Monday, June 25
Today started our last two days at Space Camp which were jam packed with activities. (What else would you expect from Space Camp?!) First up was three Lego robotics sessions. This was definitely a crash course! Most of us did not have much experience with Lego robotics, so it was all pretty new to us.
In our first session, we got a basic overview of Lego. I really liked our intro activity. We sat in pairs, back to back. We each had an identical tub of Lego parts. One partner had a minute to build something with the Lego. Then, they had another minute to explain to the partner how to build it (without looking!). This was a great exercise in communication. We did it a second time after knowing the names of the pieces, and it went a lot smoother. My partner was from India, and even when we knew the names of the pieces, it was difficult to communicate with each other. This really gave me an insight into ESOL students and what they must feel at school. I think this will be a great ice breaker activity at the beginning of the year. Now to just get some Lego so I can do it!
We then had a one hour crash course on programming Lego robots. Then we went back and started building our Lego robots. We divided into teams of four to build our robots and would work together for the competition as well. We also came up with a name for our corporation that was vying for a “contract”. We named our team X-Ro for eXtreme RObotics.
We then trained for the first of our four missions. The first three missions were one hour Abort Once Around (AOA) missions. For this mission, I was a Flight Engineer on the space station module Zarya. We then had lunch and completed our Alpha mission.
After the Alpha mission, half of us suited up for Underwater Astronaut Training. The closest you can get to simulating microgravity conditions for long periods of time on Earth is underwater using neutral buoyancy. (Contrary to popular belief, there is no such thing as a zero-gravity room.) Since I have asthma, I wasn’t able to dive, but I did snorkel on the surface. It was really cool to watch my teammates in the tank playing basketball with bowling balls and other amazing tasks!
We then had an intimate discussion with Ed Buckbee, just the 15 of us. Ed Buckbee worked in the NASA PAO office during the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs. He has great stories about the early astronauts. At the end, we all received membership cards in the Interstellar Association of Turtles!
Finally, dinner followed by our Bravo Mission. For this mission, I was flight director in MOCR. It was my second time as flight director, and I love the problem solving focus of this mission. It was a fun mission filled with lots of laughing! We then headed back to the dorms to prepare for our final day. It’s hard to believe how fast time flies at Space Camp!
