Looks like we can finally send out kids to #SpaceCamp to #NASA. - http://clapway.com/2015/07/27/nasa-launches-a-new-space-camp-aimed-at-recruiting-for-future-mars-expeditions-235/

Space camp was an idea that always seemed more like a farfetched dream than a place a child might actually go visit, but new reports indicate NASA is looking to bring a new ground-breaking space camp in hopes of fueling interest among candidates who may go on to become part of future Mars expeditions.

Space Camp Sparking an Interest

NASA has seen a declining budget and support for years, despite all of the new discoveries and technologies the world has benefited from. One element of this new space camp is to drum up some additional interest in the program through the country’s future leaders.

Thousands of children will be coming together at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida and the US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, so that they may learn just what it means to be an astronaut, and what it would take for deeper space missions.

Hands on Experience

NASA will be using these space camps to give participating children real hands-on experience making and launching model rockets constructed of paper tubes and PVC pipes, while also learning to understand the pull of gravity through a microgravity simulator. The most exciting training involves planning and executing a mission in a full-size space shuttle mock-up.

“Each activity is planned to bring out team-building and problem-solving skills among children,” said NASA in a statement. “It is about allowing their natural curiosity run its course and sowing the seeds that might eventually lead them into space.”

Investing in Children

NASA is calling this project the Summer of Innovation, and they’re aiming to target children in middle school who are “underrepresented, underprivileged, and underserved. It’s a way to get kids excited for subjects they might not traditionally have any interest in such as science, technology, engineering, and math.

“I’m going to be a computer engineer, helping to launch rockets to go deeper into space,” said Colin Cox, an 11-year-old student.

The Space Launch System (SLS) from NASA is the largest rocket to ever be built, and its first unmanned test flights are aiming to happen in November 2018. NASA plans to use the SLS to send the first humans to Mars by the 2030s.

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Space camp in a box:

 

NASA Launches a New Space Camp Aimed at Recruiting for Future Mars Expeditions.

NASA Space Launch System in Critical Design Phase - http://clapway.com/2015/05/30/nasa-space-launch-system-in-critical-design-phase123/

NASA is currently in the critical design review phase of its highly anticipated Space Launch System. In this phase, the project leaders will be going over all parts of the project from top to bottom. The leaders are all looking over every sheet of the vehicle’s design for any possible flaws. If all goes well in this stage of the process, the SLS will move into the manufacturing phase, and begin to cut and assemble parts together.

This new Space Launch System will make history in more ways than one

The Space Launch System is an extended space shuttle booster rocket that’s been in the works for years. It was first test fired in March of this year. NASA hopes that it will be fully ready for a launch in 2018. The project is both important and historic, since NASA hasn’t gotten this far with an exploration-type vehicle since 1977. The SLS will also be the largest rocket on Earth, taller than the Statue of Liberty, and feature the world’s most powerful engine, at 22 million horsepower.

The Space Launch System team hopes to be in deep space by 2018

The fast-approaching deadline of 2018, just two and a half years from now, should be even more of a historic landmark. A new design in deep space exploration vehicles that will help propel it into outer space is about as important as it gets in this field.

SLS is made of a mix of old and new parts

What’s set to be the world’s largest and most powerful rocket is actually not 100 percent new. It uses 23 parts from old shuttles, in addition to newly developed parts. The Space Launch System booster is made composed of five segments — one more than the number used on shuttles in the past. Along with four RS-25 engines, the boosters will propel a spacecraft with enough power to escape Earth’s gravitational pull in two minutes. The boosters themselves will provide three quarters of the lift. With this record-breaking rocket in the works, the Space Launch System’s proposed 2018 launch will certainly be a momentous event.

NASA Space Launch System in Critical Design Phase