Space Camp

So for the last twelve days, I was lucky enough to be selected to a Space Camp through my Dad's work (Honeywell), and it was an absolutely amazing (you could say it was out of this world) experience-- so much that I have to talk about it a little before I talk about my senior research project again.

So to begin with, it was really cool meeting people from all around the world-- literally-- and learning to communicate and creating friendships with those who do not even speak English! They had activities through the day that actually helped build leadership skills, and we were put in teams to do various activities like building a heat shield. We were given mesh, some wire, and aluminum foil, and asked to build a shield simulating that of re-entry of a shuttle into the atmosphere--actually the hardest part of the process. Another cool challenge was rocket building-- we were given some plastic, hot glue, an engine, a parachute, and the rocket head (preassembled) and asked to build a rocket that goes as far as possible while also deploying the parachute. I found that having a center of mass a few inches below the center of pressure was the optimal design, and my team's rocket travelled 2500 feet, the furthest out of all the teams!

We were also given the opportunity to look at all kinds of amazing Navy and Air force planes, including the F22 Raptor! Furthermore, there were tons of simulations, and we got to do a simulation of flying a fighter jet that pilots actually use for their first stage of training! There was another one that simulating feeling 4x gravitational force of that felt on earth, that was definitely interesting!

At the end of the week, there were a few awards, and I was nominated for leader of my team among all 380 attendees!!

Coming back down to earth, and my internship this week, will be a little dull and disappointing, but be sure to check in in a few days for my next srp (senior research project) post!