This summer a special gift was given to return a beloved piece of equipment to our Aviation Challenge program. In summer of 2020, the owner of the previous helo dunker on loan to the U.S. Space & Rocket Center requested that it be taken down and returned, thus removing that activity from the program. The helo dunker serves a fun and important purpose, of simulating a crash landing in a helicopter and giving trainees water survival tactics to use in a variety of situations.
Albert Bohemier of Canada, heard that were were in need of a helo dunker and as the owner of Survival Training Simulation Theater, he happened to have one to donate that would fit the bill!
The dunker was transported from Canada to the United States in August, and is waiting some attachments and refurbishment to connect it to the tower at Aviation Challenge. This will return a much beloved activity to the Aviation Challenge program for summer 2022!
On Tuesday August 17th, renowned Tuskegee Airmen Lt. Col. George Hardy and Lt. Col. James Harvey came to the Aviation Challenge campus to celebrate 30 years of the aviation inspiring program. NASA Astronaut Victor Glover was also in attendance to speak to the Aviation Challenge trainees in the audience about reaching for the stars and going for their goals.
The event culminated with a celebration of the program and recognizing all of the extraordinary achievements of the guests, trainees were treated to a special question and answer session with the dignitaries to get their questions answered about how to propel their own careers in aviation.
You can watch the full livestream of the event at the YouTube link below:
On Tuesday August 17th, renowned Tuskegee Airmen Lt. Col. George Hardy and Lt. Col. James Harvey came to the Aviation Challenge campus to celebrate 30 years of the aviation inspiring program. NASA Astronaut Victor Glover was also in attendance to speak to the Aviation Challenge trainees in the audience about reaching for the stars and going for their goals.
The event culminated with a celebration of the program and recognizing all of the extraordinary achievements of the guests, trainees were treated to a special question and answer session with the dignitaries to get their questions answered about how to propel their own careers in aviation.
You can watch the full livestream of the event at the YouTube link below:
August 2021 brought exciting news for Aviation Challenge enthusiasts! The helo dunker is an underwater egress training component that is much loved in the Aviation Challenge community.
In 2020, the current helo dunker system at the Aviation Challenge lake had to unfortunately be retired, as the owner of the system asked for it to be taken down. With the financial struggles brought on by COVID-19 and no leads on a potential helo dunker replacement, Aviation Challenge programs ran without a helo dunker during the 2021 season.
Tim Sheehy, owner of Bridger Aerospace, Aviation Challenge alumnus and U.S. Space & Rocket Center Education Foundation board member, knew exactly how important this component was as a part of the Aviation Challenge curriculum and connected our facility with a potential donor that had a helo dunker that met our needed specifications.
This introduction to Albert Bohomeier from Nova Scotia, Canada would prove to have a much needed positive impact on Aviation Challenge program for future summers. Albert was the owner of a retired 9D5 Helo Dunker unit, that was decommissioned and kept as a part of a private collection. At a time when he was looking to reduce the size of his collection, he heard about the need for a helo dunker at Aviation Challenge. Through this wonderful connection that Tim Sheehy and Albert Bohomeier made, Albert set plans into motion to have his retired helo dunker donated to Space Camp, to be used at the Aviation Challenge facility.
Since the dunker was located in Canada, this was not an easy feat. There were customs, and flatbed trucks, and shipping considerations that all needed to be set into place to bring the helo dunker to Huntsville, Alabama.
Enter another Aviation Challenge alumnus and Huntsville native that wanted to ensure that the dunker would make its way back to Aviation Challenge, J Spencer of Huntsville, Alabama. The helo dunker was one of J’s favorite memories from camp, and we wanted to help ensure that future trainees could enjoy this activity as well. J gave a generous donation to help transport the helo dunker from Canada to Huntsville, and begin the process of getting the dunker installed.
The dunker has now arrived at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center and is ready to be evaluated to see what needs to be done to get the piece operational. If you would like to contribute to the Aviation Challenge Helo Dunker project, visit our GIVE page – and use the hashtag #ACHeloDunker in the comments of your donation to support this awesome project!
Sometimes you find kindred spirits in the most unusual places. This summer, Space Camp made a few new friends starting with an email, extending to a phone call, then several emails and phone calls before finally resolving in the restoration of a prized Aviation Challenge simulator.
The search to replace the 9D5 helo dunker used at the Aviation Challenge complex for water egress training meant reaching out through our network for suggestions. After all, no one on staff is an expert on sourcing a seasoned dunker. Tim Sheehy, AC alum and foundation board member, suggested starting with a reach to Survival Systems USA in Groton, Connecticut.
This is where the friend-making began and how a 9D5 helo dunker that saw years of service at Naval Air Station Patuxent River now rests at the Rocket Center for a new tour of duty. Survival Systems (take a look at the super cool things they create) was founded by a remarkable man by the name of Albert Bohemier. For 40 years, Bohemier has enhanced and preserved workers’ lives through safety education, training technologies and applied research and development. This especially includes aircrew from around the world.
