Hab1 is 10

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10 years!

3,652 days!

87,649 hours!

5,259,000 minutes!

315,500,000 seconds!

Hab1 has been around a while!

It’s been a very interesting ten years!

I would like to thank everyone that’s visited over the past decade.  I would especially like to thank everyone who has contributed to the HabForum.  I have enjoyed reading your 37,089 posts.  Every single one of them!  Really!

I often joke that, for a computer nerd, I’m so much more well adjusted than I have any right to be!  It’s because of Space Camp I can say that.  Space Camp has always been a great refuge for the shy, the intelligent, the outgoing, the curious, and the dreamers.  It’s a fantastic place where it’s okay to both know something or know nothing, so long as you’re curious.  This site is a testament to the extent to which I value that.  I have always thought of this site as my love letter to Space Camp.

Space Camp doesn’t end after the week is over; not for me, at least.  And not for those that visit this site.  Because if you’ve stumbled into this corner of the internet, you must be pretty committed!  But this small corner of the internet is just for us!  It’s here where we can help educate, inform, mobilize, and fraternize with fellow Space Campers!

It’s important that we stay engaged with Space Camp through the good times and the bad.  Space Camp’s most difficult challenges likely still lie ahead.  The biggest challenge Space Camp faces is the challenge that beleaguers America’s space program: in short order, the Space Shuttle will not be able to be the main mechanism for our missions, and future options are still somewhat uncertain.  And yet, despite the name, space is not the most important element to Space Camp.  The people are.  In my now sixteen-plus years of involvement with Space Camp, I have had the great fortune to meet, work with, go to Camp, and speak with so many wonderful people.

It has been a privilege.

Sincerely,

Vincent Vazzo

Volunteers Needed for TBR

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The Tranquility Base Rendezvous event seems to have sold out, as tickets are no longer available.

It’s a shame Neil Armstrong wouldn’t let the Space Center eke out a meager amount of money from the event.

Nevertheless, Neil Armstrong is coming and that in and of itself is a very special, rare thing!

Regarding the event, I received the following message today and was asked to pass this along:

This Thursday evening marks a very special night for the U.S. Space and Rocket Center and for Space Camp. Dr. Georg von Tiesenhausen will be receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award for Education for all he has done to inspire and educate our camp trainees over the years. We are asking for our alumni to assist us in honoring him by forming a processional line as he enters the Davidson Center for Space Exploration. Volunteers will need to be available from approximately 5pm to 6:30pm and willing to be in blue flight suits. Unfortunately, volunteers will not be able to stay for the actual ceremony. Space is limited so we are asking for a confirmation by close of business Tuesday. Please email [email protected] or 256-721-7105 if you are interested and for more details.

If you weren’t able to get tickets, you can still help out the Space & Rocket Center by volunteering for the event!

Three Lay-Offs Rumored

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There are some big shake-ups over at the USSRC.  Rumors currently circulating say that three pink slips have been handed out.

The first two are to U.S. Space & Rocket Center curator Irene Willhite and her son, James Willhite, exhibit coordinator at the USSRC.

Finally, Mike Kelly, Vice President of Domestic and International Licensing, has been rumored to have been let go.

Staff Reduction at the USSRC

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Sprocketeers is reporting that a layoff that could affect as many as sixteen USSRC staff members is in the works.  Word has it that layoffs could start as early as today, and reach into next week.

Between some financial struggles going on as well as the natural reordering processes that comes when a new CEO enters the picture, this should come as little surprise.  My only hope is that the right people get dismissed.

Tranquility Base Rendezvous – Ticket Update

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The USSRC has come back with a $150 per ticket cost for the Tranquility Base Rendezvous.

If you want to see Neil Armstrong, this is a wonderful opportunity!

Tickets are back on sale at the Space Camp Store.

As of this writing, there are 119 tickets left, and they can be purchased at up to four at a time.

Hurry!

There’s a Heck of a Get

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It has made the rounds that the annual Gala dinner, originally scheduled for February 18, has been cancelled.

Who cares?

Neil Armstrong is coming instead!

The original moonwalker, himself, will be at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center on February 3, 2011.

An email originally went out this morning (you are a member of the museum and on the email list, right):

Come join us as we honor Dr. Georg von Tiesenhausen with the Lifetime Achievement Award for Education and we welcome the U.S. Space & Rocket Center’s new Executive Director and CEO, Dr. Deborah Barnhart.

Dr. von Tiesenhausen, one of the original German Rocket Members, has been teaching the Advanced Space Academy trainees for 23 years. He retired this past year at age 96! Neil Armstrong will be presenting this very special award to him.

New exhibits will also be opened, and old exhibits relaunched at the event.

Tickets in the email were priced at $250 before January 24, and $500 after, with 200 tickets available, but another email went out about an hour after the first stating:

We have just been informed that it is against Neil Armstrong’s wishes for us to sell tickets to this event. Therefore, tickets are no longer available. We apologize for the misunderstanding and will send a follow up email with more information early next week.

If/When tickets to become available again, you can check back here.  But act fast.  Neil Armstrong is the J.D. Salinger of astronauts and tickets to see him in the Rocket City are sure to sell out fast!

Hab Florida is No More

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When Space Camp Florida was up and going, campers stayed in a habitat facility that was modeled after Habitat 1.

Space Camp Florida Habitat

In the years since Space Camp Florida’s closure, this Habitat had been sitting empty, its better days long behind it.

CollectSpace forum member AFGAS posted several pictures showing that the facility is in the process of being torn down.

Space Camp Florida Habitat - Torn Down

It is a bit of a shame, but further down in the post, there seems to be a hint of better things to come for the Astronaut Hall of Fame, which housed the training center for Space Camp Florida. As sad as this is, there may be good things to come.

Welcome, Deborah Barnhart

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It is official.

The U.S. Space & Rocket Center has a new CEO in Dr. Deborah Barnhart.

Wes Lyons was once again on hand to document the event, with his notes of today’s meeting available at sprocketeers.org, specifically these posts.

Local news station WAFF also has a brief overview of Dr. Barnhart’s credentials.

Welcome (back) to Space Camp!