Day One: Arriving in Huntsville for Orientation

Armando tries on his flight suit.

Team Exploration with Ed Buckbee

We have all made it to Space Camp.  Each person is assigned to a team:  Keisha — Team Inspiration; Armando — Team Destiny; Ronald — Team Unity; Anne and Ruth — Team Exploration.  After an uneventful flight, we boarded the Space Camp Shuttle greeted by the crew in blue flight suits.  Upon arrival at the hotel we were issued our own blue flight suits.  Ed Buckbee, author of The Real Space Cowboys, gave an entertaining talk about the real exploits of some of the astronauts from the beginning of the space program.  The things they don’t teach you in school — and probably shouldn’t. 

Each team follows their own schedule, so we will have to provide individual updates.  Team Exploration spent the hour after dinner learning about the symbolism of each of the mission patches, as it is our task to design a patch for each of our teams.  The other three teams experienced Shuttle Orientation — learning important acronyms and understanding the roles involved in each shuttle mission.

Space Camp attendees represent sixteen states and nine countries, so we all have the opportunity to network with educators who come with a variety of experiences. 

Fact of the day:  We learned that there is a treaty regarding lunar property.  You own what you take up to the moon but there is no lunar real estate.

Our day begins at 7:30 in the morning at a breakfast with executives from Boeing.