Alumni Festival – July 23-25

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Space Camp Alumni Festival Logo

The Space Camp Hall of Fame, since its inception in 2007, has always made for one very fine evening, celebrating all that is great about Space Camp!

So what could be even better?  How about an entire weekend of alumni activities?

This year, the Space Camp Hall of Fame will be one big component in an even bigger weekend!

And it’s astronaut-palooza, to boot!

No fewer than seven astronauts are scheduled to be on hand, include Space Camp Hall of Fame inductees Robert “Hoot” Gibson and Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger!

The full schedule of events, along with ticketing information, can be found on the Alumni Festival page, but the highlights are as follows:

July 25

Events kick off on Thursday night with the weekly Biergarten event.  Eat some schnitzel, drink some beer, and be merry!

July 26

Volunteers have been busily working on restoring the F-14 down at Aviation Challenge and Friday afternoon will hold its rededication.  F-14 Top Gun pilots, Scott “Scooter” Altman and Robert “Hoot” Gibson will be on hand!

The rest of the day can be spent in the water at AC, or testing your mettle on Aviation Challenge simulators.  Later in the evening hang out with other alumni by the pool at the Marriott.

July 27

The morning starts off with an alumni breakfast, followed by time in Space Camp simulators.

At 4pm, Astronaut Dr. Rhea Seddon will discuss her time at NASA and her new book, Go for Orbit.  Afterwords, she’ll be available to sign copies.

Immediately after, the Space Camp Hall of Fame will welcome its class of 2015, with a concert in Shuttle Park immediately following the proceedings!

This is shaping up to be the largest alumni event ever!  If you’ve been repeatedly putting off plans to visit Space Camp, your time has come.  This is surely the weekend to come back home!

But if you can’t make it (what?!), fear not!  You can still participate, at least a little.  In addition to the charity auction at the Hall of Fame, this year will see items up on eBay for anyone to bid on!  Look for more information as Alumni Weekend draws closer!

STA Breaks Ground!

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It’s been just a few days north of a year since the Space & Rocket Center’s very first crowdsourcing campaign, Land a Shuttle Training Aircraft at the Space & Rocket Center, successfully raised $71,340 from 307 donors on Indiegogo in an effort to bring a Shuttle Training Aircraft to the Space & Rocket Center.

Things have been pretty quiet since!

Though the last status update to the campaign was made ten months ago, things haven’t been completely at a standstill.

In fact, just the other day, they finally broke ground!  It was a long journey to get to this point, to be sure, but things are progressing!

No word yet on whether or not the aircraft will be here in time for the Alumni Festival in July, but there is hope!

Groundbreaking for STA

RIP Oscar Holderer, 1919-2015

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SC Hall of Fame 2008 Inductee Oscar HoldererOscar Holderer, member of Wernher von Braun’s team, died today, May 5, 2015.  He was 95 years old.

Oscar was a great friend to Space Camp over the years, for it was he who designed many of the simulators in use at Space Camp, including the 1/6 Chair, 5DF, and Multi-Axis Trainer.

In 2008, Oscar was honored for his contribution with his induction into the Space Camp Hall of Fame.

Visitation and remembrances will take place from 2 to 4pm on Friday, May 8, 2015 at the Spry Funeral Home in Huntsville, AL.

Obituary

View Oscar’s Space Camp Hall of Fame induction videos:

 

Second Annual Rover Challenge Starts Tomorrow

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NASA Rover Challenge LogoThe second annual NASA Human Exploration Rover Challenge begins tomorrow!  Though the race is only in its second year, it is a direct continuation of the “Great Moonbuggy Race,” which ran for twenty years at the Space & Rocket Center before its renaming last year.

As usual, if you can’t make it out to the Space Center, be sure to check in on the race on MSFC’s UStream channel, and/or follow their twitter feed.

 

Your Counselor’s a Real Hoot!

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Hoot Gibson CounselorA few lucky campers are going to get to train like an Astronaut by an Astronaut!

