systems Engineer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.  A graduate of MIT, Bobak has contributed to both the Cassini-Huygens and Mars Science Laboratory/Curiosity missions, as well as significant contributions to NASA’s public outreach initiatives.  Bobak @tweetsoutloud.

Dr. Kate Rubins joins the growing list of Space Camp alumnae Astronauts.  Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger was the first.  ESA Astronaut (and current ISS occupant) Samantha Cristoforetti was second.  Kate is scheduled to be the next Space Camper in space when she departs for the International Space Station as a Flight Engineer on the Expedition 48/49 crew.  Follow her on Twitter @Astro_Kate7 to see all her updates while she’s in orbit!

Come to the Space Camp Alumni Festival and see their induction in person!

You can read Space Camp’s official press release as well.

2015 Space Camp Hall of Fame Class