ML teens return from space camp

MOSES LAKE — Celeste Todd wasn’t sure of what to make of the fact that she was going to Space Camp this summer.

The Moses Lake teen, who won a trip to Space Camp in Huntsville, Ala., last spring as part of a day-long science and math event sponsored by Mitsubishi Aircraft, was a little leery of what she would find there.

“At first, I thought, ‘I’m not really into math or engineering,’ and I thought it would be mostly classes, a camp with a bunch of space nerds,” Todd said.

But it wasn’t classes. It was a lot more hands on than that.

“It was better than I thought it would be,” Todd said.

Todd and Judah Vrieling, both 15 and starting their sophomore years this fall, won a week-long trip to Space Camp as part of Mitsubishi Aircraft’s “Reach for the Stars With STEM” (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) event designed to encourage ninth-graders to study science and math by showing them the kinds of jobs and career science and math make possible.

According to Margie Phillips, public relations manager for Space Camp, students in the Advanced Space Academy — the week-long camp both Todd and Vrieling attended — do several simulated space missions, learn to work in zero-gravity, and have some engineering projects the need to complete as well.

“We were assigned different positions,” Todd said about one of the simulated space missions they participated in. “We basically learned to use computers, and solve anomalies, what astronauts call problems.”

“It was fun, but it was also very stressful,” she added.

Vrieling, who is home schooled but takes courses at the Columbia Basin Technical Skills Center, said they had to create a “spacesuit” for an apple and a heat shield to protect a raw egg.

“We had foils, a whole bunch of different materials,” he said. “The apple had to go under water, and then be in an oven for a while.”

“We did something similar to make a heat shield. We had to build something between an egg and a blowtorch to keep the egg from cooking,” he said.

Todd said she enjoyed their afternoon in the neutral buoyancy tank — a special swimming pool designed to train astronauts to work in weightless environments — passing around a bowling ball and trying to get it through a basketball hoop.

“We spent an hour learning how to breathe with the scuba gear,” she said.

Todd, who is home schooled as well, also enjoyed the flight simulator, though she confessed she isn’t a natural pilot.

“We flew in jet simulators. I crashed a lot. I’m not good at it but I got better toward the end,” she said.

While she enjoyed Space Camp, Todd is still not sure about her career goals.

“I don’t really know,” she said. “I’m still exploring what I could be.”

Vrieling, however, remains as convinced of his future path in aerospace engineering as he was earlier this year when he won the Space Camp trip.

“I already had some idea of where I wanted to go, but I would not be upset if (Space Camp) is what NASA is like, something fun and exciting like that,” he said.

“I’m super grateful to Mitsubishi, I had an amazing time. I think I will chase after STEM my entire life,” Vrieling added.

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached via email at countygvt@columbiabasinherald.com