I first learned about Space Camp from renting a VHS from Blockbuster The Adventures of Mary-Kate & Ashley: The Case of U.S. Space Camp Mission. In college, I read A Smile as Big as the Moon: A Special Education Teacher, His Class and their Inspiring Journey Through U.S. Space Camp by: Mike Kersjes. This book has since become a Hallmark movie staring John Corbett. I was fascinated, but thought that as a college student, I was too old to attend. When I joined the SEEC Crew however,I was pleasantly surprised to discover that it wasn't the case. Many educators were raving about Space Camp for Teachers. I didn't even know this was a possibility, but in 2017, it definitely moved to the top of my list. Not sure how I forgot about the awesome Netflix documentary The Mars Generation about a group of teens at Space Camp. A couple years ago, I discovered the existence of the 1986 movie Space Camp. Needless to say, this made me want to go even more. After seeing the hilarious clip of Astronaut Training w/Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks & Will Arnett from the Late Late Night Show with James Corden, I was hooked. When I saw a facebook post looking for interested teachers, I responded without hesitation. I had the awesome opportunity thanks to a generous scholarship from Northrop Grummon to attend Space Academy for Educators! I travelled to Huntsville, Alabama, aka Rocket City, to the US Space and Rocket Center. The USSRC is a Smithsonian Affiliate and the official visitor center of NASA's Marshall Spaceflight Center and the site of the world famous Space Camp. Space Camp began in 1982 and is celebrating it's 40th anniversary. I'm sure that describing my experience at Space Camp won't quite do it justice but I'll try. I would highly encourage you to experience it yourself! On a MissionMission simulations were a big highlight of the week. Each person on our crew was assigned a role. Each role was unique and involve specific responsibilities to complete during the mission. Our first mission was based on the past. Our scenario was the Space Shuttle Endeavor traveling to the International Space Station and astronauts completing an EVA. I was thrilled to be assigned the role of a mission specialist completing a spacewalk with my crew mate from Singapore, Gillian. The mission was an absolute blast! Our task was to construct a structure using the struts (long metal poles) and nodes (spherical objects). We attached the pieces together to form triangles; the strongest structural shape. This was a simplified version of a spacewalk done by a Boilermaker astronaut, Jerry Ross. It's important to make those career connections to students that successful exploration involves many people with a variety of different skills and strengths. There are countless people behind the scenes making sure that the machinery, software, procedures works so that the most precious cargo - humans - not only stay alive, but are able to successfully complete dangerous spacewalks and a multitude of experiments to benefit life on Earth. It truly is a team effort! How We Got to the Moon: The People, Technology and Daring Feats of Science Behind Humanity's Greatest Adventure by: John Rocco is a fabulous book that beautifully illustrates this necessary collaboration. Our second mission was looking toward the future with Artemis. The Orion capsule traveled to the Moon. I was in Mission Control as the Flight Director. The job of CAPCOM went to my crew mate from England, Tom. He did an excellent job and communicated with the astronauts in his British accent! Astronaut TrainingIf you've seen the recent Netflix documentary Countdown: Inspiration 4 Mission to Space, you've gotten a small glimpse into training to prepare humans for spaceflight. Climbing up a snowy mountain is no easy feat. The early American astronauts were actually sent to the desert for survival training. Space is a harsh environment that doesn't make human exploration easy. Protecting astronauts from extreme temperatures and radiation while providing oxygen, food and water in a microgravity environment is challenging. The Multi-Axis trainer was definitely a challenge. There are giant metal circles that move in different directions. You're securely strapped in and your cage is rotating around the connecting point. Because of where and how you rotate, it isn't really sloshing your stomach or masking you feel nauseous. I think I only lasted about 20 seconds. You have to keep your eyes open and head back while you're spinning in all different directions. It felt like a roller coaster without the stomach sinking sensation. Walking on the moon was so fun! You got to try out different techniques including the bunny hop and long stride. It's a unique sensation. According to the USGS, about 71% of the Earth is covered in water! So, even training for spaceflight involves water. The Gemini, Mercury and Apollo capsules landed in the ocean. Astronauts had to