Sophie Bilyeu of Creswell spent a week in Huntsville, Ala., learning about all aspects of space travel. The space camp offers real-world experience for kids year-round. Photo provided
Creswell’s Sophie Bilyeu recently attended Space Camp at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The weeklong educational program promotes science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), while training students with hands-on activities and missions based on teamwork, leadership and problem-solving.
This program is specifically designed for trainees who have a passion for space exploration. Sophie, a 10-year-old entering fifth grade at Creslane this coming school year, spent the week training with a team that flew a simulated space mission to the International Space Station (ISS), the moon or Mars. The crew participated in experiments and successfully completed an extravehicular activity (EVA), or spacewalk. Sophie and crew ”returned to earth” in time to graduate with honors.
Space Camp operates year-round, and uses astronaut training techniques to engage trainees in real-world applications of STEM subjects. Students sleep in quarters designed to resemble the International Space Station (ISS) and train in simulators like those used by NASA.
More than 900,000 trainees have graduated from the Space Camp program since its inception in Huntsville, Alabama, in 1982, including European Space Agency astronaut, Samantha Cristoforetti and NASA astronauts Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger, Dr. Kate Rubins, Dr. Serena Auñón-Chancellor and Christina Koch, who is serving aboard the ISS. Children and teachers from all 50 states and almost 150 international locations have attended a Space Camp® program.
