2001 School Magazine

, 4 : space camp

Us Space Trip 2001 There were two parts to the trip - the Us Space & Rocket Center and travelling to many parts of the American continent - both of which

even including how well they made their beds and tidied their rooms Larissa also won the Right Stuff Award, which was awarded to the student who not only performed well over the six-day program but who maintained a positive attitude throughout and was a significant contributor to the team's welfare and performance. Larissa was chosen from a group of 63. She was also fourth in the Top Gun competition Caltlin Wi!son was a member of the Black Panthers team and with Sally Stubbington as herWSO, won the right to advance to the finals of Top Gun as the team's representatives They came third. The Black Panthers, consisting of Caltlin, Sally, Genevieve Butnoris, Sarah Holtam, Shanthi Kalyanasundaram, Shona MCCallum, and Gelaldine Wright, won the program's award for being the most highly motivated team The Advanced Space Academy girls also had an amazing time, with pilots, mission specialists, and payload specialists training together to complete an extended duration mission lasting 6 hours They also had fun experiencing four 9'5 of lift-off force and weightlessness on the space shot simulator as they learnt about the mental, emotional, and physical demands astronauts must face. The Space Academy girls were also very successful in winning many of the awards on offer. Nicola Walsh, Lucy Hall, Laura Whish, and Sarah Spooner each received a Payload Specialist Award, while Genevieve Blanch won a Mission Specialist Award Nthe end of the week, with the Aussies claiming many of the awards at the respective graduation ceremonies, there were several sad goodbyes to be said to our new American friends and instructors With promises to send photos and more of the "revolting killer"vegemite, we marched onto a bus which took us to the airport, ready to board our next night, and the beginning of the second part of our American Adventure

were found to be extremely educational in different ways

We departed Brisbane heading for Los Angeles via Auckland We arrived in LA in the morning and spent the rest of the day finding food and relaxing by the pool The following day was spent touring LA

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That night we departed LA on a flight to Huntsville, A1abama This is the home of the Us Space and Rocket Center and was our living quarters for the next six days The group split into two as the girls were given the option of participating in either the Advanced Space Academy Program or the Aviation Challenge Program This was the first time in the history of the trip that a group from Grammar had been a part of the Aviation Challenge Program, so we had no idea what to expect. For the still jet lagged Aussie travellers, it turned out to be too much, resembling an American boot camp, in a very fun way. Activities included training in flight simulators. patrolling, land and water activities. escape and evade missions, and simulated dog fights Larissa Beane, Rachel Brett, Lauren Daley, Jillian Stack, and Joanna Turner were members of the Jolly Rogers who were the eventual winners of the "ultimate challenge"- the Red Flag competition. This event combined simulated flights, land and water activities, escape and evasion tactics,

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We spent four and a half days In Orlando, relaxing after the hard work of the previous week. Six therapeutic hours in the most gigantic outlet shopping mall ever encountered was a crazy experience which resulted in the purchase of several extra suitcases to accommodate quickly expanding wardrobes. Over the next three days we visited the EPCot Centre, the Kennedy Space Centre and the Magic Kingdom in Disneyworld. Our time in Orlando up, we once again transferred to the airport, this time, destination Washington. We spent a frantic day In Washington on the 4th of July on a sightseeing tour that Included the Allington Cemetery

where JFKis buried, the Lincoln, Washington, and Iefferson Memorials, the White House, and the Capitol On our last dayin the States, we spent the morning catching up on any missed shopping before transferring to the airport, to meet the plane that would take us home, back to our families. The trip was extremely beneficial and enjoyable and we would like to thank those people who enabled it to happen, especially Dr Stephens and Mrs Vize who accompanied us, and Mrs. Hancock for letting us go