Hello,

I am not an astronaut and I have never traveled into space. However, I did attend the U.S. Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama when I was in high school. Space Camp was a lot of fun. We learned how the astronauts train for missions on board the Space Shuttle and did two simulated missions.

It might be fun to travel into space someday, but most scientists who study the Earth's magnetosphere and the Sun are not astronauts. Most of us use data from unmanned satellites to study physical processes that occur in places where it might be very difficult or even dangerous to send a human astronaut. The satellites used by space scientists have special instruments that can detect things that an astronaut cannot see, touch, hear, smell or taste. For example, the SOHO spacecraft has instruments to detect ultraviolet light from the Sun. Other unmanned satellites can detect x-rays, measure high energy electrons traveling close to the speed of light, or detect radio waves in space.

Kris

what is your favorite thing about being an astrounant?

Hi! I think that is so cool that you went to space camp. What was it like? What did you learn?

Thanks for answering our question! I think it would be fun to go to space camp. Some of my friends have and they loved it! I'm really interested in stars and wanted to learn more about them...

Thanks again!

• Do you have any interesting hobbies?
• What courses did you take in college?
• Do you think it would be a challenge to travel into space?
• Would you like to travel into space one day?

Hello,

I won the trip to Space Camp by answering trivia questions about space exploration for a contest, so I learned a lot about the Apollo missions to the Moon and the Space Shuttle before I even left for camp!

I went to Space Camp a long time ago, so the facilities there have changed a little from when I was there. However, some things still haven't changed much. Kids who go to Space Camp still get to learn what it is like being an astronaut using simulators that are nearly identical to the ones the real astronauts use to train for their missions. We did two simulated missions at Space Camp. I was the Commander for one of the simulated missions. As the Commander, I sat in the cockpit of the Space Shuttle simulator with the Pilot. We talked to the Ground Control team in our simulation and flew the Space Shuttle during the launch and landing. Other kids got to do simulated space walks using special equipment to help them learn what it is like to work in space. We learned about all of the procedures that the real astronauts need to do during a Space Shuttle mission. We also used a special chair suspended from the ceiling to simulate what it would be like to walk on the Moon, where gravity is much weaker than on the Earth. It was a lot of fun!

Kris