Last week, the five astronauts of NASA’s Expedition 17 spent their 85th day orbiting Earth on the International Space Station.
The same day— July 2 — four boys wearing helmets, backpacks, kneepads and handmade gloves explored the surface of the moon without ever leaving Westminster.
The boys completed their mission on the eighth day of the Spaceflight Institute at Carroll Community College, under the watchful eye of Sigmund Gorski, president of Volanz Aerospace, a Maryland non-profit that provides space science and technology programs.
The space program was one of a variety of programs offered by the college to preschool through middle school aged children during the summer. Subjects include art, science, sports, technology, politics and theater. Most programs last three hours a day for one week. ‘‘Kids For Peace” a full day program teaches campers about foreign cultures and how they demonstrate peace in action.
‘‘Usually they have a time limit,” said Gorski, explaining how some of his practice missions account for astronauts’ limited oxygen supply.
Oxygen was plentiful in the warm summer air outside the college, but the astronauts-in-training wasted little time.
One boy took temperature readings of rocks on the ground and used a walkie-talkie to report his findings to mission control. The others picked up rocks with handheld grabbing devices and dropped the samples in plastic bags.
Meanwhile, campers inside the building practiced taking off and landing aircraft on a computer program.
Nine-year-old camper Jack Purdue said he wants to be an astronaut when he grows up. ‘‘I’ve always been interested in the planets,” said the Eldersburg resident, who prefers academics to sports.
Jack, a rising fourth-grader at Piney Ridge Elementary School, said he would not be afraid to fly into space. To prove his point, Jack talks about riding roller coasters, such as ‘‘Top Thrill Dragster” in Ohio, which stands 420 feet tall and reaches 120 miles per hour.
Jack and the other campers enjoyed a variety of activities during the two-week program, which costs $350 per camper. The group of 8- to 14-year-olds designed models of spacecraft, constructed a moon base and used a sophisticated flight simulator to learn how to fly an unmanned, suborbital airplane. At the end of the camp, participants receive certificates at a ceremony attended by their parents.
Alan Hayes, a Spaceflight Institute instructor, said Volanz Aerospace has led educational programs on space exploration since 1998. This was the organization’s first time at Carroll Community College, he added.
‘‘It’s teaching and having a good time doing it,” said Hayes as he demonstrated a flight simulator. On the simulator’s 40-inch screen, an airplane under his control climbed 10,000 feet in five seconds. Hayes said astronauts on the International Space Station use the same software to practice spaceflight.
In another room, Jack took the controls of a simulated jet. When he sat down to pilot the vessel, he uttered two words any aspiring astronaut can relate to: ‘‘Let’s fly!”
