Tag: Alumni stories

Space Camp Alumni Flying High Among Esteemed Pilots 

Our Space Camp alumni are reaching great heights in careers all around the world, and Space Camp program alumnus Jason Tabor is no exception. His time at Space Camp and Aviation Challenge helped guide his passion for flying. Helping to cement his passion for flying and interest in making it a career. 

Growing up in Lexington, South Carolina Jason found his love of aviation at an early age and was fascinated with flying. His grandfather, an aviator himself, would take him flying as a child. Their flights together would ignite Jason’s interest in being a pilot himself and having an avid interest in learning more about flying aircraft. 

Preparing for Flight 

Jason found his way to Space Camp in 1989 and arrived at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center facility again for Aviation Challenge in 1992. These experiences helped to cement his love of aviation and fuel a passion for flying. His time at Space Camp was the first time away from home on his own, and he was able to build a confidence in his experiences at camp, knowing that he was meant to be in aviation. 

As a part of the Aviation Challenge, Jason was able to take part in activities that introduced him to many aeronautical concepts, including the chance to fly a basic simulator and demonstrate basic aerobatic maneuvers. His team at Aviation Challenge also flew model aircraft and spent time learning what it took to become a pilot. Learning survival skills, including the zip line into the lake, were one of his favorite activities at Aviation Challenge.  

Jason would go on to get his pilot’s license to fly small aircraft a few short years after his time at Aviation Challenge.  

Having the ‘Right Stuff’ to Fly 

Flying planes isn’t without its challenges though. One experience in his youth found him piloting a Cessna 152 at the age of 18 that had engine trouble and required an emergency landing. He was trained for this exact scenario during his pilot trainings, although it is something you hope never happens. Jason successfully brought the plane to a landing in the middle of an empty field just north of a state park. An experience he would look back on later in his career and recall as being a foundation that, “Aviation is very safe, and the risks are mitigated through extensive training and preparation.” 

This training and preparation would continue to serve him well throughout his career. A good bit of passion helped as well. “I couldn’t focus on anything other than aviation and always dreamed of being paid to do something I enjoyed.”, said Jason when he spoke of his career path. 

He went on to graduate from Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University with a degree in Aeronautical Science. Jason flew night flights for the Federal Reserve Bank before moving into commercial airline service. When Jason joined United Airlines he had the opportunity to fly the Airbus 320, Boeing 737/757/767, and 777 model aircraft. Jason is also a volunteer with the Airline Pilots Association Mentor program and United Airlines Aviate program, to direct other pilots on their own path in aviation and meeting their personal goals. This breadth of experience led to become a full-time instructor in Denver for United Airlines in the Boeing 737 model aircraft.  

Paying it Forward as a Pilot Mentor 

Jason found a calling in mentoring and training other pilots. “The best part about being a mentor is seeing others succeed, and being able to witness that first hand.”  

And it also brought him back to his experiences at Space Camp and Aviation Challenge, that were at the beginning of it all. In his words, “Seeing others reach their goals not only makes them better, but makes me better simply by being in their presence.  My dad used to tell me to surround yourself with the best people, because they will continue to challenge you and bring you up.  I believe this was true when I attended Space Camp and Aviation Challenge and it is true in everything I do.  It is important to surround yourself with goal oriented successful individuals as they will be the ones that help bring your individual success to a new level. I am fortunate to work with the most amazing professionals that continue to challenge me and I continue to learn from others.” 

Jason is making a difference in aviation every day and helping new pilots set their course. We are honored to share this Space Camp alumni story, of a Space Camp alumnus achieving their goals and dreams through hard work and dedication to their craft.  

The new name for the Mars 2020 Rover was announced on Thursday March 5, 2020 and the winning name was “Perseverance”. The winning rover name was submitted by Alexander Mather, a seventh grader from Virginia. Mather is also a Space Camp Alumnus, and credits his time at Space Camp for increasing his love of space and space science. Prior to attending camp, he had an interest in video games and technology, but Space Camp opened his interests to NASA and space science.

The name Perseverance came to him, because in other rover names we had covered the spirit of exploration with Spirit and Sojourner, but had thus far missed one essential ingredient of exploration – Perseverance.

Great job to this inspiring alumnus on picking a name for the new generation of exploration! We look forward to hearing about all of the discoveries that Perseverance finds on Mars, starting in 2021.

Find out more about Perseverance and Alexander Mather in the official NASA press release: https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/virginia-middle-school-student-earns-honor-of-naming-nasas-next-mars-rover

And more about the missions of Perseverance here: https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/

Stay tuned for incredible images to come from the surface of Mars when Perseverance has its anticipated landing in February 2021. Perseverance is the largest, most advanced rover that NASA has ever sent to another world, thus making this a giant leap forward in the name of exploration. Images from the surface of Mars will be relayed with only an approximate 15 minute delay, giving real-time data back to Earth and creating a new database about this extraterrestrial world.

Teams at NASA’s JPL, or Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in California will over see the new rover, including many Space Camp Alumni working on the team. We will be following this story and its advancements in the coming months! The information gathered from this mission will be a stepping stone to future exploration, perhaps even by humans, on Mars.

Tueday February 11th, 2020 was officially Women in Science Day, a day to commemorate the advancements of females in science, technology, engineering, math. The day not only acknowledges those that have paved the way for the current generation, but also salutes those that are currently making strides in scientific fields and serves as inspiration for the next generation of female scientists.

