Space Camp Silent Auction

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One of the highlights of this year’s Reunion Weekend is a silent auction that will benefit the Space Camp Scholarship Fund.

All of the items up for auction can be seen on this site, and the list of goodies is as follows:

  1. A Space Camp Flight Suite, Autographed by William Shatner
  2. An Apollo 13 Movie Poster, Autographed by Tom Hanks
  3. A Day in Lynchburg, TN Package from Jack Daniel (includes a tour of the Jack Daniel Distillery)
  4. A Collection of Items Autographed by Homer Hickam, Author of Rocket Boys
  5. A “The Power to Go” Canvas by Artist Paul Calle
  6. The Painting, “Outdoor Saturn V,” Signed by Artist Cynthia Nichols
  7. “Fall Smoky Mountain Scenery,” a Painting by Artist Mark Keathley
  8. Two Separate Lots Containing Items Autographed by Story Musgrave
  9. A Space-Worn Polo Shirt Autographed by its Wearer, Hoot Gibson
  10. A Copy of “Star Wars” Sheet Music, Autographed by Composer John Willaims

That is quite a collection of items up for auction! The only disappointment, no doubt, is that you must be present to bid in the silent auction!

But it’s not too late to get yourself down to Huntsville, AL for the 2009 Reunion Weekend!

AC 12 Day is Almost Here

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The summer season is well under way and the only 12 day Mach III session at Aviation Challenge is about to get underway.

The space side of the house most definitely dropped the ball this year when they decided not to hold a 12 day Advanced Academy session, so this is it for 2009!

But AC certainly won’t be coasting through this one.

No less than Space Camp Hall of Fame member Josh “Safety” Whitfield has been hard at work these past few months along with Red Bull and other AC staffers to make sure that this 12 day will be well remembered by those lucky enough to get a spot on the team before it filled up in record time!

A preview of what’s to come for 12 day has been put together and it’s worth a look.

Wait until the 1:14 mark to find out one very new element to Aviation Challenge that the 12 day campers will get to experience:

You Can Go Home Again

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Space Camp Hall of Fame 2009 LogoDetails are up in spades for the Alumni Weekend this July!

And I am going back to camp!

Space Camp has put together a great overview of the Hall of Fame weekend including the schedule for the Adult Alumni Space Academy session.

Like last year, the camp will only be 3 days instead of the 4 day program they held during the 25th Anniversary, but what an action packed 3 days it’s going to be!

Highlights include a ‘Steak & Egg’ Breakfast with Hoot Gibson, 2 missions, Area 51 and Aviation Challenge time, and admission to both the Saturn/Apollo Reunion Dinner and the Space Camp Hall of Fame Dinner is included!

The tickets alone will cost $60! Just use that to subsidize the cost of camp!

And, it’s gotten even better. Register now and bring a buddy and Space Camp will take $100 off of both your tuitions!

So while the session is a bargain at the following prices:

Without housing: $349
With housing: $399

It’s a downright steal when you bring a friend:

Without housing: $249
With housing: $299

That’s a great deal! In fact, if you extrapolate that out to a six day session, that would be $598!

Opening my 1993 program guide that I happen to have in front of me at this very moment, I see here that Space Academy Level I was $650 for a Summer session for six days! That was sixteen years ago!

GO TO SPACE CAMP!

Here are all the details directly from Space Camp, in lovely PDF form.

Name that Weekend

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Space Camp is currently holding a contest to help them “Re-name the Reunion.”

You can view the press release in its entirety, but here’s the gist:

To submit your idea, visit www.spacecamp.com/reunion. Nominations are being accepted now through June 5, 2009. Saturn V Executive Committee members will select five names from those nominations, and the public will be able to vote for their favorite of the Final Five on the same web site from June 12th through July 8, 2009. The person submitting the winning name will receive a one-year family membership to the U.S. Space & Rocket Center, and the new name will be announced at this year’s reunion.

The full link to submit is:

http://www.spacecamp.com/reunionweekend/reunionName.php

Personally, I never thought that was anything wrong with “Reunion Weekend,” but then again, I guess I’m just an engineer with no imagination!

Submissions are due by June 5th,

Also, Alumni Andi came out of hiding to make a HabForum post about this contest. You can go discuss your ideas for names in her thread.

2009 Hall of Fame Inductees Announced

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Space Camp Hall of Fame 2009 LogoThe list of the new class of Space Camp Hall of Fame inductees has been released!

The official press release will no doubt be up soon, but here are the names with details and photos to follow soon!:

Friend of SPACE CAMP

  • Jim Allan – Austin, TX

Former Employee

  • Jerry Gleason – Madison, AL

Former Camper

  • Robert Pearlman – Houston, TX

Friends to Know, and Ways to Grow

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At some point in the mid-80s, Space Camp was featured on the show, Reading Rainbow. Specifically, the episode was entitled “Let’s Go,” and Space Camp had a 3.5 minute segment on that episode.

I’ve gotten hold of that episode and posted the segment for your viewing pleasure.

It’s fairly interesting to see Space Camp in the 80s. They had a moon buggy they drove around the lunar mock-up in Rocket Park, and it would seem that they had some of the simulators in the museum (though they may have just been moved there for the episode taping. Who’s to say?).

But you don’t have to take my word for it:

MIN-Q

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Unfortunately, it seems MAX-Q will not be able to come to Space Camp and perform for the 2009.

So this is not the turn of events we were all hoping for.

But, as it went last year and the year before that, there is always next year.

And the Hall of Fame event has, for the past two years, proven to be an excellent time!

Two more months!

Confessions of a Space Camp Alum

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Gadget blog Gizmodo published an article yesterday entitled, Confessions of a Space Camp Alum.

Wilson Rothman details his Space Camp mis-adventure from way back in 1986. It’s always fascinating to read about and see pictures from Space Camps of years gone by, so I encourage you to check out the article!

Of course, this article is written in traditional Gizmodo fashion….

In the summer of 1986, I spent a week at Space Camp in Huntsville, AL. Not only that, but in our final mission, I crashed our Space Shuttle.

Thanks to bnaivar for pointing out the article in this HabForum post!

Hoot Gibson, Pilot Extraordinaire

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Robert “Hoot” Gibson, great friend to Space Camp, is featured in the April/May issue of the always-wonderful Smithsonian Air & Space Magazine!

Hoot Gibson on the Cover of Air & Space MagazineThe highlight of the article is best summed up in the title of the article: “The Man Who’s Flown Everything.”

It’s a really nice article and gives some very nice insight into flying the space shuttle:

“The shuttle doesn’t fly like anything else,” said Gibson. “The control surfaces are huge. When you move them, you reduce your wing area, so, at first, pulling up makes you sink. Pushing over makes you sink faster. Pulsing the stick gets you into serious trouble. Below a certain altitude, every input you make is going to be wrong.”

An extra on the web makes mention of the multitude of aircraft this man has flown. As a matter of fact, Hoot’s flown so many different aircraft, that Hoot himself missed a few while originally discussing his experiences!

And so you can visit “The Hoot List” to see a listing of every aircraft Hoot Gibson has flown. All 108 111 of them!

Congratulations, Hoot, for making the cover of Smithsonian Air & Space Magazine!