Page 32 - ARUBA TODAY

A32 FEATURE
Tuesday 7 augusT 2018

Rocket City, Alabama: Space history and an eye on the future

By MARCIA DUNN mitories that look as though
Associated Press they belong on the moon
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (AP) — The or Mars.
birthplace of NASA's rock- Camp counselors — called
ets lies in the land of cot- crew trainers — are mostly
ton, hundreds of miles from university students or recent
Cape Canaveral's launch graduates in STEM fields —
pads. science, technology, engi-
From the first U.S. satellites neering or math.
and astronauts, to the Apol- In July, campers got to
lo moon shots, to the space meet the first Space Camp
shuttles and now NASA's graduate to actually
still-in-development Space launch into space, Dottie
Launch System, rocket his- Metcalf-Lindenburger. She
tory inundates Huntsville, attended a Space Acad-
Alabama. emy for older students the
Huntsville's nickname, Rock- same month that shuttle
et City, is thanks largely to In this July 13, 2018 photo, the last standing Saturn V rocket can be seen at the U.S. Space & Discovery delivered the
Wernher von Braun and his Rocket Center in Huntsville, Ala. Hubble Space Telescope
team of fellow German- Associated Press to orbit in 1990. She went
born rocketeers who settled on to fly aboard Discovery
here in the 1950s. The city to see Space Camp open with bus tours into the re- entific small town in Amer- in 2010 as a NASA astro-
has long been home to the in 1982 at the rocket cen- stricted Redstone and Mar- ica," said retired Apollo naut-educator.
Army's Redstone Arsenal ter, but since then, 800,000 shall, and wild rocket-style program worker Billy Neal, Space Camp's simulations
and NASA's Marshall Space youngsters and grown-up rides like Space Shot and a volunteer docent who are "as realistic as they
Flight Center. But now it's space fans have attend- G-Force Accelerator. shed his white lab coat for can be for what's done
attracting new generations ed daylong, weekend or "We're all space geeks and that night's Biergarten. in a week," she said. "We
of engineers, scientists and weeklong sessions with we love it," Barnhart said. Miss Baker, the squirrel can't train kids on a whole
techies. Tourists come for space, robotics and avia- But Hunstville isn't just about monkey who preceded bunch of switches and cir-
the history. Kids and adults tion themes. history. Ongoing research Mercury astronauts into cuit breakers and systems,
come to learn at Space Its address? One Tranquil- aims to return astronauts to space in 1959, is buried at but we can give them the
Camp. ity Base, Huntsville. As in the moon and on to Mars. the U.S. Space and Rocket big idea."
It was von Braun, Marshall's "Houston, Tranquility Base "We're looking to the future, Center. Space Campers Her goal is to help campers
first director, who wanted here. The Eagle has land- really looking to travel in sometimes leave bananas "see that what they were
to showcase Huntsville's ed," words spoken by as- space, trying to figure out at her tombstone. doing this week isn't so very
rocket development and tronaut Neil Armstrong the problems of living and Nearly 1,000 campers from different than what we did
testing. Thus was born the when he landed on the working in space," Barnhart around the globe swarmed in the program and how it
U.S. Space and Rocket moon with Buzz Aldrin. The said. the rocket center during prepares you for real space
Center , an official NASA 50th anniversary of those Despite Huntsville's role, a typical week this sum- ... and then also to hope-
tourist spot that houses first moon steps is next July. author Homer Hickam, a mer. They launched small fully impart some things
one of only three remain- Huntsville plans to shoot up longtime Huntsville resident rockets and got the feel like all of us are going to
ing Saturn V moon rockets, thousands of little rockets in who's now retired from of walking in space while go through rough times,
this one a National Historic commemoration. NASA, sees Cape Canav- dangling from the ceiling in but there are ways to stay
Landmark. The DNA from America's eral, Florida, and Houston harnesses or scuba diving plugged in."
Von Braun planted the original rocket force still getting most of the at- in a water tank smaller but As Metcalf-Lindenburger
seed for Space Camp as permeates Huntsville, ac- tention when it comes to similar to what astronauts shook hands with each of
well. Why band camp, cording to Deborah Barn- space travel. Hickam's 1998 once used for practice. the nearly 1,000 graduates
football camp and cheer- hart, the U.S. Space and memoir "Rocket Boys" be- They were strapped into a at week's end, another
leading camp, but no sci- Rocket Center's executive came the movie "October mock cockpit coming in Space Camp graduate,
ence camp, he wondered. director. It's Alabama's No. Sky." for a Mars landing and sat Serena Aunon-Chancellor,
He didn't live long enough 1 paid tourist attraction, "You look at all this whole behind computers as flight orbited Earth aboard the
great big Saturn V, and controllers for the Mars mis- International Space Sta-
the only part that Houston sion. They even live in dor- tion. q
was responsible for was, I
don't know. This little part
right here," Hickam said,
laughing, as he pointed to
the capsule at the tip of
the 363-foot-long rocket,
stretching horizontally in its
massive exhibit hall.
German-style beer gar-
dens are hosted beneath
the Saturn V every Thurs-
day evening, spring to fall.
Engineers and their families
mobbed a recent one. Bev-
erages included T-Minus, a
In this July 13, 2018 photo, visitors tour the Orion modules in the locally made, tangerine- In this July 13, 2018 photo, NASA astronaut Dottie Metcalf dis-
space camp program at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in flavored beer. Monkeynaut cusses space travel and her experiences in space at the U.S.
Huntsville, Ala. brew is also a favorite. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Ala.
Associated Press "It's probably the most sci- Associated Press