Space Camp

My daughter has wanted to go to Space Camp for about ten years and we were so excited to finally send her this summer!

She attended the first summer week of Advanced Space Academy and was one of the older teens there.

There was a huge waiting list since COVID, so she was in overflow, and stayed in military barracks and not the cool Space Camp pods. It was not as comfy and she was a little disappointed.

Space Camp is nothing at all like the movie, by the way.

We drove down from Ohio to Huntsville, Alabama, and stayed at the lovely Drury Inn just across the way. We didn’t want to risk being late for check-in, but to have an afternoon and evening to relax a little.

Check-in was an absolute nightmare.

There is a new building and it was just not organized at all.

There could have been so many different and better ways to go about checking in. It was just a free-for-all of all age groups and parents, siblings, family and friends (even though every single communication said one parent to check in the camper). Apparently, some parents had an even worse time checking in several children of different ages or for different camps happening simultaneously. They had to even get back in line!

Per all the emails, I was supposed to arrive for the older teen check-in between noon and one. It took about two hours to get through the check-in process and I assumed I could be in and out within an hour. If they had staggered age groups or had different lines for different campers, it could have been so much better.

After check-in, I had to load all her stuff back in the car and drive to her barracks. I did get to see her in her bunk before leaving. I had a long drive back from Alabama to Ohio.

She said the food was good and she got biscuits every morning.

No outside food or drinks are allowed. We did not opt for prepurchasing snack packs or loading her ID wristband with money for vending. She did not want a flight suit. She bought herself a James Webb pin from a gift shop and that was all.

She was excited for EVA missions, anti-gravity tests, SCUBA, and the ropes course.

She was busy, busy and couldn’t get many pictures on her smartphone, but there is a photographer and about twenty photos were uploaded and available for free downloads. There were also photo packages available for purchase.

I drove back to Alabama at the end of the week, and again stayed at the Drury Inn for a night.

The graduation process was so much better and the age groups were separated into the auditorium and parents were corraled before allowed to get check-out stickers for their kids. Since I only had the one child, it was easy for me. I heard having several children in different age groups was difficult since they wouldn’t allow but one sticker every two hour increment.

We were informed literally the day before graduation that families could tour the museum and grounds after picking up a camper, but we already had reservations for Gulf Shores. We just didn’t have time.

She wanted to attend the special invitation-only Elite Space Camp next year. After sending three emails asking about the invitation and them telling me “not yet” they never sent the invite and then told me it was sent “last year” and sold out in two hours. Probably for the best, since they’re not organized in the least.

Tori’s sibling, Akantha, attended CCAD college preview this summer.