egress the capsule after traveling in space. This will also be true for the Orion capsule. The best way to simulate a microgravity environment on Earth is underwater. Astronauts train at the Sonny Carter Training Facility: The Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL) as part of NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. I was able to tour the NBL in 2017 as part of the SEEC Conference. I was extremely fortunate to return to the NBL and complete a survival training in 2018 as part of the SEEC Crew. NEEMO (NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations) is a project where astronauts, engineers and scientists live in the underwater research station, Aquarius. Check out the book Astronaut-Aquanaut: How Space Science and Sea Science Interact by: Jennifer Swanson to learn more and share with your students. It's a great nonfiction text for comparing and contrasting. Learning water survival is also crucial to aviation. RocketsYou may have heard of the 1999 movie October Sky. Did you know that it was actually based on the book Rocket Boys by: Homer H. Hickam Jr.? This memoir tells the story of a group of boys from West Virginia who were inspired by Sputnik to build rockets. If you haven't read the book or seen the movie, add them to your list! I was really excited to hear Homer speak and get an autographed copy of his book!! We also got to assemble, decorate and launch Estes model rockets from the Homer H. Hickam Jr. Launchpad! ChallengesCreating a mission patch was a great way to represent everyone. Thanks to Robby for the initial idea and Gillian for the great execution! I've done this activity with students before and definitely want to bring it back. Students can create these on paper or digitally. You can get them made into a patch or a sticker. A great way to bond as a team and develop problem solving, critical thinking, collaboration and communication is by doing a breakout box. You can purchase from Breakout EDU, Teachers Pay Teachers or create your own. We learned about ablative heat shields that are used to protect spacecraft from the intense heat caused by friction upon re-entry through the Earth's atmosphere. Our eggstronaut arrived back to Earth unharmed. Unfortunately, our rover and lander weren't quite as successful. Getting to fly a Tello drone and have it land in my hand was pretty neat. Special GuestsDr. Lawrence DeLucas is an optometrist and Space Shuttle astronaut. He shared the importance of experiments on the ISS; including protein crystal growth in microgravity. David Hitt shared a lot of information about the lesser known Skylab missions. I'm looking forward to learning more in his autographed book, Homesteading Space: The Skylab Story. Not pictured: Trey Cate, Deputy Manager for Strategic Communication for NASA’s Space Launch System. It was really cool to hear all about the SLS and get a poster and stickers to inspire my students. The SLS is the most powerful rocket ever built. It was built for the Artemis program to take us back to the moon and on to Mars. The first launch is scheduled very soon!! In between all of the activities, we were able to see an amazing presentation at the Intuitive Planetarium. We got to check out the exhibits, countless artifacts and numerous planes, helicopters and spacecraft on display in The Davidson Center for Space Exploration, museum and on the grounds of the USSRC. I would highly recommend that you visit the US Space and Rocket Center. In addition to Space Camp, the USSRC is home to The Aviation Challenge, U.S Cyber Camp and Space Camp Robotics. You can attend as an educator, bring a group of students or come with your family. Be on the lookout for scholarships or look into grants. The building below set to open next year will be part of the U.S. Cyber Camp. You may notice that the exterior panels look familiar. Each of these was 3D printed and makes up part of the lunar surface!! If you can believe it, I didn't even include all of the pictures that I took! I could spend an entire post talking about Team Columbus. We earned the Outstanding Team Award and corresponding mission patch. I enjoyed learning, laughing and sweating in the Alabama heat with all of these people. I walked away from this experience with my very own FLIGHT SUIT, inspiration, excitement, ideas to incorporate in my classroom and a truly excellent group of friends! It would not have been possible without the hands down best crew trainer, Brittany. As a Space Camp alumni, I am thrilled to join a distinguished group of current and former astronauts as well as amazing educators! Check out the Hall of Fame! Peace, love and space exploration
- CAPCOM Conrad
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AuthorApollo 13 fan. Educator. Lifelong Learner. Third generation Boilermaker. Space Exploration Enthusiast. Collaborator. Click Subscribe to stay updated!Archives
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