Rockets!

It was another Great day at Space Camp. We started by creating rockets out of soft drink bottles. More about that tomorrow.

Next, we learned about the roles we will play on tomorrow’s simulated shuttle mission. I had hoped to get mission commander and fly the shuttle, but I didn’t. The good news is that I am going to be Flight Director. The Flight Director is in charge in mission control and is responsible for making sure that every aspect of the mission goes smoothly. I will also be in charge of getting any problems solved during the mission. This is a pretty big responsibility and I’m looking forward to it. Here’s a quick video of my station at mission control and the front of the shuttle simulator.

In the afternoon we went out to Marshall Space Flight Center where they actually build REAL rockets. Did you know that U.S. engineers are designing new rockets to go back to the moon? We got to talk to a number of people who are working on the new Ares I rocket. We got to watch rocket launch of a 1/100 scale model of the Ares I. The real Ares I will be over 300 feet tall. Here’s the launch. The model rocket went about 700 feet high. Watch where the parachute section lands.

Next at Marshall, we got to talk to an engineer whose job is to think about how the new rockets will be designed. It’s important to carefully plan a rocket before you start to build it. His job is to build full-scale models of parts of the rocket out of wood, metal and plastic. These models help engineers decide how the rockets should be put together so that people can easily work on them. Here are a few shots of some of the models.

Back at Space Camp, the wind and rain finally died down enough for us to ride the Space Shot. While it may look like an amusement park ride, Space Shot actually shows us a lot about physics. When it accelerates upwards, you feel 3 Gs. This means that you actually feel three times heavier than normal because you are accelerating quickly. When the ride reaches the top and starts to fall, you feel the same thing the astronauts feel when they are in a microgravity environment. Watch and see if you can tell when we feel microgravity. Also, ignore my silly screaming.

Movies from Tuesday!

Wow! Yesterday was quite a day! Here are a few videos.

The first video is of the 1/6 gravity trainer. This tool was developed when the astronauts were training to go to the moon. It turns out that you can’t simply walk. We tried the bunny hop, the side-to-side, and the slow motion jog. I seemed to do best doing the side-to-side. The video is a bit shaky because it is me holding the camera while I moon walk.


This next video is me taking a ride on the Multi-Axis Trainer (MAT). This was designed to help astronauts get ready for dealing with a possible out-of-control spaceship tumbling in several directions at once.


The neatest thing is that you don’t get sick! There are two reasons. First, your stomach doesn’t move around too much because it is in the center and is not spinning around. Second, the sense of dizziness we get when spinning around come from fluid moving around in our inner ear. But on the MAT, you never spin more than two times in one direction (go back and watch if you don’t believe it). This means that you don’t feel at all dizzy as long as you keep looking forward.

After our time on the simulators we got a chance to walk around and look at some of the museum exhibits. This video is the new exhibit of one of the three remaining Saturn 5 rockets. This one has been refurbished and displayed in a new building. To get a sense of how big it is, look for the class of students sitting on the floor at the end of the video clip.


Today we begin our training for our simulated shuttle mission. I hope I will be mission commander for my group because that means I will be able to fly the shuttle!

Wish me luck.

Walking on the moon!

It's lunchtime and I've got a few minutes to update. We went to the simulators this morning and they were cool! My favorites were the Multi-Axis Trainer and the 1/6 gravity simulator. The 1/6 gavity simulator mimics what it would feel like to walk on the moon. The moon is smaller than the earth and therefore the pull of gravity is much weaker. This means that if you weigh 60 pounds on earth you would only weigh 10 pounds on the moon!

I'll post pictures and video later tonight. Now we're off to our group picture and then training for our space mission.

Space Camp!

I'm going to Space Camp!

In two weeks I will leave fly to Huntsville Alabama for a week at Space Camp. The trip is sponsored by the North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching (NCCAT). First, a little bit about myself.

I'm a technology facilitator for Elementary schools in Lincoln County. Many of you may have met me this year as I worked with your teachers to bring more technology into your classrooms. Some of you may not have met me yet.

I love to use technology to learn about the world. I spend a lot of time reading about interesting things on the Internet and sometimes playing video games.

I have been interested in Astronomy and Space since I was in elementary school. I love reading about space travel, both real and imaginary.

I'm looking forward to space camp. From what I have read there are a lot of really cool things. I'm really looking forward to using microgravity simulators any maybe even flying the space shuttle on a simulated mission!

I'll post more as we get closer to the date. When I'm at Space Camp I plan to post daily. I may even be able to post videos and pictures from my experiences. I hope you will follow along!