Alumni Festival – Last Chance for Early Bird Pricing

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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

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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

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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

It’s Astro-Palooza at the Rocket Center this Summer

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As if the roster of Astronauts confirmed for Space Camp’s Alumni Festival wasn’t enough for you, a number of Astronauts are going to be visiting Space Camp throughout the summer as well!

And you can have lunch with them!

This past Friday, Astronaut Robert “Hoot” Gibson kicked off a summer full of “Lunch with an Astronaut” opportunities at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center, and most Fridays will have one of these lunches through August!

Available for all to attend, here’s the current schedule:

  • May 22 – Wendy Lawrence – Buy Tickets Now
  • June 5 – Bob Springer
  • June 12 – Robert “Hoot” Gibson
  • June 19 – Don Thomas
  • June 26 – Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger
  • July 3 – Jerry Ross
  • July 10 – Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger
  • July 17 – Don Thomas
  • July 24 – Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger
  • July 31 – Robert “Hoot” Gibson
  • August 7 – Wendy Lawrence
  • August 14 – Jerry Ross
  • August 21 – Bob Springer

 

 

Ed Van Cise Speaks to Space Campers

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NASA ISS Flight Director and Space Camp Hall of Fame inductee Ed Van Cise was in Huntsville, Alabama this past week visiting the Marshall Space Flight Center on official NASA business.

Ed was kind enough to take time out of his busy schedule to speak to an auditorium full of enthusiastic Space Campers in the National Geographic Theater at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center!

Watch below or on YouTube as Ed talks about his experiences with Space Camp, life, and NASA, and answers questions from many enthusiastic Space Campers!

Astronaut Kate Rubins Announced to HoF Class of 2015

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Astronaut Kate RubinsAn announcement made this evening has revealed the selection of Astronaut Kate Rubins to the 2015 class of inductees into the Space Camp Hall of Fame!

From Twitter, Michael Flachbart, Space Camp’s Vice President of Center Operations, announced Kate as the first of what will end up as four new members into the Space Camp Hall of Fame!

Like Astronauts Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger and Sam Cristoforetti, Kate is an alumna of Space Camp!

Look for the additional inductees to be announced as the month progresses, and come see their induction ceremony in person on July 25 as part of Space Camp’s Alumni Festival!

Congratulations, Kate!

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