Friday, October 5, 2012

History




When Dr. Wernher von Braun arrived in 1950 in the tiny Alabama town which called itself the "Watercress Capital of the World," Huntsville boasted a population of 15,000. Today, it is forged forever in history as the place where America's space program was born; where the rockets were developed that put the first U.S. satellite into orbit and sent men to the moon; where the power for today's space shuttle was developed; where the modules for the International Space Station were designed and built; and where the next generation of spacecraft, the Ares I and Ares V, are currently being designed.
It should come as no surprise that Huntsville is also home to one of Earth's largest space museums and attractions: The U.S. Space & Rocket Center®.
During the final months that von Braun and his team of scientists were refining the giant rocket that sent Apollo astronauts to the moon, he was also preparing to launch another important project: a permanent exhibit to showcase the hardware of the space program.
Today, the U.S. Space & Rocket Center houses thousands of artifacts, including the charred Apollo 16 Command Module, a rock brought back from the moon, the original Saturn V lunar rocket vehicle and a full-sized space shuttle mock-up.
It is also the home of SPACE CAMP®, the world's pre-eminent youth science activities program. More than a half-million young people and adults from all 50 states and dozens of foreign countries have participated in the various SPACE CAMP astronaut training activities since the program began in 1982. Space Camp is designed to encourage young people to pursue careers in science, math, engineering, robotics, and aerospace industries by giving them a firsthand introduction to the exciting work being done in the space program.
AVIATION CHALLENGE®, added in 1990, is geared toward young people interested in military and commercial aviation with programs for all age levels based on "Top Gun" flight training. It is regarded as the nation's leading military aviation- based educational camp program.

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