There were a number of Space Camp Alumna that celebrated Women in Science Day, in a variety of ways. Some took to Twitter to share inspiration – or even set straight some urban myths!

Beth Moses is the first female commerical astronaut and flies for Virgin Galatic. She made this post on Women in Science day encouraging women to “Go for it!”. Beth Moses is no stranger to paving the way for future scientists and astronauts, and helps to mentor others as the Chief Astronaut Instructor at Virgin Galatic. She was inducted into the Space Camp Hall of Fame in 2019.

Astronaut Christina Koch is a NASA Astronaut that recently returned to Earth after almost a year aboard the International Space Station. She is a five-time alumna of Space Camp and received the distinguished award into the Space Camp Hall of Fame in 2019. She shared this photo on Twitter, expressing her joy in seeing the ocean… from a slightly different vantage point than she had seen it most recently.

NASA Scientist Sarah Noble even got in on the action on Women in Science Day, but helping to dispell an internet rumor that had started circulating the previous day. Sarah Noble and Astronaut Alvin Drew dispelled the “Broomstick Challenge” social media myth that had started circulated the evening before, stating that broomsticks would stand on end that day because of gravitational pull. (Spoiler alert, this can happen any day of the year because they have a low center of gravity.) Sarah helped to share the official word on this challege with Astronaut Drew that “It’s Physics.”. Ms. Noble is a Space Camp Hall of Fame awardee and was inducted into the Space Camp Hall of Fame in 2018.

All of these women and so many more have helped to shape the current landscape of women in science today. We encourage all Space Camp Alumni to follow their dreams and continue making advancements in science.

Astronaut Christina Koch has returned home to Earth after 328 days aboard the International Space Station. During her time on the Space Station, she set records as part of the first all women spacewalk team with Astronaut Jessica Meir, and also setting a record for single longest spaceflight by a woman in December 2019.

Image Credit: NASA

Image Credit: NASA

During her journey aboard the International Space Station, Koch completed 5,248 orbits of Earth, traveling over 139 million miles. She frequently shared pictures of her trip on her social media, showing images from above of cities at night, historical landmarks, and significant weather events. (Follow on Twitter: @Astro_Christina) Now home at Johnson Space Center in Houston, she will provide her team with valuable data about long duration spaceflight and be an integral part of the foundation to plan for the Artemis flights. Koch is a five-time alumna of Space Camp and 2018 recipient of the Space Camp Hall of Fame award.

Astronaut Christina Koch is a five-time Space Camp graduate of Space Camp programs. Koch is a native of Michigan and obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering and Physics from North Carolina State University, as well as a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering. She graduated from the NASA Academy program at Goddard Space Flight Center in 2001. Afterwards, she worked as an Electrical Engineer in the Labratory for High Energy Astrophysics at Goddard Space Flight Center.

In 2013, Koch was selected as a NASA Astronaut candidate and became one of the eight members of the 21st NASA astronaut class. Her astronaut training was complete in July 2015 and she became a part of Expedition 59, 60, and 61 aboard the International Space Station.

Since being aboard the International Space Station, Koch has been a part of many record-breaking endeavors. In October 2018, she and Astronaut Jessica Meir were participants in the first all female spacewalk, and in December 2019 Koch broke the record for longest spaceflight by a woman by exceeding 289 days in space.

Christina Koch is set to return to Earth from the International Space Station on February 6, 2020 and a record breaking 328 days in space. She will return aboard a Russian Soyuz craft with International Space Station crew mates Luca Parmitano and Alexander Skvortsov. Her return to Earth will mark the end of a recording journey aboard the International Space Station for Koch, and the beginning of new adventures yet to come. With the beginning of the Artemis program, Koch is sure to play a role in continued space exploration as humans continue to expand their horizons in the cosmos.

Mission control is an essential part of the mission experience at Space Camp! During your time at Mission Control, you may have had a variety of positions from CAPCOM to Flight Director that help complete a successful mission. Your team may have run in to some anomalies along the way to test your problem solving and teamwork skills!

Check out our video on YouTube sharing some moments inside Mission Control:

We share some of the most beloved parts of the mission experience at Space Camp, as well as a glance at some of the new updates to the experience in recent years! Depending on when you first visited camp, it may look quite different from the early days.

When Space Camp first opened, all of the training equipment was housed in what was called the “bubble” and this was a central meeting place for all camp activities. Over the years at the Huntsville, Alabama facility, the operation grew and there were multiple buildings. In the 1990s, the Mission Training floor was housed in the Main Museum area and featured large shuttle components alongside the simulations that Space Camp is best known for.

As the camp has grown, so have its building spaces and one of the most recognizable is the Habitat, or Hab 1. This uniquely shaped living quarters is where trainees feel like they are housed in a Space Station-esque living space, there is also Hab2 and Hab3 on site as well. Missions are usually completed in the main museum space on the mission training floor, but there are also some mission components in the Astrotrek building which has a familiar bubble shape.

Inside the Astrotrek building, you’ll find the Enterprise shuttle mission setup, with the 5DF, Multi-Axis Trainers, and 1/6th gravity chairs all in one space. This new take on camp is across multiple areas at the facility, but still includes all of the signature fun that Space Camp is known for.

Make sure to sign up for our Space Camp Alumni email newsletter, to receive all of the latest alumni news! Space Camp Alumni Chapters are starting in 2020! And we may be coming to a region near you!