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Friday, March 11....Graduation

It was beautiful, Potter Gray family members filled the Challenger Auditorium. The teams were introduced and everyone had smiles on their faces. It has been a great week.

Emmi Vantrease was named the crew member with the "Right Stuff". This is one individual who the crew trainers, support staff and others choose as the all around camper. Way to go Emmi!!

Other awards included:

• Outstanding Team: Aldrin Team
• Space Bowl Champion: Bluford Team
• Outstanding Mission: Bean Team
• Mission Patch Design: Armstrong Team

2011 Space Camp was a BLAST!! Now it is time to look forward to 2012...

THE LAST NIGHT....

Well...it began as an uneventful night. Armstrong, Bluford, Ms. Hammond and myself went to the CSI exhibit. It was cool!! My group, #2 solved a murder where the victim was found near a dumpster. All the kids thought it was awesome!!!

After dinner all 4 teams competed in "Space Bowl" which is very similar to Quick Recall. They did it in the form of Jeopardy and were asked questions about what was learned while here at camp. They will find out the winners tomorrow at graduation.

Then each team shared their Mars 2050 base that they designed for life on Mars. Each group shared the parts and discussed how it would help us live there.

Now, I think I may have jinxed myself. I mentioned yesterday that I had not been to sickbay for any illnesses. Tonight changed that. I had 3 young men that needed to go. One is spending the night there and the other 2 are back in their habitat.

All in all it has been a good day and an alright night.

Graduation

Just a reminder that Space Camp Graduation will be tomorrow, Friday, March 11 at 9 am central time here in Huntsville at the Challenger Auditorium.

Directions: I65 South towards Huntsville, AL

Take 565 (exit 340B) to Huntsville

Take exit 15 off of 565, Space Camp will be on your right

Go towards Space Camp

From the drive turn left towards red arch that reads "Space Camp"

This is where you will enter, under the red arch. The crew member at the desk will give you a parent sticker. Proceed in and to your right is Habitat 2, go up the yellow ramp and into the Challenger Auditorium and find a seat. Graduation will start promptly at 9.

After graduation they will dismiss your children and I will sign them out. The children will be able to take you to Habitat 1 so they can pick up their luggage and belongings to put in your car. They can then take you around the camp and museum so that you are able to see what they have been doing this past week.

Looking forward to seeing everyone tomorrow!!

Wednesday...

Well....what a day!! Not only did we get to see Discovery make its last landing ever, our students completed their last Discovery Missions. The last one at 8:30 pm tonight! This was a make up mission since it was scheduled during the Discovery landing. I know the Aldrin team has to be tired and will sleep well. They did an awesome job!

Today we also saw the IMAX, Hubble. It was awesome. The students seemed to really enjoy the sights that Hubble was able to provide. It was beautiful!

One more full day....I have to say this has been a great group to bring to Space Camp. This is my 12th year coming and I have not spent time in Sick Bay or haven't been called by counselors late at night because of homesickness. That's a good thing!

Discovery's last return home...

What a morning! The rain has stopped, but because of flooding of the launch site the rocket launch has been delayed until further notice. The schedule has been adjusted today so that ALL could view Discovery's last journey home in the Digital Theatre (BIG screen). What a beautiful sight! Some of our students were interviewed by a local newspaper and others where taped for the news while completing a training mission. GREAT DAY!

On the home front, everyone has now showered at least once!!

Today 2 of our teams (Aldrin & Bean) will experience the CSI traveling exhibit and get a clue and solve a crime. Tomorrow the other 2 teams (Armstrong & Bluford) will get the same opportunity. Today's IMAX will be "The Hubble".

Many students are enjoying G-Force and Space Shot today in between the rain showers.

Everyone is having an AWESOME time!!

End of Second Full Day...

We started off this morning not only celebrating a birthday, but Fat Tuesday too with strands of beads. Another great day of Discovery Missions, Mar's Simulator, Strange Science, Mars Mission, completing a Mars 2050 build, designing our mission patch, doing the 1/6th chair and the 5 degrees of Freedom, got to Skype our friends back at Potter Gray and another trip to the IMAX to see "Dream is Alive". Day number 2 is in the record books as a great one!!

Birthday

This morning we celebrated Brooke's birthday. She was quite embarrassed. We are going to have cupcakes tonite. Off to complete another Discovery Mission.