Hall of Fame 2016 – Second Inductee Announced

Jason HopkinsHot off the presses, Space Camp has just released the second individual who will be inducted at this year’s Space Camp Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, part of the 2016 Space Camp Summer Fest!

Jason Hopkins of Masten Space Systems!

And before working business development at Masten, Jason spent all kinds of time down at The Cape as a VAB/Crawler Element Operations Manager, amongst a multitude of other duties during his time there!

Congratulations, Jason!

We all look forward to seeing you in July!

Hall of Fame 2016 – First Inductee Announced

Amy KaminskiThe 2016 Space Camp Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, part of Space Camp Summer Fest 2016, is just around the corner!

Today, the very first inductee was announced!

Amy Kaminski, Senior Policy Advisor, Office of the Chief Scientist at NASA!

Before NASA, Amy spent time working at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) as well as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

And before all of that, she was a Space Camper!

Congratulations, Amy!

Space Camp (and SpaceCamp) Featured on The Goldbergs

Last night on ABC, season 3, episode 22 of The Goldbergs aired and featured Space Camp throughout the episode!

A show set in the 80s, this episode started off with the main Goldberg child at the movies with his friends watching SpaceCamp and Jinx!

If you have a cable package, you can go watch it yourself over at ABC’s site: http://abc.go.com/shows/the-goldbergs.  If you don’t have a cable package, it will be available there next week.  If you have a Hulu subscription, you can watch it over there.The Goldbergs - SpaceCamp

It’s not Old, it’s Vintage

Homage Guy in Space Camp T-ShirtMy initial impression upon seeing the new Space Camp T-Shirt from Homage, an Ohio clothing retailer that “turns back the clock with shout outs to eclectic moments and personalities in sports, music, politics, and popular culture,” was to wonder why on Earth anyone would want to buy the very same T-Shirt that you can get at Space Camp, except at a higher price!

On good days, I forget all about what I long-ago dubbed the “DAD” (Disappointed Astronaut Dad) logo.  And I’ve forgotten that blue shirts with the Space Camp logo aren’t readily available anymore.  Until now, at least!

Everything that’s old is new again!

Homage is also sponsoring a contest to send you and a friend to Adult Space Camp!

Enter here.  Good luck!

 

NASA Human Exploration Rover Challenge Tomorrow and Saturday

NASA Rover Challenge LogoThe annual NASA Human Exploration Rover Challenge Tomorrow and Saturday (formally The Great Moonbuggy Race) begins tomorrow and runs through Saturday at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center!

The race begins at 7am both days! Come early! It’s a pretty exciting thing to check out!

Students from around the world make rovers and compete on a course around the Space Center! Amongst the many engineering challenges, the students’ rovers can’t use air pressure in their tires and the entire vehicle must fold up and fit withing a small amount of space (3 cubic feet, I think)!

If you can’t make it out, Marshall Space Flight Center will be streaming video live both days on their Ustream Channel!  The event will be live-tweeted as well @RoverChallenge.

Shuttle-Centaur on the Move

Shuttle-Centaur in 1994 from Hab2The large silver cylinder that has stood just outside of Hab2 for decades was shipped off today.

The Shuttle-Centaur rocket stage will be making its new home at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio.

Space Camp Hall of Famer Robert Pearlman has more over at CollectSpace.

For one heck of a story about the fate of this booster, read this fascinating article by Space Hipsters Facebook group
founder Emily Carney over at Ars Technica.

[b]Update:[/b]

Space Camp has posted this timelapse video of the move to their YouTube channel:

 

Welcome, Trip

Space Camp has hired Trip Ferguson away from Remington’s Huntsville operations and made him the new Vice President of Space Camp Programs.

The news broke via the January USSRC Newsletter, as shown below!

Congratulations on getting the gig, Trip, and welcome to Space Camp!Trip January Newsletter Excerpt

The Roof…The Roof…

For the second time this year, the day after Christmas, a fire broke out at Space Camp.

Fortunately, for the second time this year, no one was injured.

This fire was much more major and completely torched the roof on what had been the former “Mission to Mars” Space Camp simulator.  The building itself has not been used in any capacity for years.

Robert Pearlman, collectSpace editor and Space Camp Hall of Fame inductee, posted a great overview of the event as it happened.

Local media has since posted up-to-date photos.  WHNT has aerial photos showing the damage.

MSFC, Space Camp to be Featured Tomorrow on Good Morning America

Marshall Space Flight Center sent out an invite to its employees stating,

Marshall team members are invited to join ABC news for a special LIVE broadcast at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center Thursday, Sept. 17, from 5:00-8:00 a.m. Participants must arrive no later than 5:00 a.m. and wear red shirts. ABC news is looking for a large crowd to be on TV in their audience. Parking will be provided near the entrance of the museum.

This broadcast will highlight Marshall Center’s contributions to human spaceflight.

And Space Camp just sent the following message:

Space Camp Good Morning America Email Content

There you have it!  Tune in tomorrow morning at 7:30am CDT to your local ABC affiliate!