Today started like any other; we woke up to the gruelling shout
of our crew trainers. We then rushed to get ready in our allotted time (which
was very short) and prepared for the long day ahead. At breakfast we were again
greeted with hash browns, bacon, scrambled eggs and a large variety of sugary
cereals (most popular being Lucky Charms and Dippin Dots). We then split into
our two separate teams, Holderer and Von Tiesenhausen. Von T then went to the
Aviation Challenge where we flew in the flight simulators and experienced 3G’s
of force in the Centrifuge. Unfortunately this was too much for some people and
made many people sick, however it was still a great experience.
At the same time, team Holderer embarked on their EDM
(Extended Duration Mission), or as we like to call it, ‘Everybody Dies Mission’.
The team was then divided again and moved to their designated positions, either
in MOCR (Mission Control), the ISS (International Space Station) or the
Orbiter. 11 out of 12 people died during the first half of the mission, and in
order to be revived, the recently deceased had to perform ‘I’m A Little Teapot’
and ‘Jingle Bells’ in front of the younger campers. Despite all of the
difficulties they faced, team Holderer was still successful and arrived back at
Earth safely.
After lunch, team Von T launched their hand-made rockets.
All of the rockets launched successfully and made it into ‘space’, and protected
the eggstronauts. All of the rockets were found except one, which disappeared into
the wilderness, never to be seen again; it was a sad day for all. Von T then
went back to Area 51 and challenged themselves with the difficult task of the
Pamper Pole. The aim was to climb up a 15 metre telephone pole, stand up on top
of it and to then proceed to take a leap of faith into the unknown. Although
many people were hesitant, we soon discovered that they were only ‘Australian
scared’, meaning that they were terrified but were going to do it anyway; our
instructors were very impressed.
After dinner, both teams had their next Engineering
Challenge, ‘Ablative Shielding’. We were given the task to create a heat-proof
shield to again protect our eggstronauts, using a variety of materials provided.
Some of the teams received a maximum of 200 points for protecting the egg,
whilst others received 0.
All the teams at Space Camp then came together to compete in
the Spacebowl Quiz Challenge. The questions were quite difficult and were based
on what we had learnt during our time at Space Camp. By the end of the quiz,
team Holderer was crowned Spacebowl Quiz Champions for 2013. Immediately after
the Spacebowl quiz, the teams prepared for graduation. Everyone stood proud as
we received our certificates and name badges. Holderer was awarded a prize for
being the Outstanding Team, as they were very energetic and as their crew
trainers said, they were the ‘swaggiest of them all’. Von Tiesenhausen was also
awarded the Commander’s Cup for accumulating the most points in all of the
challenges and activities during the week.
Even though our graduation was late
at night, many of the crew trainers and instructors attended, and we all said
our goodbyes. We are all very thankful for all of the time and effort that all
of the instructors and crew trainers put in to make our experience at Space
Camp even better; we all had an amazing time.
Written by Amy and Daria
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