Exploring North Alabama Exploring North Alabama - Huntsville ...

The most valuable gift we can give a child is acareful education. This is where society has aprime obligation. To waste the time that a childhas to acquire knowledge is an outright sin.~Wernher von Braun, rocket scientistIt IS Rocket ScienceEducational Opportunities Aboundin Huntsville/Madison CountyIt takes many people to make a cityand many people to send man to themoon, but in Huntsville/MadisonCounty, it would be a disservice tooverlook the leadership of one man whowas so instrumental to both – Wernhervon Braun. Thanks to von Braun,Huntsville and the surrounding areaearned the name Rocket City USA andcommunity leaders carefully developedthe city/county infrastructure, culturaland arts institutions and educationalsystems necessary to grow an economyand enable a well-trained workforce infuture generations.Ed Buckbee, retired chief executive ofthe U.S. Space & Rocket Center/U.S.SPACE CAMP and the former publicrelations officer for von Braun, explained,“Von Braun was extremely focused on hisobjectives in space, but at the same time,his peripheral vision was sharp, too. TheSpace & Rocket Center is an example ofthat, as is The University of Alabama inHuntsville (UAH). Institutions like theCenter and UAH, he knew, could fosterand support his vision long after he wasgone.” Consequently, von Braun therocket scientist became von Braun thecommunity planner and even von Braunthe education guru.One small piece of von Braun’s legacy– a very special one that hastouched the lives of thousands ofchildren from around the world--lives on at the U.S. Space &Rocket Center (USSRC). U.S.SPACE CAMP was created in1982 from an idea von Braun had oftenvoiced to Buckbee. “He thought if therecould be football camps and cheerleadingcamps, why couldn’t there be a hands-onprogram for youngsters who wanted toreach for the stars,” related Buckbee. TheU.S. SPACE CAMP programs, featuringhands-on simulated space missions andunique educational activities over a fivedayperiod, grew to include children fromages ten through high school seniors, aswell as programs for adults, parents andchildren. A related program, AVIATIONCHALLENGE, was later developed andincorporates teamwork and leadershiptraining as it teaches the basics of flightand the discipline of our nation’s militaryservice.The USSRC – Alabama’s top paidtourist attraction – is also a destinationfor hundreds of school groups takingpart in the Ultimate Field Trip program,an exciting and educational day-tripcustomized to specific grade levels. TheCenter’s chief executive, Larry Capps,remarked that annual camp programs forSPACE CAMP trainees undergo a variety of simulationsincluding use of the Five Degrees of Freedom simulator(5DF). SPACE CAMPERers experience forward andbackward, side-to-side, roll, pitch, and yaw, whilelearning they can't quite overcome gravity! Childrenfrom across the world have come to Huntsvillesolely to experience U.S. SPACE CAMP.children with special challenges, such asthose with vision or hearing impairments,are also provided.“From the beginning, we knew asmall percentage of SPACE CAMPgraduates could well be the space flyersof tomorrow,” mused Buckbee, “but wealso knew that if students were given theproper motivation and learned why theymust have science and math, they coulduse that foundation and let it take theminto a field of their choice.”The USSRC is also the location of theannual Great Moonbuggy Race, typicallyheld in April and sponsored in part byNASA's Marshall Space Flight Center.Competition is in two divisions: highschool and college. Students are requiredto design a vehicle that addresses a seriesof engineering problems that are similarto problems faced by the originalMoonbuggy team. Each Moonbuggy ishuman powered and must carry twostudents, one female and one male, overa half-mile simulated lunar terrain coursecontinued on page 28Initiatives October 200427