During the 25th anniversary, Space Camp issuedmonthlynewslettersin order toupdate newsletter receipients as to what was going on. Another feature was a featured alumnus and what they were up to in the present day.
Space Camp seems on the verge of doing at least the latter again and needs your help!
If you or someone you know would like to be a featured alumnus, please email the following to [email protected]:
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Name
Job Title
Job Description
Schooling/ Path to get to this job
Year/Years attended Space Camp
Impact Camp had on their career
Biio- anything you would like to add about yourself
Comments Off on Space Camp offers “Behind the Scenes” Tours
Remember way back when, back when the Training Center Floor used to look like this:
The training center was nice and open and, perhaps most importantly, it was easily viewable by museum visitors as they walked between the museum and Shuttle Park.
How many kids do you think went to Camp over the years because their parents foolishly let them gaze upon the wondrous things that would await them if only they could convince their parents to send them to Space Camp?
Fortunately, Space Camp put a stop to that when they erected the dark glass between the TCF and the walkway and moved all of the non-shuttle simulators out of the TCF and into the Astrotrek building, place large objects that would obscure the view where dark glass would prove impractical.
The Training Center Floor MCC and assorted simulators won’t be getting more easily photographable anytime soon, but parts of Space Camp will be available to what is perhaps the next best thing: tours!
On their Facebook page today, the USSRC announced they would have a “Space Camp Behind the Scenes” tour. From the looks of the posted photo, several tours will be offered per day and visitors to the Center can go get a glimpse at what Space Camp is all about.
Unfortunately, the MCC won’t be a stop on the tour as there’s not enough room for campers and tour groups they don’t want to interrupt ongoing missions, but other areas previously inaccessible to the public will be on the tour.
If a tour is scheduled for a time when the UAT is not in use, I would really recommend taking people up there to see the TCF MCC. It would provide a great view and you can discuss the shuttle missions (and upcoming Mars/Lunar missions) from there.
It’s not a perfect solution, but it’s a welcome addition that should benefit Space Camp’s enrollment numbers as time goes on.
Fred Haise will visit the Space & Rocket Center next Friday, March 18, 2011.
USSRC members received notification today:
Join us on Friday, March 18, 2011, at the Davidson Center for Space Exploration as the U.S. Space and Rocket Center’s Passing the Torch Lecture Series presents Fred Haise, Apollo 13 astronaut. Doors open at 6:00pm. 7:00pm presentation of Overcoming Challenges followed by excerpts from the Apollo 13 movie with commentary by Fred Haise. Refreshments will be available for purchase.
Advance tickets are available to members only at a discounted price of $20 each until Friday March 11th, 2011, at 5:00pm. Tickets will then be available to the public at $25. Please go to http://www.spacecamp.com/store/haise to purchase your tickets. Your email confirmation will serve as your ticket, and we will have a Will Call list at the door. If you have questions please contact Member Services at 256-721-7155.
There you have it. Come on down to the Davidson Center for a nice, casual Friday evening with Fred Haise!
Venerable astronaut and great friend to Space Camp, Robert “Hoot” Gibson will be answering your questions on Twitter live during the launch of STS-133 today!
Tag your question #askhoot on Twitter.
You can see the questions get answered on “Space Camp Live.”
The USSRC Facebook group also posted twomore photos for your viewing pleasure.
And they want help naming them.
Space Camp is adding a new simulated mission and we would like your help. There are 5 new components to the mission and we want you to submit suggestions for their names. The parts include: habitat space, lab space, and of course the new lander. So let us know what names you would like to see us use. Next week we will put up a vote of the top ones!
If you have any naming suggestions, feel free to drop them a line on Facebook.
I would love to make a suggestion, myself, but a good idea escapes me.
The look of the new site was first previewed on the Community site that launched earlier this month.
At the time it launched, I thought the Community site had a nice, clean look to it, and that look fits nicely with the rest of the site.
Each Space Camp site (Space Camp, Aviation Challenge, and USSRC) all have their own color scheme while retaining the same layout, look, and feel (though the USSRC one reminds me of something I can’t quite place my finger on), each with their own navigation options on the top of the page. The navigation options are mostly unique, but common where appropriate. For example, the SC and AC sites both support “Alumni” tabs at the top.
Overall, it’s a modern, clean look for Space Camp!
Space Camp today launched a new website. The Space Camp/Aviation Challenge “Alumni Community” is now live at www.spacecamp.com/community/.
Space Camp made the announcement via their Facebook page this morning, but that post was quickly withdrawn. I will speculate that the post was withdrawn because the sign-up process currently requires hands-on approval to activate the account and I think the Space Camp webmaster, Andrew, got a bit overwhelmed.
The announcement of the site was repeated today and reposted though in the form of a communiqué from Dr. Barnhart. She wants to hear from you! At the very least, Space Camp seems to have picked up on the idea of keeping alumni in the loop! It’s a pretty good idea!
Alumni Community definitely hold promise to be a tool to help camper’s find each other, as you can list the dates you attended Space Camp / Aviation Challenge when you register. You had better get them all in when you register though, as there seems not to be a way to add details later.