According to Bohemier, “The old 9D5 unit here was from Patuxent River in 2005 which we took back here after we installed the new METS (Modular Egress Training). The contract was turnkey and required us to remove everything old and replace with new.”
This applied to several installations, noted Survival Systems USA president and chief executive officer Maria Hanna. Hanna fielded my initial inquiry and said the Groton facility had a number of the old dunkers some time ago.
But not now. However, she would do some checking.
She quietly went behind the scenes to contact Bohemier who now lives in Nova Scotia. Did he still have the one dunker that accompanied him to Canada?
Fast-forward through elation, calls to logistics professionals, some fund raising to cover shipping costs to mutual satisfaction all around and dunker delivery.
“So what you do is so important and vital in our new world of today and tomorrow as we pass this torch to you all and allow you to fire them up to go beyond into the new Space Frontier. Old geezers like me will soon be at high altitude floating as cosmic dust and watching this from space.” Albert Bohemier
Coca-Cola, a legacy partner of the U.S. Space & Rocket Center, continued the company’s long-time support of the Center’s STEM initiatives and events by sponsoring an August program honoring the 30th anniversary of Aviation Challenge® Camp. The day’s festivities featured Tuskegee airmen George Hardy and James Harvey as well as U.S. Navy Commander Victor Glover, an astronaut and member of the Artemis Team that is helping NASA return to the moon.
Mike Sokoll, of Huntsville Bottling Company, is shown presenting a $10,000 check to Brenda Carr, Executive Director of the U.S. Space & Rocket Center Education Foundation. Lockheed Martin and National Space Club-Huntsville joined Coca–Cola in sponsoring the event.
Alabama’s new space tag promotes the groundbreaking role the Alabama workforce owns in developing lunar transport vehicles. Alabama residents can buy the Dare to Explore tag at local licensing offices. The U.S. Space & Rocket Center Education Foundation receives net proceeds from the sale of each plate. The funding, which is expected to exceed $200,000 in 2021, benefits restoration and maintenance of museum exhibits.
The future of human space exploration is brighter than ever- look at all the amazing crewed spaceflights in the past year, including those from NASA, SpaceX, Virgin Galactic, and Blue Origin! For many of us, our inspiration truly “blasted off” during our time at Space Camp. Let’s come together and reflect on our past as we celebrate the future.
Space exploration is an international endeavor and truly has no bounds. Last year’s Space Camp alumni patch design winner was Ana Paty Islas from Mexico City, Mexico.
This year’s theme is AlumniFest: Resume the Countdown and from reviewing all the amazing designs we received last year, we want to see your artistic talent again!
General Rules:
1. Attending the AlumniFest event (virtually or in person)
2. Incorporate “AlumniFest: Resume the Countdown” (or the spirit of the theme) and the year “2021” somewhere in the patch.
3. The design must be an original with no copyrighted material.
This patch design contest will run from August 2 through August 12 and the winning design will again, be made into a physical patch! Below is last year’s alumni patch design, showing the original design and the patch it was made into!
Submit your design to [email protected] by August 12th at midnight Central time to be considered. The winner will be announced August 16.
Good luck and we look forward to receiving all your designs!
This year’s Space Camp AlumniFest 2021 will be a hybrid event with opportunities for alumni to participate in person at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center and with virtual components as well. The Space Camp Alumni Association Board is working on Space CampAlumniFest 2021 that will be held on October 8th and 9th, 2021.
There will be on campus activities on Friday evening and additional in-person opportunities throughout the day on Saturday. Saturday night, alumni will head to Yellowhammer Brewery for an evening of fun and Space Bowl Trivia – where the winners of this year’s Space Bowl Trivia games will go head to head streaming live from the venue, along with a special in-person trivia event for the crowd. Virtual content will be running throughout the weekend.
Space Camp alumni will also be able to engage from home, by submitting videos prior to the event and participating in different alumni polls and contests, like our returning Patch Design Contest. Become a member of the Space Camp Alumni Facebook group to get the latest information on video requests, schedules, and contests. We hope to see you in Huntsville in October 2021!
As summer 2021 winds down, it brings reflection of how far Space Camp programs have come since the 2020 season, and how far they still have yet to go to get back to pre-pandemic levels. Space Camp programs returned in summer 2021 after weathering the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic that began in spring 2020. Week-long Space Camp, Aviation Challenge, and U.S. Cyber Camp programs started again in May 2021.
Trainees from across the United States attended programs this summer and were excited to take part in the immersive STEM activities that camp provides. Camps were run at a reduced 50% capacity to allow for social distancing and rotation between activities. A stark difference to the nearly sold out summer of 2019 prior to the pandemic.
As Space Camp works to return to a more regular capacity in future summers, the dedication of the staff to bring quality programming and a unique STEM experience to trainees stands out. Recently, the Space Camp Explorers Club had the opportunity to talk with Crew Trainers from summer 2021 to hear more about their role in guiding trainees.
You can hear more about their stories and the impact that Crew Trainers make in this Space Camp Explorers Club video:
As the summer winds down, the Space Camp team is thankful for the impact they have been able to make this summer and look forward to continuing to being a leader in STEM based educational programs for years to come.
