Day 3 of Space Camp is now in the books - and another busy day. I am actually happy to say
that we got back to Charger Village early tonight - and by early, I mean 8:30 PM. :-)
Today started with a visit to the Davidson Center at the US Space and Rocket Center Museum. This building houses exhibits on the big rockets once built in Huntsville - like the Saturn 5. The Saturn 5 rocket is the one that took the Apollo missions to the Moon. The picture to the left is of the Saturn 5, one of 3 on display in the world. This rocket is over 300 feet long (about 15 stories high). And in the Davidson Center it is mounted on the ceiling so you can stand underneath it. We were also able to view the Mercury trainer capsule. This is the spacecraft that Alan Shepherd orbited around Earth for 15 minutes (the first American to go into space) and that John Glenn orbited Earth 3 times in (first American to orbit Earth). We also saw the Gemini training capsule, used by two astronauts for longer duration space flights. The Gemini program was developed to determine that we had the capability to travel longer periods of the time in space in order to lead up to flights to the Moon with Apollo.
One of the coolest things on display was the real Apollo 16 capsule. Apollo 16's crew was John Young, Charlie Duke, and Ken Mattingly (the astronaut who was pulled from the Apollo 13 mission days before lift off because of his exposure to the measles). This particular capsule was named Casper, the popular cartoon character, (all of the capsules were named by the astronauts who flew them) in order to connect with children. The mission is famous for the moon buggy grand prix, where they raced the moon buggy on the surface of the moon. One of the neatest things to see was how the heat shield on Apollo 16's capsule was cracked/damaged. As our leader said, "When it looks like that, we know the heat shield did its job."
We also were able to view a model of the Lunar Excursion Module (or LEM) and the moon buggy. The moon buggy was able to be folded into a box the size of an office desk for transport to the Moon.
Also on display was a Moon Rock from the Apollo 12 mission. Below the rock is an autograph from Apollo astronaut Alan Bean stating, "I remember this rock. This was my favorite one." Whether that's true or not, it's always very neat to see a national treasure on display. Having training with NASA has allowed me to see the moon rocks several times, but it never disappoints me! Other Apollo mission artifacts are on display, which are just fun to see. After listening to Ed Buckbee (NASA PR during the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo years) as well as viewing, "In the Shadow of the Moon," I have a renewed appreciation and interest in the legends of space exploration. It is so cool to learn the history of this program!
One of the more unique national treasures on display is the mobile quarantine facility for Apollo 12. And the story of this Airstream trailer is very interesting. During the Apollo program, NASA believed that there wasn't life on the Moon, but yet could not be 100% certain. So in order to not put the astronauts or other citizens in danger, the astronauts were put in quarantine for before their flight and up to 3 weeks after their flight. During that time, they lived in a modified Airstream trailer. The Apollo 11 trailer was in Huntsville at the Museum for many years but was moved to the Smithsonian. The Apollo 12 trailer was believed to have been destroyed in a fire, however it actually was used for multiple purposes including quarantine facilities for researchers exposed to Ebola virus and quarters for fish researchers. The US Space and Rocket Museum by chance got this treasure back and restored it to it's former glory. Here's the entire story. Eventually the quarantine process was ended after Apollo 14.
After a visit to the museum, it was time to hit the gift shop - where I did some damage. And then it was off to mission training for our next space mission. This time I was selected for the role of SSC, Station Commander on the International Space Station. Life on the ISS is much slower paced than Mission Control. My job is to oversee the ISS and make sure others are doing their jobs like experiments. We may have some unexpected things happen, so only our mission will tell what really happens. The ISS looks very similar to what it looks like in space, except that storage would be on all sides because there is no up or down in space. :-)
Lunch was followed by three curriculum sessions. We learned about ways to integrate writing/language arts into space science - I have many good ideas to use next year! Afterwards we made bottle rockets which we couldn't launch due to a swiftly moving thunderstorm. Then we put together solid fuel rockets or Estes rockets. We will be launching rockets on Monday!
After dinner and a visit to my dino buddy Sue from the Field Museum in Chicago... it's a little ironic that I saw her in Chicago in 2000 and now in Huntsville in 2011, then it was time for Aviation Challenge! This activity is held at a specially designed aquatic facility referred to as the lake (it's actually a man-made pool with a sandy bottom). The purpose of the facility is to train for water rescues with different simulators. One, called the Dunker, simulated a helicopter crash into the water. For this one we sat inside a "helicopter" which was lowered into water (the water just comes rushing in) and then we had to swim out the window. After we completed that simulator, we swam to one called the Lifter. This simulator was a wire basket, simulation being lifted out of the water into a helicopter. We were lifted about 5 feet up, but it was still an experience. My favorite simulation by far was the zipline. For this simulation we got into harnesses (yes, harnesses) and once strapped in, climbed up 3 flights (35 feet) to a deck where we were attached to a zipline backwards. The reason we went backwards was because we were simulating a parachute landing, and going forwards would pull us underwater. The ride was quick - 30ish seconds, but so worth it! Tons of fun! Best part was that this activity was the final of the day, so we didn't have to change back into street clothes and be wet and gross. As soon as we finished, we headed back to Charger Village for the evening.
I can't believe how quickly this is going - it seems like I have known my team forever... and I am lucky because I have a great team - how does this always work out? So a little love for my team below (and their locations)
Team Harmony:
Leaders - Luke & Lisa
Brian - New York
Sixto - New York
Melissa - New Jersey
Mike - Connecticut
Tim - Arizona
Sean - Canada
Nancy - Minnesota
Dave - Minnesota
Carly - California
Pat - South Carolina
Jennifer - Florida
Bonnie - Illinois
Ed - Illinois
Michelle - Iowa
D.C. - India
Snow - China
Sally - China
Tomorrow is a group photo, our mission in Discovery, Mr. Sun Spot, Personal Constellations, and a Honeywell Dinner/Celebration under the Saturn 5 rocket in the Davidson Center. Another busy day with our latest arrival back to Charger (anticipated at 10 PM).
And... we finally have a shower curtain (a present courtesy of our Space Camp director, not UAH or Charger Village)... only 3 days after we asked.
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