Jared Isaacman Nominated for Next NASA Administator

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Aviation Challenge alumnus Jared Isaacman has been nominated by President-Elect Donald Trump to be the next Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration!

The announcement came today as Mr. Isaacman posted the following to his X account:

Jared Isaacman

Isaacman, founder of the payment platform Shift4, rose to prominence as the commander of the Inspiration4 and Polaris Dawn missions. It is during the latter mission that he became the first private Astronaut to perform an EVA.

Congratulations, Jared!

Pathfinder Rises

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It’s been quite a few years in the making, but today’s the day!

Pathfinder is being hoisted back onto the stack in Shuttle Park!

The U.S. Space & Rocket Center is live streaming the lift today!

EDIT: According to the schedule, the actual lift won’t occur until tomorrow, with today being the day to build up the cranes and rigging.

Polaris Dawn Crew Visits Space Camp

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The crew of the upcoming SpaceX mission Polaris Dawn was in Huntsville today to speak to Space Campers!

The crew toured Space Camp before addressing campers in the brand-new Space Camp Operations Center. The team discussed their upcoming mission, including mission objectives. Space Camp / Aviation Challenge alumni Julia Lantos was on hand to moderate questions asked by some Space Campers attending this week.

The mission is scheduled for no sooner than Q4 2023, with a possibility that the mission might slip into 2024.

Update: Coverage from WAAY-31
Update: WHNT has their report from the 5pm news on their YouTube channel here.

Space Camp Hall of Fame 2023 Inductees Announced

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Konrad Dannenberg, Apollo Program Engineer
Tim Bailey, Flight Instructor with Zero-G
NASA Astronaut Bob Hines
Justin Picchi of the U.S. Space Force

These four men will be inducted at the Space Camp Hall of Fame Dinner & Induction Ceremony on July 14, 2023.

You can get your tickets by going to https://www.rocketcenter.com/SpaceCampReunion. Tickets to the dinner are $100, but $250 will get you the “All Access Pass” into the entire weekend’s slate of events, including time on Space Camp simulators! Any donations of $150 or more, including All Access Pass purchases, will receive a patch from the Space Camp Alumni Association, available only for this event!

Lifetime USSRC Membership No Longer Sold

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This is technically old news, but I just noticed it recently and thought it was worth a mention.

The “Lifetime Membership” option for the U.S. Space & Rocket Center has been on hiatus for a little over a year.

The lifetime membership had been offered for $1,000 and first became available in early 2014.

Curiously, “Lifetime Membership” is still an option on the Space & Rocket Center Online Shop, but clicking on it doesn’t take you anywhere other than the store’s home page.

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Former USSRC CEO Larry Caps: 1940 to 2023

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Larry Caps with his Medaris Award

Brigadier General (retired) Larry Capps, who served as the CEO of the U.S. Space & Rocket Center from 2000 until his somewhat tumultuous retirement in 2011, passed away this past Tuesday at the age of 82.

Gen. Capps assumed leadership of the beleaguered Rocket Center after the previous CEO, Mike Wing, left the institution with its balance sheet in disarray and deep in debt.

Soon after taking the reins, Gen. Capps faced another setback as the September 11 attacks significantly diminished parents’ willingness to put their children on airplanes to attend Space Camp.

Despite these challenges, the Space & Rocket Center continued to progress under Gen. Capps’ stewardship, successfully managing its debt and relocating the Saturn V to the newly-built Davidson Center.

Visitation will be Friday, May 12 from 1 to 2 PM with a memorial service from 2 to 3 pm at Laughlin Srervice Funeral Home in Huntsville, AL. He is to be laid to rest at the Lawnwood Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Covinton, GA.

We here offer our deepest condolences to his wife Brenda and the rest of his family.

NASA Human Exploration Rover Challenge is Back!

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Previously known as The Great Moonbuggy Race, the NASA Human Exploration Rover Challenge is back after a global-pandemic-sized hiatus of four years! This will be the first rover competition since 2019.

The competition starts tomorrow, Friday, April 21, 2023, and runs through Sunday. It is open to the public, so you’re welcome to go down and see teams compete!

The event is usually streamed online as well. Keeping an eye on the NASA Rover Challenge twitter feed would probably be the best bet to find out how to watch online.

The biggest change this year is the venue. The obstacle course has moved down to Aviation Challenge!

Human Exploration Rover Challenge Course Map

Best of luck to the more than 500 students from around the country and the world who will compete in this event!

May the best rover win!

A Space Camper is Going to the Moon!

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NASA held their big Artemis II crew announcement today! You can watch the entire video here, but the highlight is that Space Camp alumna and Space Camp Hall of Fame inductee Christina Koch was one of the four selected to go to the Moon on Artemis II!

The flight is currently slated for no earlier than November 2024!

Christina Koch was inducted into the Space Camp Hall of Fame in 2019, and you can learn more about her in her Hall of Fame introduction.

Christina is a five-time alumna of Space Camp, and soon she’s going to be going around the Moon!

Congratulations to Christina! She’s everything Space Camp founder Ed Buckbee had ever hoped for when Space Camp really got going. That an alum of his creation will soon be traveling as far away as any human has ever gone is really something special.