Update: It seems that you could indeed add / edit your camp information at the time I originally posted this, it was just not very visible, apparently. You can indeed alter your camp info.
Issues such as this give the Alumni Community site a rather rough, rushed feel at the moment, but I’m confident they’ll be adding new features quite rapidly, as the germ of the idea is definitely there.
The Huntsville Times has a good article on the Tranquility Base Rendezvous up on their website, along with a photo gallery from the evening. They posted one video as well.
Space Camp actually posted some video from the event! You can see a quality recording of the procession of Armstrong and VonT at this YouTube link.
Thursday evening’s event at the Space & Rocket Center was a resounding success! The evening went off without a hitch and all involved were witness to an event nearly as rare as a NASA budget increase: Neil Armstrong in a public speaking engagement.
The evening started out with the freshly minted Chairman of the Alabama Space Science Exhibit, Todd Slyman, making his opening remarks. After that, it was time to meet our new CEO, Dr. Deborah Barnhart so that she might bring in the two honored guests of the evening, Dr. Georg von Tiesenhausen and Neil Armstrong!
A note to anyone watching the video, after about 5:30, there’s not much more to see. Dr. Barnhart announced Dr. Georg von Tiesenhausen and Neil Armstrong, but they took a very long time to show up and walk down the isle, so I don’t have video of that. I must say, though, I thought it was especially funny that they had, literally, a wall of children between the audience and Neil Armstrong. Frankly I think we could have taken the kids, but the audience wasn’t with me, so Neil and VonT were able to proceed smoothly to the dais.
Prior to dinner, three exhibits were unveiled and one more announced. The first exhibit, and a new one at that, consists of the Apollo Courtyard Waterfalls, installed outside, greeting visitors as they make their way to the Space & Rocket Center lobby.
The waterfalls were donated by Ursula Mueller, wife of the late Dr. Fritz K. Mueller, in his honor. She was invited onstage to say some words about her husband. She seems like a very sweet lady who is immensely proud of her husband’s accomplishments.
The Apollo 16 capsule, Casper (the friendly capsule), has been given a face lift with an all new lighted, shiny display. The Tranquility Base Rendezvous provided a proper event for the ribbon cutting, with Robert Lightfoot, Director of the Marshall Space Flight Center, having some really good words for the occasion. The Apollo 12 Moon rock is also part of the exhibit (so go see them).
The last exhibit to get a nod at the Tranquility Base Rendezvous was an announcement of an upcoming exhibit. Wayne Zeck of IBM announced their sponsorship of a new exhibit coming soon to the U.S. Space & Rocket Center. “The Mind of Saturn” will be a display showcasing the Saturn V Instrument Ring (IU) already on display, along with a host of more information and displays. That original IU only had a paltry 84KB of memory! I’m sure the display will be shiny and I believe it’s due to go on display this summer.
Finally, just before dinner, the newly inaugurated Governor of the State of Alabama, Dr. Robert Bentley, had some kind words to say about America’s accomplishments in space as well as the U.S. Space & Rocket Center.
Dinner was good, as dinner often is at a U.S. Space & Rocket Center function. The real highlight of the dinner though was twofold: First was the very excellent performance by the Rocket City Jazz Orchestra (especially when the performed a great rendition of one of my favorites, Destination Moon). The second was the party favor sitting in front of each chair at the table: A space-themed Magic-8 Ball!
After dinner, it was finally time to see what everyone came to see: Dr. Georg von Tiesenhausen and Neil Armstrong!
I will let my rough video speak for itself, as both men were nothing but eloquent:
While we’re celebrating anniversaries here at hab1, I’m embarrassed to admit that I allowed 2010 to pass without noting that Aviation Challenge turned 20!
Though Space Camp has always been my favorite thing, I understand quite clearly what a great program Aviation Challenge truly is.
The new Space & Rocket Center management is looking to increase enrollment numbers at camp this summer by a fair bit. If they’re smart, they’ll concentrate on Aviation Challenge to get results.
As big of a space nerd as I am, it doesn’t take a genius to realize that, amongst kids and teenagers especially, military aviation ought to have larger and farther-reaching mass-market appeal. Top Gun is a much more popular than SpaceCamp.
Increasing AC numbers ought to be the low-hanging fruit.
Further, and having no idea what the numbers actually look like, I would be surprised to find out if Space Camp had better returning camper numbers. AC kids tend to be quite…serious…about Aviation Challenge.
And so while it’s absolutely amazing what Ruth Marie Oliver, longtime boots-on-the-ground manager at AC, and company have been able to do down at the lake with limited resources and limited support as well, perhaps (Aviation Challenge is the red-headed step child of Space Camp. Perhaps that’s why Ruth “Red Bull” Oliver runs it. Zing!), it seems that there’s still a great deal of untapped potential in this twenty-one-years-young camp!
Here’s to a great summer season at Space Camp and Aviation Challenge!
And, again, a very belated congratulations on twenty years!
Fred Haise will visit the Space & Rocket Center next Friday, March 18, 2011.
