Well, the 2009 session of International Space Camp has come to a close. I’m sure students and teachers alike had a wonderful time and are on their way back to their home countries with some great memories and new friends.
Continuing with footage from the opening ceremony, Austrian teacher Philipp Schindegger and students Clea Kline and Stephan Pehr gave a nice overview of their wonderful country and, despite some technical difficulties with the music, danced quite well.
Enjoy!
Alabama’s current governor, Bob Riley, is currently soliciting applications and recommendations for those that want to serve on or recommend someone to serve on a number of state agency boards, the Alabama Space Science Exhibit Commission amongst them.
The Alabama Space Science Exhibit Commission is the state owned organization that operates the U.S. Space & Rocket Center.
Like any company, even a state run nonprofit, the Alabama Space Science Exhibit Commission has a board of directors. Unlike a typical corporate board, members to the ASSEC are appointed by the governor of the state of Alabama for a set term.
Ten of the eighteen commission members’ terms are set to expire on October 1 of this year.
So if you feel like you’d make a good addition to the board, or know someone who would, you can go fill out an application at:
http://governor.alabama.gov/yourgov/upcoming_appointments.aspx
Another of my favorites from this year’s International Space Camp opening ceremony was Norway.
In this video, Teacher Lodve Brastad and students Karn Kjerstad and Andreas Rosholt of Norway display their fine dancing, instrumental, and acrobatic skills in this very entertaining introduction.
The International Space Camp participants all performed wonderfully at the Opening Ceremonies for International Space Camp 2009 that was held yesterday evening.
Over the course of the next week, while the kids and teachers enjoy their week at Space Camp, I’ll be posting some of my favorite performances from the Opening Ceremony.
First off is probably my favorite from the evening.
Teacher Barbara Burtscher and her student, Stefanie Lang, gave a funny performance. Barbara had a slice of Swiss Cheese on her head after all! That alone deserves some credit!
Enjoy!
International Space Camp 2009 started off with a bang last night as twenty countries from around the world introduced themselves in the Davidson Center 3D Theater.
Noticeably absent from this year’s festivities were several teams. Canada, Costa Rica, Denmark, South Korea, and England have all had delegations in prior years.
But there were some new faces from last year. Argentina, Finland, India, and Slovakia had delegations this year whereas last year they did not.
The full list of countries attending this year is as follows:
• Argentina
• Australia
• Austria
• Belgium
• Brazil
• Czech Republic
• Finland
• Germany
• Greece
• Hungary
• India
• Netherlands
• New Zealand
• Norway
• Portugal
• Singapore
• Slovakia
• Switzerland
• Turkey
• United Arab Emirates
I hope the children and teachers alike have a fantastic time this year at International Space Camp!
International Space Camp 2009 begins this weekend! Already students and teachers from around the world are en route, and kids and teachers from all over the world will be descending upon the U.S. Space & Rocket Center by Saturday Morning.
No doubt the fine staff of Space Camp and the U.S. Space & Rocket Center are working hard to make sure International Space Camp goes off without a hitch and is an experience our international friends won’t soon forget!
The International Space Camp Opening Ceremony has to be, by far, one of my most favorite things.
The Opening Ceremony is scheduled for 5pm in the Davidson Center theater.
Each year, the students and teachers from each country spend a few minutes to introduce the audience to their place of origin. The presentations are always educational and are often truly quite funny!
I can’t wait to see what this year’s groups have in store!
Keep checking back as I’ll once again post my favorite countries’ presentations!
One of the highlights of this year’s Reunion Weekend is a silent auction that will benefit the Space Camp Scholarship Fund.
All of the items up for auction can be seen on this site, and the list of goodies is as follows:
That is quite a collection of items up for auction! The only disappointment, no doubt, is that you must be present to bid in the silent auction!
But it’s not too late to get yourself down to Huntsville, AL for the 2009 Reunion Weekend!
The summer season is well under way and the only 12 day Mach III session at Aviation Challenge is about to get underway.
The space side of the house most definitely dropped the ball this year when they decided not to hold a 12 day Advanced Academy session, so this is it for 2009!
But AC certainly won’t be coasting through this one.
No less than Space Camp Hall of Fame member Josh “Safety” Whitfield has been hard at work these past few months along with Red Bull and other AC staffers to make sure that this 12 day will be well remembered by those lucky enough to get a spot on the team before it filled up in record time!
A preview of what’s to come for 12 day has been put together and it’s worth a look.
Wait until the 1:14 mark to find out one very new element to Aviation Challenge that the 12 day campers will get to experience:
Details are up in spades for the Alumni Weekend this July!
And I am going back to camp!
Space Camp has put together a great overview of the Hall of Fame weekend including the schedule for the Adult Alumni Space Academy session.
Like last year, the camp will only be 3 days instead of the 4 day program they held during the 25th Anniversary, but what an action packed 3 days it’s going to be!
Highlights include a ‘Steak & Egg’ Breakfast with Hoot Gibson, 2 missions, Area 51 and Aviation Challenge time, and admission to both the Saturn/Apollo Reunion Dinner and the Space Camp Hall of Fame Dinner is included!
The tickets alone will cost $60! Just use that to subsidize the cost of camp!
And, it’s gotten even better. Register now and bring a buddy and Space Camp will take $100 off of both your tuitions!
So while the session is a bargain at the following prices:
Without housing: $349
With housing: $399
It’s a downright steal when you bring a friend:
Without housing: $249
With housing: $299
That’s a great deal! In fact, if you extrapolate that out to a six day session, that would be $598!
Opening my 1993 program guide that I happen to have in front of me at this very moment, I see here that Space Academy Level I was $650 for a Summer session for six days! That was sixteen years ago!
GO TO SPACE CAMP!
Here are all the details directly from Space Camp, in lovely PDF form.
Space Camp is currently holding a contest to help them “Re-name the Reunion.”
You can view the press release in its entirety, but here’s the gist:
To submit your idea, visit www.spacecamp.com/reunion. Nominations are being accepted now through June 5, 2009. Saturn V Executive Committee members will select five names from those nominations, and the public will be able to vote for their favorite of the Final Five on the same web site from June 12th through July 8, 2009. The person submitting the winning name will receive a one-year family membership to the U.S. Space & Rocket Center, and the new name will be announced at this year’s reunion.
The full link to submit is:
http://www.spacecamp.com/reunionweekend/reunionName.php
Personally, I never thought that was anything wrong with “Reunion Weekend,” but then again, I guess I’m just an engineer with no imagination!
Submissions are due by June 5th,
Also, Alumni Andi came out of hiding to make a HabForum post about this contest. You can go discuss your ideas for names in her thread.
