Day 8 – Space Camp Day 2

We awoke this morning to our lovely team leader Jillian getting us ready for a new day full of excitement, curiosity and knowledge. Many of us groggily tumbled out of our beds, whereas others were up and ready in a flash (actually this was only an incredibly small amount of people). After everyone was dressed and ready for the day, we all headed to breakfast, where we were served: gloriously crispy hash brown stars, waffles, and some seriously sugary cereals. Next we began our remaining two training missions called Charlie and Delta. Everyone had different positions this time around; we were either being stationed in the Orbiter, the ISS (International Space Station) or MOCR (Mission Control).  All too soon our missions ended, and were greeted with rice, stir-fry, peas, salad, and some meat product (living up to the urban legend of “Mystery Meat”) for lunch, everyone loaded up on the soft drinks and ice cream on offer. With full bellies and curious minds, the group that we were a part of – called Holderer – followed our other team leader Corey, where we waited for our next activity.

Eventually, we were driven off in a bus to Area 51, which is unfortunately not the infamous “alien base”. As the group disembarked into the wilderness, we were met with a 17m tall tower. Our friendly yet cheeky instructors told us that we would be doing the zip line here, striking fear and excitement in our hearts. The tower itself was fairly intimidating, with a huge ladder up one side and a scaling wall up the other. One person would climb up, jump off down the zip line and be retrieved by a ladder. On a side note there were an astounding amount of lady bugs, which we were informed were actually Japanese beetles. When we finished, we gathered in a secret square of slightly damp tables, and discussed our thoughts and feelings regarding the zip line and trust.

While we were having fun on the zip-line Mr Roberts and Mrs Mengler took a bus into down-town Huntsville and found a Laundromat where they had “fun” washing out our smelly clothes.

Next we had our first two serious missions, with our roles being the same as yesterday. The first went fairly well, with a few minor communication mishaps, but thankfully no one died more than a few times. We ran overtime, so the next mission was cut short. This lead to a malfunction when we took off, so we had to abort. Luckily Daria is a great pilot so we landed to the left of the runway in the Ben Guerin Air Base in Morocco, and stayed alive.

 

A trip to the gift shop was next were we all got new flight suits and name badges. Mr Roberts said if we got them we have to wear them at the airport, and on the first full school assembly. In turn he was to wear his flight suit ALL WEEK.

Dinner was Brazilian, therefore no one, not even the instructors knew what it was. There was the usual Mac’n Cheese and chicken nuggets (Krystal is ecstatic over them) so we coped.

Another lecture about medicine and first aid followed. It was very serious, and taught us that one person per group would be selected as a flight surgeon , and would be tasked with the responsibility of administering medicine (skittles), injections, many band aids and possibly restraining a person during the three hour mission.  We were told that we would randomly be given different medical ailments which we have to act out. It will be a very fun and interesting experience!

We have just had our final rocket building session, so they’re now ready for flying tomorrow. Each team of four has done a different design to safely carry our cargo of an egg up a minimum of 3 metres and down again while keeping the egg safe. The more adventurous have gone for a two stage rocket but we have opted for the safer and more reliable (we hope) single stage rocket. 

Our final session for the day was a presentation on the on-board environmental controls for the maintenance of the air, temperature, humidity and water quality. We were  then given the challenge of purifying some dirty water using a range of filtration materials.

Back to the dorm by 10.00pm and lights-out by 10.30pm. We should all sleep well again tonight.

It’s been another long but enjoyable day.

By Emma and Samantha.