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Saturn V Bricks Ordered
Saturn V Update
We will continue updates on this project as construction progresses. Alumni Spotlight Andrea Hanson heard about SPACE CAMP as a sophomore at the University of North Dakota. A good friend of hers had just returned from a summer counseling at Camp, and he described the experience as “truly amazing… really one of the happiest places on Earth!” For Andrea, being a counselor sounded like a chance to relive a dream she didn't even know existed until then. At college, Andrea was working toward a degree in Chemical Engineering and had taken an introductory class to Space Science. She seemed to fit the criteria for a Camp counselor, but the more information she gathered about SPACE CAMP, the more she was convinced that she had to work there. Andrea sent in her application and held her breath. After weeks of turning blue, Andrea received notification that her application was accepted, and she was scheduled to be a counselor for Advanced SPACE ACADEMY . She arrived in Huntsville in May 2000 and launched into a summer of excitement, learning, and teaching that, she says, changed her life path forever. “It's hard to describe the feeling I had the first time I saw the Saturn V rocket come into view when arriving from the airport,” Andrea recounts, “the amazing feeling of inspiring a new generation of space enthusiasts while sitting underneath the Pathfinder…” Andrea didn't want to leave those feelings behind after her first summer at Camp; when she returned to school in the fall, she continued to work on her degree requirements in Chemical Engineering, but her new passion was space. She took every class she could find that taught about living and working in outer space. She even held a summer co-op position with Boeing Satellite Systems, working in the thermal sub-systems design group. The one aspect, however, that held Andrea's interest was how vulnerable humans are to the microgravity environment. Understanding how life support systems are so integral to the success of human presence in space made Andrea want to be part of creating and optimizing these systems in the real world. She became enthralled with the concept of human physiological adaptation to the microgravity environment of space and began looking for a graduate study on this topic.
“I feel so fortunate that life has led me down the path it has,” Andrea says, “and my time spent at SPACE CAMP was a huge influence in the decisions I made to get to where I am today.” Andrea is especially appreciative for the amazing friends she encountered through SPACE CAMP and for their continued support of her skyward dreams. They encouraged her to never stop dreaming, to work hard to make those dreams a reality, and most importantly to enjoy the journey! If you have a SPACE CAMP alumnus you would like to spotlight in a future newsletter, please e-mail holleyg@spacecamp.com . U.S. Space & Rocket Center Calendars Now Available
Second Annual SPACE CAMP Hall of Fame The second annual SPACE CAMP Hall of Fame banquet will be held Saturday, July 19, 2008, at the USSRC's new Davidson Center for Space Exploration. The event will be held in conjunction with the Fifth Annual Saturn/Apollo Reunion, which will take place the evening of Friday, July 18, 2008, creating a full-fledged reunion weekend for both SPACE CAMP alumni and Saturn V team members. New, 2008 nominees will be selected for each of the Hall of Fame categories: Friend of SPACE CAMP, Former Employee, and Former Camper. One inductee will be selected from each category. Individuals who were nominated in 2007, but were not selected, will be automatically considered for the 2008 induction. The Hall of Fame nomination Web site is expected to be up and running by mid-November 2007, and a survey form pertaining to the Hall of Fame will also be available to all SPACE CAMP alumni. Former campers can give feedback about last year's Hall of Fame, as well as provide suggestions for improvements for 2008's celebration. Some of the survey questions will include information about the formality of the event, the type of dinner, ticket price, and interest in attending the Saturn/Apollo Reunion or any other “reunion” events. Recruiting counselors for the USSRC This fall USSRC officials will be working with colleges across the country to recruit students and former campers for the upcoming hiring season. We will be looking to recruit approximately 120 counselors to begin employment on January 14, 2008. Applicants must be at least 20 years of age and have successfully completed 30 hours of college credits. In addition, the USSRC is looking for alumni who are willing to be ambassadors and conduct recruiting sessions at their local colleges and universities for spring 2008. For more information on how you can serve as a SPACE CAMP ambassador, please contact Charity Nehls at charityn@spacecamp.com or apply online at www.spacecamp.com/hr . GOT HEROES? Apply today to become a SPACE CAMP counselor and make a difference in the life of a child. For suggestions, questions, or comments about this Alumni Newsletter, please email us at alumni@spacecamp.com . |
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Commemorative bricks for the Saturn V Restoration Project have
officially been ordered! This initial request for 747 bricks marks the first sequence in Saturn V brick orders that have been accumulating since
2004. These initial bricks will be placed in the Apollo Courtyard, the donor garden that will be located directly adjacent to the Davidson Center
for Space Exploration, in time for the Grand Opening celebration of the Davidson Center on January 31, 2008. The USSRC will, however, continue
taking brick requests; order forms are available at the USSRC ticket desk or online at
Construction continues on the Davidson Center for Space
Exploration, and USSRC staff members are excited about the most recent developments! Within the last few weeks, the concrete floors have been
poured, electrical wiring has been installed, and a special mural featuring Paul Calle's Power to Go painting has been hung. The
Davidson Center is scheduled to be completed in November of this year, and at that time, USSRC staff will 
begin erecting new exhibits inside
the building and working towards the grand opening celebration that will be held on January 31, 2008. 
Andrea found the perfect program at the University of Colorado at Boulder:
Bioastronautics and Microgravity Sciences. She was accepted to this one-of-a-kind program, which focused on life support systems and space vehicle
integration and how the human body responds to the microgravity environment, and began graduate studies in the fall of 2002. The summer before
graduate school, Andrea returned to SPACE CAMP as an Advanced SPACE ACADEMY counselor and says her last summer at Camp was the perfect way to
prepare for graduate course work. 
After her first year of graduate school, Andrea began working for BioServe
Space Technologies Research Center as a Research Assistant for a project focusing on skeletal muscle adaptation to the microgravity environment
and pharmaceutical countermeasures. After Andrea obtained her Master's Degree in Aerospace Engineering in 2004, she decided to turn her research
with BioServe into a dissertation topic and begin working toward her PhD. Andrea is now in her fourth year of research, and this summer she had
the opportunity to fly a payload aboard the STS-118 mission. Andrea's team sent twenty-four mice into space to test a novel therapeutic
countermeasure to muscle loss. The experiment was a huge success, and her mice came back safe and sound. 
Andrea spent a month at the Kennedy Space Center in preparation and in
support of the Shuttle mission, and she had a front row seat to the launch and return of the fourteen-day flight. Today, Andrea is back on
campus and preparing to analyze the space flight data collected from her “space mice.” This experiment marks the beginning of the end for her
journey down the dissertation road, as she will graduate with her PhD in Aerospace Engineering in December 2008. After graduation, Andrea plans
on pursuing a post-doctorate position, focusing her research on space radiation and its effects on the musculoskeletal system during long-duration
space travel such as lunar and Martian missions. Ultimately, Andrea would like to pursue a career that will actively and productively support
human space travel. She even plans on submitting an application for NASA's new astronaut training class. 
USSRC 2008 calendars are now available! They contain updated information on all the upcoming USSRC and SPACE CAMP events and provide a great
way to stay connected with the Center's 2008 activities. Best of all, they are absolutely free! If you would like to reserve your copy, please
e-mail the SPACE CAMP Alumni Mailbox at