Alumni Festival – Win Two Passes!

Space Camp Alumni Festival LogoSpace Camp and Third Rock Radio are conducting five random drawings.

Those chosen will receive two free, all-access passes to the entirety of the Space Camp Alumni Festival!

Head on over to the contest page at: http://www.spacecamp.com/alumnifestival/contest, enter your info and (maybe) win!

The drawings dates for the tickets are 6/26/2015, 7/3/2015, 7/10/2015, 7/17/2015, and 7/20/2015.

You can enter up until 07/19/2015 and be eligible for any drawings that have yet to take place!

Good luck!

 

Speaking of Third Rock Radio, TRR recently interviewed Space Camp Alumni Advancement Board Chair John Ramsey about the Alumni Festival, and you can listen to that interview online, if you are so inclined.

Help Induct Susanna Phillips into the Space Camp Hall of Fame

Susanna Phillips Performing on StageRegrettably, Susanna Phillips will not be able to attend the Space Camp Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony in person on July 25th.

She has a gig.

If you happen to be in Santa Fe that evening, or on the evening of July 29th, you should definitely check her out at the Santa Fe Opera House as she performs in La Finta Giardiniera.

If you happen to be near New York City this Thursday, June 18th, you should head over to The Juilliard School, Susanna’s alma mater, at 4 pm EDT and help U.S. Space & Rocket Center CEO Deborah Barnhart welcome Susanna formally into the Space Camp Hall of Fame.

Video will be recorded and played back on the evening of the Hall of Fame, much like what was done last year for Sam Cristoforetti, and it would be truly excellent to have as many Space Camp alumni as possible in attendance for the presentation!

If you will be able to make it, please send an email to [email protected] with the subject “NYC Event RSVP.”

Red Bull Gets Wings

Ruth Marie Oliver (Red Bull) on the Roof of the USSRC with the Saturn V in the BackgroundIt’s a sad day at Space Camp today.

The long, impressive tenure of Ruth Marie Oliver, aka Crosswind, aka Ping–but best known as Red Bull–comes to an end today.

For many, many years Ruth has been the one most responsible for making sure the trains run on time down at Aviation Challenge, along with a myriad of other tasks through the years.

Beginning as a counselor, Ruth has worked as management, she has handled writing educational materials, grant writing, etc.  And many of those things and more at the same time!

It’s definitely going to leave a void not soon or easily filled at Space Camp!

But we wish her all the best on her new ventures!

 

 

 

Alumni Festival – Last Chance for Early Bird Pricing

Today is the very last day that current pricing will remain in effect for the Alumni Festival.

Though the sale was originally scheduled to end June 1, the sale was extended an additional week.

After today, the $125 all-access weekend pass will increase in price to $150!

If you’re planning to come, and I hope that you do, it would behoove you to purchase tickets today!

Alumni Festival Banner

Updates from Space Camp Turkey

Uzay Kampi - Space Camp Turkey - Medium LogoIf you’re not following Space Camp Turkey on Facebook or Twitter,  you probably should!

Though Space Camp in Huntsville is the epicenter of, well, Space Camp, Space Camp Turkey has a lot of exciting things going on as well!

They lead the mothership when it comes to number of videos on YouTube; that’s for sure!  They currently feature 81 videos versus Space Camp USA’s 77.

In fact, they’ve recently uploaded a few videos that might be worth some of your time!

Space Camp Turkey has done some remodeling and they’re showing it off with a new promo video!  They also just uploaded an episode from what appears to be a Turkish children’s program, ThÇocuk Kulübü.  The episode is unsurprisingly in Turkish, but still offers an excellent view of Space Camp Turkey!

Where the promo video provides fast cuts of a lot of Space Camp Turkey, this program takes its time and lets you see a lot of their facilities in greater detail.

Four Members Into the 2015 Space Camp Hall of Fame

In addition to the previously announced selection of Kate Rubins, Space Camp today announced the names of the three remaining individuals into the 2015 class of the Space Camp Hall of Fame.

In full, the four new members shall be:

  • Elizabeth Bierman
  • Susanna Phillips
  • Bobak Ferdowsi
  • Dr. Kate Rubins

Elizabeth Bierman is a Senior Project Engineer at Honeywell Aerospace and currently serves as President of the Society of Women Engineers.  You can learn more about her from her bio on the SWE Page, or follow her on Twitter (@SWE_President and @Ekbierman).

Susanna Phillips is an accomplished opera singer who grew up right in Space Camp’s backyard!  She is currently on tour, with quite a busy schedule!  If you are unable to see her induction, she may likely be in your neck of the woods soon!  In the meantime, you can head on over to her homepage, learn more about her, hear her lovely voice, and follow her on Twitter (@sopsus)!

Bobak Ferdowsi is a Systems Engineer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.  A graduate of MIT, Bobak has contributed to both the Cassini-Huygens and Mars Science Laboratory/Curiosity missions, as well as significant contributions to NASA’s public outreach initiatives.  Bobak @tweetsoutloud.

Dr. Kate Rubins joins the growing list of Space Camp alumnae Astronauts.  Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger was the first.  ESA Astronaut (and current ISS occupant) Samantha Cristoforetti was second.  Kate is scheduled to be the next Space Camper in space when she departs for the International Space Station as a Flight Engineer on the Expedition 48/49 crew.  Follow her on Twitter @Astro_Kate7 to see all her updates while she’s in orbit!

Come to the Space Camp Alumni Festival and see their induction in person!

You can read Space Camp’s official press release as well.

2015 Space Camp Hall of Fame Class

It’s Astro-Palooza at the Rocket Center this Summer

As if the roster of Astronauts confirmed for Space Camp’s Alumni Festival wasn’t enough for you, a number of Astronauts are going to be visiting Space Camp throughout the summer as well!

And you can have lunch with them!

This past Friday, Astronaut Robert “Hoot” Gibson kicked off a summer full of “Lunch with an Astronaut” opportunities at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center, and most Fridays will have one of these lunches through August!

Available for all to attend, here’s the current schedule:

  • May 22 – Wendy LawrenceBuy Tickets Now
  • June 5 – Bob Springer
  • June 12 – Robert “Hoot” Gibson
  • June 19 – Don Thomas
  • June 26 – Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger
  • July 3 – Jerry Ross
  • July 10 – Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger
  • July 17 – Don Thomas
  • July 24 – Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger
  • July 31 – Robert “Hoot” Gibson
  • August 7 – Wendy Lawrence
  • August 14 – Jerry Ross
  • August 21 – Bob Springer

 

 

Ed Van Cise Speaks to Space Campers

NASA ISS Flight Director and Space Camp Hall of Fame inductee Ed Van Cise was in Huntsville, Alabama this past week visiting the Marshall Space Flight Center on official NASA business.

Ed was kind enough to take time out of his busy schedule to speak to an auditorium full of enthusiastic Space Campers in the National Geographic Theater at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center!

Watch below or on YouTube as Ed talks about his experiences with Space Camp, life, and NASA, and answers questions from many enthusiastic Space Campers!