Mission Day 8

July 30, 2026

​Last Official Day of Space Camp (sniff, sniff)

The day started with a spin on the egg drop.  We were divided into 4 groups and then each group split in half.  One half would design/create the lander and the other would design/create the rover, realizing the rover had to go inside the lander.   This was to simulate 2 companies working independently but together.  We each had our own budget and we couldn’t borrow from the other group.   The team creating/designing the lander had to realize the lander wouldn’t receive the rover until the end – but we only had 45 minutes total to do the project.  Our egg survived both the landing and the rover ride, but our landing vehicle landed 5.3 ft from its target and our rover only rolled 1.2 feet from the edge.

Next it was to the INTUITIVE Planetarium in the museum.   The program we saw was James Webb Space Telescope: The Story Unfolds.   We also saw the difference between the Hubble & Webb Telescopes.

For lunch, we had a box lunch with docents of the Saturn 5 building.  Our docent performed the structural testing on the different parts of the Saturn 5 & Shuttle vehicles.   He was very interesting, but I had to do that kind of testing with the batteries I designed while working at Eagle Picher Technologies.   All of the docents worked at NASA at some point in their careers.   An interesting one would have been the lawyer who worked on the Columbia Shuttle.  He had artifacts and such.

We then headed back to the Aviation Challenge grounds (All Hail to the Tomcat!)(sorry, you are supposed to yell that as you enter the Aviation Challenge grounds and pass the Tomcat plane) and went to the low elements area for some team building.   We were able to see a little of all the low elements they had and a couple of the high ones, too.   Then we had to decide on three we wanted to try:  we chose Toxic Waste, Whale Board, and Spider Web/Black Hole.   Toxic Waste was getting three tennis balls from one bucket to the next without touching the buckets.   Unfortunately, radiation eliminated a few limbs and caused blindness in some of our team members.   However, we did complete the mission in record time.   The Whale Board was being used by the Arnold team, so off to the Spider Web/Black Hole.  Please know, I did not want to do this one.   But we did it; we may have cheated, and trainers may have looked the other way a few times.  The final few hours of camp were a review of what we did this week, how to use them in our classes at home, and ways we could help improve the camp.  Our final lecture on Skylab was held.  I didn’t know much about Skylab; I learned a lot and have a few books to look up when I get home.

We all suited up in our flight suits and headed to graduation.   Graduation was held in the SCOC (Space Camp Operations Center) with the staff from the education department and the Endeavour administration.   Each team walked across the stage and received their graduation packet from our trainer, Allie.   Then it was award time.  Our team Acaba won the award for Outstanding Team and for performing the best on the missions (even though we killed 2 of our team members (LOL)).

Lastly, dinner was followed by an astronaut talk with Astronaut Don Thomas from the shuttle missions.   We were able to have our pictures taken with him and have a question-and-answer session.

It was a long day, but an absolutely great day to end my Space Camp experience.
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💫🚀⭐Ad Astra ⭐🚀💫