| P art 2: In the Beginning: Space Camp Added | |
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Space Camp was initiated to fulfill a need that arose from the teachers and children who visited the Space Museum. Just a few hours weren't enough to spend at the Center; the children needed more time. Again, von Braun thought that there should be a camp for kids interested in science, just as there were camps for basketball, cheerleaders or music. "He was always thinking of the future," Buckbee remembered when talking about von Braun, "he thought about how what he did today would impact the future." He foresaw a need for a new breed of engineers and scientists--not just astronauts--but problem solvers. Space Camp was developed to fulfill that need and encourage youngsters.
All
photos © 2001 Jean Brandau,
licensed to About.com.
The first Space Camp in the summer of 1982 was a mixture of Ed Buckbee's daughter, neighborhood children and acquaintances. They took their sleeping bags and slept on the museum floor. Hands on activities were planned. The Space Camp workers found out two things from this early experiment: the kids wanted to spent the night and they wanted to work as teams. Americans love competition. To start with, there were 12 sessions of about 20 to 30 kids each. They bunked at the University of Alabama-Huntsville which had 1,000 beds.
The 12 and 13 year olds wanted to be commanders of a space shuttle mission. So far, Space Camp has graduated over 100,000 children. Space Camp has helped many to see the reason that they need math and science in school. Many have written back and explained that their experience in Space Camp led them to take more science and math in school and get the degree that they have. Most children who go to Space Camp don't want to grow up to be astronauts. Buckbee emphasized that in the future there will be a lot of opportunities to work on the space program as a design engineer, software programmer, or recycle specialist. Many people will have jobs dealing with ways to learn to live in space. Space Camp helps to challenge today's youth to look into such careers.
All
photos © 2001 Jean Brandau,
licensed to About.com.
"Space Camp"--the
Movie
After "Space Camp" the movie was released in 1986, the Space Camp
attendance skyrocketed. A lot of the movie was shot in Huntsville.
The movie crew was in Huntsville for 3 months, using a lot of the training
devices and living quarters at the US Space & Rocket Center. A studio
in California was used for most of the special effects and the opening was
filmed at Kennedy Space Flight Center. The movie--in case you missed
it!--had some soon-to-be big names in it, like Kate Capshaw and Lea
Thompson. Ed Buckbee served as technical director for the scenes shot in
Huntsville and some local residents can be seen in the crowd scenes. The
movie was released in the theatres for only 10 weeks, but it was in the video
stores for over a year.
Astronauts Are Heroes
Buckbee recalled his best time at Space Camp was the summer they had a
resident astronaut at camp. Mike Mullane had flown on three shuttle
missions in the 1980's and when he retired, he came to Space Camp. Every
camper was given the opportunity to hear Mullane lecture and ask him questions
about what he did as a child, how he became an astronaut, where he got his
inspiration.
All
photos © 2001 Jean Brandau,
licensed to About.com.
There are three kinds of astronauts: payload specialist, mission specialist, and pilot. The payload specialists have a special skill such as crystal growth or human body that they use inside the spacecraft. The mission specialists are the ones that do the walks in space and have to be good at living in an artificial environment, use the robotic arm that captures things, and service the satellites. The pilot is the one that works the aircraft controls and has airplane and military skills. In the future, more and more payload and mission specialists will be needed as space missions involve longer stays and more work to be done. The future will have a need for more people with broader skills than the early astronauts. Space Camp is one way to encourage the skills needed to help with the future of space program employees.
Space
Camp Influence
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