Calling all kids! Save the Earth from asteroids! Rescue a sick astronaut on Mars! Or spend the night in a museum full of dinosaurs!
Summer adventure is on the menu for this year’s Rocketeer Academy Summer Camp at the New Mexico Museum of Space History and registration is now open to cadets entering kindergarten through 9th grade. With a host of new programs on the agenda, this year’s camp promises to be a memory making out of this world experience.
“Our goal is to always make sure summer camp is fresh and exciting so we’ve added several new components to this year’s line-up,” said Dave Dooling, Museum Education Director. “For instance, cadets in our Comet and Mercury programs can choose either Rex Rocket’s Asteroid Roundup or Aviation Camp. In both classes, they’ll build and launch their own rockets, but they’ll also learn about specifics to each topic. In the Rex Rocket class, dinosaurs are the theme and saving Earth from an asteroid collision is the name of the game. In Aviation Camp, it’s all about flying, from kites to airplanes and everything in between.” The Comet group is open to students entering kindergarten through first grade and is a half day class. Mercury is open to cadets entering second and third grade, and is a full day class.
For older cadets, the Gemini and Apollo programs are made to order. Gemini, accepting cadets entering fourth through sixth grade (and limited to 14 per class), has two options: Target: Earth! and Wheels Up!. Target Earth takes kids on an adventure through time and space, with a close up look at dinosaurs at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History in Albuquerque, complete with a camp in, followed by practicing rock retrieval techniques that NASA will use to learn more about the threat that asteroids pose to humans. Wheels Up!, also open to Apollo cadets, teaches the basics of aviation, from balloons to jets to gliders that might help us explore Mars. A field trip to the War Eagles Air Museum in Santa Teresa uncovers the secrets of World War II and Cold War combat aircraft and at the Physical Sciences Lab at NMSU in Las Cruces, unmanned vehicles are explored.
Apollo cadets (entering grades seven through nine) get a little more “hands on” with the Space ‘Bots & More class when they learn to program a robotic hand and train golf ball-sized robots to follow a correct path. They’ll visit the Da Vinci Surgical System at Mountain View Medical Center to see how robotics help people in real life and they’ll pay a virtual visit to NASA’s satellite servicing lab in Maryland to learn how NASA uses robots to help save satellites.
Week long summer camp classes begin on June 5th and run through July. Registration is now open and available online at the museum’s website. Layaway is available through the museum education department only. A limited number of scholarships are also available and the application is available on the museum website.
The New Mexico Museum of Space History, a Smithsonian Affiliate, is a division of the NM Department of Cultural Affairs. For more information, call 575-437-2840 or toll free 1-877-333-6589 or visit the website at www.nmspacemuseum.org. Like us at: www.facebook.com/NMSpaceMuseum/