On Thursday June 3, 2021, Governor Kay Ivey of Alabama made a visit to the Space Camp mission training floor to celebrate the reopening of Space Camp.
Space Camp programs and the U.S. Space & Rocket Center shuttered temporarily for a period of two months in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. When Space Camp reopened in May 2020, safety protocols were in place for COVID prevention and camp capacity had been lowered. Due to the closure and lowered capacity, in addition to visitors from schools and International locations being unable to visit in Fall 2020, Space Camp faced an uncertain future. The effort to “Save Space Camp” began in July 2020, raising $1.5 million in just under a week. The amount needed by October 2020 to keep the doors of the U.S. Space & Rocket Center open until Space Camp trainees could once again visit in 2021.
The COVID-19 pandemic was a challenging time for the Space Camp team, however May 2021 brought reason to celebrate when the first Space Camp program trainees were once again on campus!
Governor Kay Ivey spoke with stakeholders of the U.S. Space & Rocket Center followed shortly by meeting some of the students from the SALSA (Space Academy for Leading Students in Alabama) program. The students were excited to meet with the governor, who helped get the very program in place that brought them to Space Camp in 2021.
As capacity continues to open and the COVID situation evolves, Space Camp looks forwarding to welcoming more future Space Camp Alumni to campus and continue inspiring the spark of inspiration for the future explorers of tomorrow.
