Computer + Video Games - Commodore Is Awesome

Retrace
the past.
The date:
April, 1950.
The place:
Huntsville,
Alabama. Werner
von Braun and a
select team of rocket
scientists appear on the
scene. Within a decade,
everything will change.
Agriculture will give way to
technology as a small city
becomes the centre for America's
rocket and missile research.
A by-product of this technology is
the Space and Rocket Centre Museum,
host to over four million visitors since it
opened in 1970.
Observe Wally Schirra's tiny mercury
capsule, or the charred command module of
Apollo 16.
From a moon buggy to moon rocks, over 1500
pieces of rocket and space hardware are on
display — valued in the tens of millions of
dollars. It is here that SPACE CAMP was born.
Marshal M. Rosenthal reports.
people from all over the
S world the opportunity to
see p what it is like to he an
astronaut.
a
c
Enrollment was a modest 750
when it began in 1983. Today it
is e up to 3,000 per season, with a
dormitory C of 140 beds for each
one a week session.
mHow
to explain what Space
Camp is like?
p How better than to ask the
would-be g astronauts themselves.
Here's i Todd, II, David 13, Chris
12, v Liz 12, Jill 14, and Greg 16.
, The
e
younger members of our
group had just completed level
one
s
of the camp's training
programme y while Jill and Greg
were o veterans of level two — in
which u you get to do some really
"awesome" stuff
n
Greg: The camp was very
different g from what I expected.
Fun, but also a lot of hard work.
David: When you see that big
Saturn rocket on display outside
in Rocket Park, you really get an
idea of what it's all about.
Todd: The equivalent of a thirty
story building that propelled the
Apollo astronauts to the moon.
Awesome!
Jill: What they had you do made
you learn a lot. First you took a
test which has some pretty hard
questions about the space
programme to see what you
already knew. This way the
could place you in a team with
others like you and see that you
got the right kind of
instructions.
David: We spent a lot of time
learning stuff. Our teams were
named after the sun and planets.
Mine was Neptune.
Liz: Chris and I were both on the
same team, Mars.
Todd: Venus for me.
Greg: Our teams were named
after the shuttles. Jill and I were
both Discovery. The others were
Columbia and Atlantis.
Todd: The first day, Sunday, we
DPaint
AIL
counselors got up at 7.30a.m.
After we got dressed, we all did
about 10 minutes of exercises to
warm up. Then we went to eat in
the cafeteria.
Chris: The food's pretty bad.
David: It's realistic that way!
Greg (holding up a silverized
aluminum potich) Look at this
stuff_ Dehydrated beef and
potatoes!
Liz: It's not McDonalds for sure.
Chris: Level One had a lot of
speakers from NASA and
companies involved with the
space program. One of the topics
was about the space telescope
they're gonna build. Outside of
Earth's atmosphere, it can see a
Jot farther_
Todd: Another talk was about
laser technology and how it can
be used in space to produce all
kinds of things that can't be
done here on Earth.
Liz: There's a 360 degree theatre
that you can sit in and watch the
picture projected all around you.
It makes you feel like you're
flying. We saw a lot of films
made during space missions.
David: There's a 0-force ride
that you go on. It hits you with
the effect of three gravities. You
sit in these seats and get spun
around.
Jill: The seat moves back and
pushes against you. But you're
buckled into it, so it's okay.
Todd: You have to look
overhead all the time, there's a
movie.,,,
Liz: (interrupting): A movie
showing space. hiked it a lot
Chris: When it's done, you're
supposed to be able to just get up
and walk away like nothing
happened. A lot of kids had
funny looks on their faces.
David: I'm glad I was okay, it
takes one and a half minutes for
the ride to slow down and stop.
Todd: I saw a lot of kids
wobbling.
Chris: Yeah, it takes a while to
feel normal again
Jill: Level Two got to try this
neat ride that simulates flight
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takeoffs and returns. You get
strapped into a special seat
which is inside of a huge ball
that's inside of a large vertical
tube. Then, a huge blast. of
compressed air goes off
underneath and you're shot up
to the top of the tube like a
super-powered elevator. After a
few moments, you drop back
down by get stopped by another
blast which acts like an air
brake_ It feels like a big hand
tossing you back and forth.
Liz: One day we got to make
rockets from kits with solid fuel
motors and shoot them off
Chris: One rocket didn't work
right. The whole thing divebombed
straight down and
buried itself halfway into the
ground.
Greg: Level Two is almost fully
devoted to missions aboard a full
• JILL IN SOF MACHINE