Hello again from still sunny Alabama,

Well Thursday proved to be the high point point of the camp as the kids
completed their missions and launched rockets.

To be surrounded by a group of highly excited teenagers, all chattering
about their experiences on the mission is fantastic, in a way a relief
that the whole trip has been worthwhile. At 'half-time' in the Von Braun
team's 6 hour mission I saw them all, and they were just buzzing ... even
Caitlin was keen to tell me about the emergencies they had to cope with in
mission control ... vomiting attacks, allergic reactions, and a gas leak
which ended up killing the gas man before they could fix it. Meanwhile on
the shuttle, there was a fire, broken legs and numerous warning lights to
deal with. Sam was the rock in mission control, trying to relay solutions
to the shuttle crew while all around was chaos.

Holderer were also very excited after completing their mission, with Laura
telling me several times over the next few hours just how cool that was,
obviously loving the whole experience. They all threw themselves into it,
acting out their parts ... Gareth had a convincing heart attack during the
launch, and Jasmine made an excellent desperate depressive, but
unfortunately they mis-diagnosed her. James was thrilled that they solved
the elevated carbon dioxide problem on the space station, just like in
Apollo XIII.

I'm not sure that the Von T team entered into the spirit of it with quite
so much vigour as the other two, as Jonathan described it as ... "at times
incredibly boring, at times incredibly stressful". Which I think means it
was a pretty good simulation, as that is exactly how it would be on a real
space mission.

The launching of their own rockets was also split along the same lines
with Von B and Holderer having some spectacular and successful flights,
while Von T's were not so successful. Once again the kids were very happy
and excited at the launches I saw, on a perfect, still, sunny morning.

Alex N, Laura and Jasmine's rocket shot across the park straight into the
trees, without giving the parachute a chance to open.

Ben, Alex C and Tim Z's rocket was perfect! Straight up, nice and high,
parachute burst open and egg safely returned to land ... then almost run
over by a concrete truck on the road on the other side of the park!

James, Gareth and Cameron's rocket blasted up about 20 metres, then the
second stage kicked in and the rocket shot in 2 different directions, one
coming back our way with people ducking for cover. Great fun.

Bojana, Tara and Paulina's rocket went almost horizontal in a beautiful
spiral leaving a twisted smoke trail.

Ashleigh and the American girls' rocket was spot on, but the parachute
drifted away over a nearby fence.

Yin Zhou, Sam and Caitlin's rocket was just fine, flying straight up with
a safe parachute landing.

Lots of whooping and cheering for each one, whatever happened.

Finally an interesting connection between the German rocketeers and Walt
Disney. Werner Von Braun realised he needed to publicize the rocket
programme in Huntsville in order to get public support behind his dream of
sending rockets to the moon. He invited Disney to Huntsville to discuss
setting up a rocket attraction here, but Walt was not convinced. So, Von
Braun started the Space and Rocket Centre here anyway, which later added
the Space Camp in order to capture the imagination of the children of
America ... and New Zealand!

Have a happy and safe Easter weekend,

Cheers

David