Wednesday, November 18, 2009

The Meet-Up

Those of you who have been following the International Space Station across the sky will be interested to know that Space Shuttle Atlantis will be docking with the station today at 11:53 a.m.

The astronauts will have a busy day unloading a payload and preparing for a spacewalk on Thursday. Until this mission ends you will be able to see both streaking across the sky. Check the timetable for sightings in your area.

SPACE STATION/SHUTTLE SIGHTING OPPORTUNITIES

The Farmer and I were able to send our children to U.S. Space Camp and it's an educational and adventure opportunity that I highly recommend. It was a bit expensive at the time (probably still is) but we felt it was something that would stay with them for a lifetime. Certainly they couldn't attend at the same time, so each got to go when they turned 12 years old.

Out son attended first and two years later his sister attended. There were campers from all over the world and an astronaut was in attendance to give them their wings at the graduation ceremony.

They attended the Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama and we stayed in an "hotel" for the week. There's plenty to do in the Huntsville area. The "hotel" was actually a nice apartment complex set up to house engineers and scientists working on short term projects at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center. While the kids are attending camp, you can tour the center. My favorite part of the tour was watching astronauts train for spacewalks in the huge freshwater tank.

U.S. SPACE CAMP IN HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA

A quick check reveals that the tuition is the same as it was 17 years ago!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I recall a friend that sent her daughter and the daughter enjoyed the experience immensely.

Hubby and I are sort of space freaks. We saw a launch in the early 2000's. It's something you never forget witnessing.

Di
The Blue Ridge Gal

Ang. said...

Ooooh! I can't wait for these clouds to go away so we can see! It was so neat to watch the space station back in September. The kids were thoroughly impressed. And so was I!

Unknown said...

Have been to Huntsville several times on school trips, a great place.

Ruta M. said...

I sent my oldest to Space School at the UK Space Centre at Leicester University which is more based on satellite technology and research. It is aimed at teenagers who are able to work at first year university level and Vytas certainly enjoyed it. It was expensive but it was the first step towards his degree in physics and space science at Leicester and although his PhD is not totally to do with space I see he is now part of a team working on satellites. Years ago we were lucky enough to see the space shuttle flying low over our house in London when it was being carried piggy back on an aircraft.

Thirkellgirl said...

If dear daughter could get to Huntsville the day after Christmas she would LOVE to do scuba camp. Maybe next year.

Let the record show I was here for the staff mtg. :)