Winners are...John Kellam and Karen B

You'll receive your prizes on Monday when I return.

Getting ready to head to the airport I will talk to everyone when I get back. Can't wait to see you and hear how your weeks' have been!!!

p.s. Miss Smith is the awesomest person I know!!!

Multi-Axis Trainer

Here is a short clip of what it looks like when you're in the trainer. It is designed not to make you dizzy or sick because it does not change your body's equilibrium or center of gravity. However, it did something to me because I got siiiiiiccccckkk.

As I said before, astronauts no longer use this in training because there is no tumbling when coming back into the Earth's atmosphere. There used to be a joystick in the center where the astronauts tried to gain control of the spinning and smooth out the ride.

Pilot of the Alpha Mission

Today is our mission for the Endeavor and the pilot is yours truly :)

We will simulate a mission to the moon and there are so many people that it takes to make a mission complete.

Further discussion about the mission and everyone's roles after we've completed it. Look for me up in the sky!!!

Question for the prize:

Who is my superior in the orbiter for this mission. Hint: They sit right beside me.

And the winner is....SAM T!!!!

Sam,

Congratulations on being the first person to answer the question correctly.

Who was the first person to walk in space?

Alexei Leonov (a russian)

You'll receive a 'space treat' when I get back home.

Guess what I get to see today?

View from my hotel window

A rocket test launch!!!!

The Aries mission is having a test rocket launch today at the Marshall Space Flight Center. This type of thing doesn't happen every day around here and we are so lucky to be able to go witness it.

In fact, no other space cadets have been had the opportunity to see one. We are so special.

Question for this post...

2. How many test launch sites are there in the US? Tell me their names and where they are.

You Ain't Gonna Believe this...

Just completed my first official day at Space Camp. We spent the morning doing the simulations machines and ,yes, I vomited. I was the only teacher to throw up (talk about embarrassing) Oh well, makes for a good story!!! The Multi-Axis Trainer was first designed to train astronauts on what it feels like when you are tumbling back into earth's atmosphere. Once they actually got up into space they realized that the Orbiter (space ship) doesn't tumbles at all. So this is just really a simulation. Watch the video to see your teacher in action. Video is being very fickle right now. Will try again later. Here is a picture of it for now.

Keep in mind (before you go calling me a wimp) 10 minutes earlier I had eaten eggs, biscuits, pounded a cup of coffee and drank a lot of water. I could feel all of it swooshing around when I was in there. When I got off the machine I broke into a heavy sweat and knew it was all over from there. Hope you enjoy.

The picture below is a 1/6 gravity trainer so you can get a feel for what it's like when you're walking on the moon. They had us do the bunny hop, move from side to side, and slow motion jogging(the one I liked best)

The next thing was a Man Maneuvering Unit (MMU) simulator where you get strapped into this big machine and have a joy stick to move the machine around. MMU's are the machine that astronaut's use when moving around outside the orbiter.

The rest of the day consisted of our space cadet training and background information. We learned about everything that happens before a launch, during, and after. I can't wait to tell everyone about it.

I got my space suit today. It's pretty nifty and makes me feel important. Our names on our suits have to be turned upside down until we graduate from cadet training. Graduation will be Thursday night and then I will be a real Space Cadet.

Tomorrow we will be working on our mission for the rest of the week. We haven't received out positions yet but I am hoping for 1. the pilot of the Orbiter 2. A scientist at the space station 3. INCO/EVA- that's the person at mission control who is responsible for the countdown and makes sure that all systems are GO at the time of launch. It is going to be so exciting. Wish everyone was here because they have tons and tons of cool stuff and you feel really important.

Last night I got to meet and listen to Ed Buckbee who is quite a fellow. I'll tell all about him in the next post. He is the founder of Space Camp and was the Director of the Space and Rocket Center.

Question for Prizes.

The first person to correctly respond to this question will receive a goody from the Space and Rocket Center.
Are you ready? Just post your answer in the comment section...

1. What is the name of the first person to walk in space?
Pay careful attention to the question

Talk to everyone soon. Miss you.
p.s. I did learn today how astronaut's use the bathroom in space. Its verrry interesting.