Space Explorers

We blasted off deep into space this week in our afternoon session.  Our campers learned about space missions past, present, and future, and learned what it takes to be an astronaut!

A shelter fit for the moon!

On Monday, we learned about the explorations of our Moon.  Campers learned about the technology behind landing spacecrafts and tested it out by tossing their personal designs over the edge of the Rotunda balcony.  Ask your camper how their's fared!  The Green group put together a shelter fit for the moon while Red group visited our planetarium for a special show, Larry Cat in Space.  

A successful touchdown.

Showing off their telescopes.

On Tuesday we explored new planets and learned about telescopes.  Our campers learned how telescopes can be used to see previously unseen images in space, just like New Horizons which neared Pluto and gave us a new look at the dwarf planet.  Yellow and Green groups made their own functioning telescopes (ask them why the image is upside-down!) and watched Two Small Pieces of Glass, one of our planetarium shows.  Meanwhile, the Red group discovered and explored a strange new planet.  Ask your camper what they found!

Our day coincided perfectly with the New Horizons mission!

We worked up a sweat on Wednesday with astronaut training!  Campers tested their agility, coordination, balance, and problem solving with special training missions.  They learned what it's like to work in tight spaces, how to communicate from "Earth" to the "ISS," and do some variations of the vigorous training it takes to become an astronaut!  We also learned about life in space from Astronaut Chris Hadfield's YouTube videos.  Ask your camper how life would be different in space!

From Mission control...

...To outer space!

Agility training!

Campers explored Mars on Thursday.  We learned about what we would need to create a community on Mars and then campers made their own Mars dioramas.  Campers acted as rovers and were guided through a "rocky" course to acquire samples to be sent back for research.  We also experimented with volcanoes and lava layering to understand how we can test core samples from Mars to learn about it's geological time. 

Our "rovers" exploring Mars.

A wonderful Mars diorama!

Friday was a blast with water rockets!  Our campers worked together to design and create rockets, which we then launched in Palmer Field.  Ask your camper how the designs worked!

Ready for liftoff!

A team of engineers from Red Group.

This week has been filled with fun and we hope you had a blast!