Space Camp

Christian just got back from almost a week at space camp.  Check out how cool this place is...

20 years ago, ATK gave a grant to build an elementary school in Ogden and then dedicated an entire 2nd floor to Astro Camp. They've been running summer camps ever since. The kids typically stay for 4 days, 3 nights and spend time running flight simulations, going through astronaut training, building and racing Mars rovers, repairing 'satellites' and spinning in Newton's chair to feel what it's like inside a space shuttle.   They actually go inside that space shuttle and have scripts and drills that they have to complete for a successful mission. They went scuba diving to feel what zero gravity is like and also visited Hill Air Force Base. The whole experience was so cool.

The kids slept on cots in 3 different rooms. When Christian saw their room, he said, "Oh man, this is way nicer than scout camp."

The director, Ed, and his wife have run Astro Camp for 20 years.

The back side of the space shuttle.

All of the hallways look like this, just adding to the effect.

The sattelite that they had to 'space walk' to and repair. One kid forgot to put his helmet visor down and ended up dying on that mission. Nothing that Skittles couldn't fix though, apparently.

Christian's team leader, Malori. She looks like a 12 year old but she's really a college student studying elementary ed.

This is in the cockpit of the space shuttle. Christian was the commander for their mission. He said the most challenging part was trying to find the right buttons to press at the right time so the alarms wouldn't go off.

In the Mission Control room.

Eating lunch under a ginormous airplane at the base.

The Astro Camp motto, that the kids recited every day.

With his Alpha Team. The 4 teams had competitions all week to earn ribbons and points to determine the winning team at the end. That poor kid on the left cried through most of the graduation ceremony because he was so sad it was over.

The director said that the kids had jobs during the week, too. They had to keep their dorms totally clean, sweep the hallways and clean bathrooms. And they did all of that to earn stickers, which he then joked would be on sale in the lobby so that we could motivate the kids at home, too.

We all definitely missed him while he was gone. Haley said, "The house just isn't as fun when Christian's not here." True.