Children of Deployed Parents Aim for Stars at Space Camp
(August 21, 2008) |
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Chelsea Ryan, from Wiesbaden, Germany, reviews a
checklist in preparation for a simulated space
shuttle launch at the Euro Space Center, in
Transinne, Belgium. Ryan was one of 24
participants in a space camp hosted by
Installation Management Command Europe Region as
part of its Camp A.R.M.Y. Challenge. |
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TRANSINNE, Belgium -- August
18, 2008 With
Joshua Mayo in the pilot seat and flight
director Daniel Arvleo-Perez overseeing a
mission control center hundreds of miles away,
the space shuttle landed flawlessly. Not bad for
a couple of teenagers.
Obviously, Arvleo-Perez,
15, wasn't at Houston's Johnson Space Center,
and Mayo, 17, didn't touch down at Cape
Canaveral, Fla. In fact, they were manning a
shuttle mock up and miniature mission control
center found here at the Euro Space Center,
which educates visitors on space, its
exploration and its consequences on everyday
life.
And for 24 children of
soldiers stationed in Europe, it provided a
break from the realities of
having a parent deployed to global hotspots such
as Iraq and Afghanistan.
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The space camp, held Aug. 3-8, was one of
three destination camps hosted this summer by Installation
Management Command Europe Region's Child and Youth Services
as part of its Camp A.R.M.Y Challenge program. The acronym
stands for adventure, resilience, memories and youth -- all
of which certainly proved true for participating high-school
students who wanted to learn more about the cosmos. |
“Based on the kids'
evaluations, we hit the mark in providing them
with activities they wanted,” said Joe Marton,
the program's director. “They wanted a fun
experience to enjoy in the here and now while
also developing or enhancing skills for use
during life's travels.”
Besides planning, launching and landing a
simulated shuttle mission, the campers also
worked with past and present astronaut-training
tools, including:
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The Multi-Axis Trainer,
wimulates what an astronaut felt during a
tumbling spin when reentering the Earth's
atmosphere in Apollo program space vehicles
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The 1/6th Gravity Chair,
which replicates movement than an astronaut
experiences on a surface with one-sixth the
gravity of earth -- like the moon. It was
used by Apollo crews to prepare for their
mission to the moon.
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The Rotating chair, which
reproduces disorientation and vertigo
- The Microgravity wall,
which creates what it's like to move in the
frictionless environment of space when
working on satellites or the shuttle itself.
In between these
amusement-park-like rides, the teenagers
prepared for their shuttle launch by splitting
into two groups: mission control, where
participants took on various jobs performed by
NASA members on the ground, and mission in
space, which had the campers performing the
roles of space shuttle astronauts.
Two days before their mission, the 24 Camp
A.R.M.Y Challenge campers truly got a sense of
what it's like to reach the stars as they
connected for an hour with astronaut Air Force
Col. Mike Finke, via Amateur Radio on the
International Space Station, or ARISS, a
volunteer program that builds and operates
equipment that allows communication between the
orbiting outpost and Earth.
Originally, the teenagers
were to be allotted a 15-minute session with two
Japanese astronauts training at Johnson Space
Center. However, a tropical storm in the Gulf of
Mexico forced the pair's evacuation. Staying
behind and volunteering to replace them during
the question-and-answer program, Finke, who is
preparing for a six-month mission on the space
station, took every query. The questions ranged
from the complex to the simple, such as: “What
physical, physiological and behavioral changes
can occur in astronauts while in space?” to
“What grades did you make in high school?” |
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Miranda
Uriegas
builds a rocket |
Max Warburg works
on his water rocket |
John Lee experiences
the 1/6th Gravity Chair |
Mallory Harder rides
the Multi-Axis Trainer |
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Pegged to lead the ISS Expedition-18 crew
in October and a father of three, Finke noted he could
relate to the campers' parents being separated from their
children, saying: “It's tougher for me every time I leave; ...
your moms and dads feel the same.”
Marton said the teenagers -- many of whom have had a mother
or father deployed numerous times -- took note of Finke's
comments of his time away in space and reintegrating with
his family. “There was a synergy there, a sense of, ‘I
understand what you're going through.' Looking back, it was
a blessing in disguise that we weren't able to connect with
the two original astronauts. Colonel Finke certainly
understood what these military children are experiencing.”
Besides the space camp, Installation Management Command
Europe Region also held a Camp A.R.M.Y. Challenge sports and
fitness camp for middle- and high-school-age children and an
island adventure for middle schoolers, along with specialty
camps at garrisons heavily impacted by deployments. Overall,
almost 1,250 children of deployed U.S. servicemembers
participated in the camps.
Now in its second year of existence, the program continues
be part of what Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates calls “a
sacred responsibility” to care for U.S. military children
affected by deployment.
Speaking last month at a conference for members of the
Military Child Education Coalition, Gates said: “The empty
seat at the dinner table night and after night is a constant
reminder of a child's worry for his or her parent's safety.”
“Our military children are awesome,” he declared, “just as
their parents are, but they have extra hurdles to clear,
burdens to bear. ... The sons and daughters of our
all-volunteer force also serve this nation; we have a sacred
responsibility to care for them.” | |
Article and
Photos By Ray Johnson
Special to
American Forces Press Service
Copyright 2008
Ray Johnson serves in the Installation Management Command Europe Public Affairs Office.
Reprinted
from American
Forces Press Service / DoD
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