No, it’s not Andie or Zach Bergstrom, it’s better!

With five Space Shuttle missions under his belt, a Space Camp Hall of Fame induction, time as a Southwest pilot, Naval Aviator, and former Cheif Astronaut,  Robert “Hoot” Gibson is about to add another job to his resume: Space Camp Counselor.

Registration for Hoot’s October Adult ASA session clocks in at $1649, plus the requisite let’s-make-the-camp-look-cheaper-and-then-add-$50 registration fee.  The price seems like a bargain to many, as registration appeared to have filled up today, though the system is now again spots available, as of this posting.  Whether there was just a glitch or they opened up another team (Hoot is really going to be ambitious if he’s pulling team doubles) is unclear.  Regardless, if you’re interested, you would be wise to sign up sooner rather than later.

To attend this rare Adult ASA session with Space Camp’s many fine-but-alas-not-astronaut counselors, tuition clocks in at a mere $1299.

This is the very first time in quite some time that the full Advanced Space Academy program has been offered to adults, so seize the opportunity!

Registration can start by heading over to spacecamp.com.

USSRC Turns 45!

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The Alabama Space & Rocket Center opened its doors 40 years ago today, on March 17, 1970!

Head on over to their Facebook page and see the wonderful video advertisement they posted from the early years!

And if you’re local, join in the celebration at this week’s Biergarten event and walk through a photographic retrospective showing what a wonderful forty-five years it has been!

Happy Birthday!

Bon Voyage, Charity!

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Charity Nehls Stewart Speaking at a Social Media SummitIt’s the end of an era.

Today is the very last day of Charity Nehls Stewart’s employment with the U.S. Space & Rocket Center!

While you may or may not know the name, if you follow any of Space Camp’s social media accounts, you certainly know her work!

For the past four years, Charity has been the Space Center’s Advertising and Social Media Director, but her time working at Space Camp stretches back over a decade, all the way to 2004 when she started out as a counselor!

Off to bigger and better things, we wish her all the best!

While it’s likely to take several people at the Space Center to cover her duties, I certainly don’t envy them.  Those are awfully big shoes to fill! I wish them all the best as well!

Welcome New Counselors!

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New year, new crew trainers!

Tonight saw the induction of several dozen excited new individuals into the ranks of counselordom!

I had the privilege of attending the auspicious occasion, joined by Space Camp Hall of Fame inductees Burke Hare and Dr. Michelle Thaller!  It’s always exciting to see a new crop of counselors, along with many veteran counselors cross-training, ready to embark on exciting new adventures, leaving their mark on Space Camp and Space Campers!

January 2015 Counselors

January 2015 Counselors

Their in for the time of their lives!

Best wishes and luck!  Make the most of an incredible opportunity!  And enjoy effectively getting paid to play!

Have fun!

Space Camp Flies with Orion

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Space Campers, MSFC employees, and members of the general public gathered at the Davidson Center on Thursday and Friday mornings to view the successful launch and landing splashdown of the Orion test vehicle.

Crowd Gathers in 3D Theatre to Watch Orion

Along with your name and mine, NASA flew some Space Camp artifacts too!

Space Camp Stuff Flies on Orion - Display Case

Basically a nice “one of everything” collection of the various awards given out at Space Camp and Aviation Challenge graduation along with five Disappointed Astronaut Dad patches.

Another Alumna in Space!

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Sam CristoforettiWith the successful flight of Soyuz TMA-15M, Sam Cristoforetti becomes the second Space Camp alumna to leave the planet!

Sam was honored at this year’s Space Camp Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, the entirety of which is now available for viewing.

At the very least, take a look at her introduction video as well as her acceptance remarks, the latter of which was filmed in Houston, TX whilst in the middle of training for her Expedition 42 journey.

You can follow Sam’s adventures on Twitter @AstroSamantha.

She paid Space Camp a visit early last year, speaking to a group of Space Campers and museum visitors.  Watch those remarks here!

Way to go, Sam!