This conveys the sense of anticipation with which seven 15-17 year olds from a variety of Victorian schools looked forward to two weeks in the US visiting Los Angeles and the Space Camp in Alabama during the week held especially for students who are blind or vision impaired.
It was difficult to decide whether the trip should go ahead after the events of September 11. The US Space Camp organizers decided that the Camp would still be held, our parents agreed their children could go and held their collective breath for two weeks, while the three chaperones weighed up all the issues including the huge effort everyone had made to raise the funds. We all felt that as security would be extremely tight everywhere it was a comparatively safe time to go and this proved to be correct. For example, we spent one hour forty-five minutes at Huntsville Airport watching every item in our 11 suitcases being searched, so we knew there were excellent precautions being taken and felt reasonably safe when flying.
During the first week we recovered from the flight and visited Disneyland and California World. One student commented that, We went on so many scary rides that I don't feel scared of anything any more. It was a thrill to meet most of the Disney characters when our group was invited to take part in the evening parade.
Once we arrived at Space Camp our team, with 150 others from Mexico, Canada, Scotland and the US, started their training to be astronauts.
They were divided into teams of 15 and practised the same types of training real astronauts practise before a mission. They attended lectures on the history of spaceflight and other topics. In the NASA Museum they saw the command module which took Neil Armstrong to the moon and back. In the IMAX cinema they saw footage of real astronauts in space and life in a space station. There were some sessions dedicated just to team-building exercises. To experience weightlessness they learnt to SCUBA dive and performed repairs to equipment at the bottom of an 8m tank. One of our girls who is blind and has a hearing impairment said after spending 20 minutes underwater, I'll remember SCUBA-diving for my whole life.
Other comments about the specialized equipment were:
The multi-axis trainer which spins you in all different directions
was fun and you didn't feel sick.
I liked the moving chair on a giant spring that supported you. You felt you were walking on the moon with one-sixth the gravity.
Trying on an astronaut suit was painful. The helmet was so heavy it hurt my shoulders.
In three one-hour practice missions the students worked in three different settings: Mission Control, the Space Station and the Orbiter, communicating through headsets and microphones. They performed experiments, repaired equipment and flew the orbiter listening to others giving instructions from Mission Control. The books of instructions they read to operate the orbiter were in large print or Braille. One student said on her return to school, I want to learn more Braille. It was so useful at Space Camp.
One person had to wear a harness and help repair a satellite. He floated around the orbiter suspended from the ceiling to get an antenna to replace a broken one and give it to a blind girl who was strapped into a seat on a robotic arm and who replaced the antenna while listening to instructions through her headset.
The trainee astronauts learnt to deal with system malfunctions and accidents such as a broken leg. By the final six-hour mission they were competent at handling any problem they encountered. One commented, I had to rely on other people and we really learnt to work as a team. Others said, The missions were the best part because we worked together.
The students were all very proud to graduate but sad that they had to leave their new friends. Back at school their feelings were:
I want to study more about science and astronomy and work in a space-related industry.
The best part was trying different things you wouldn't normally do.
I don't want to watch much TV anymore. We became the best of friends with kids from all over the world. I'm emailing all of them this week so I can keep up these friendships.
We are very grateful to everyone who supported this event. Lives have been changed in many ways because of it. We can see increased self-confidence and self-esteem, greater willingness to take risks and try new activities, an appreciation of the value of teamwork and an easier acceptance of their impairments. There were many other individual benefits to the young people who participated in the adventure, including wonderful memories and new friendships. Thank-you for your assistance.
Marion Blazé
Deb Lewis
Janie McLeod
Sponsors of Space Camp 2001
