NASA Houston

Day 1
Philadelphia-5:40

We are waiting in the airport until 7:25 p.m. because our flight is delayed. We were supposed to board at 6:25 so we are almost exactly an hour late. The flight is three hours, 40 minutes long, and I know that Michael is going to get sick like he does on every flight we take. Who knows why. We are supposed to arrive in Dallas at 10:05p.m., but I know it'll be later, and the sad thing is that our flight from Dallas to Houston is at 9:50, so we'll miss it by like fifteen minutes. I hope that it's delayed, too. Nothing much is happening and nothing much is going to happen until tomorrow morning. I am really looking forward to this week though, despite my complaining. I'll write later, maybe when I'm on the plane or when we get to the hotel. We are going to get to the hotel at like 2:00 a.m., wow!

Edit
I just go word that a U.S. Airways Plane stopped (stalled) on the runway, so it is stuck, blocking all flights out... well it looks like we might be delayed a big longer than we thought, sigh...

On the Plane

So, nothing has been happening on the plane yet, except that every five minutes, someone decides that they will fart! It's nasty, even for me, and I have a stuffed nose. Yeah, well I brought along this game called Phase 10, and I was playing it with my grandmother, it's actually really fun. So inside of the plane is normal, but outside of the plane is awesome. First of all, about two hours ago, the sun was still out and the clouds were really cool because of all the thunderstorms. They were big and puffy, and some were gray. Then, as the sun started to go down, you could make out some lighting, but it was very faint. Then it got even darker, and the lighting really started to show. When it happened the dark gray clouds turned to bright white, and you could see the actual bolds. A lot of the lighting was below us and I've never been above lightning. Then we went past the storm and the sun as setting. It was really cool, so I got some pictures of it, too bad I wasn't fast enough to get the lighting. Well we are just going over Alabama, so that means we are going to land soon...bye!

Day 2
Just Thinking

Well, today was interesting. We got in at 1:00 a.m. and went like right to sleep. Then my grandfather's alarm clock went off at 5:00 a.m., so we lost some sleep. Then, we really got up at like 8 and went down to eat breakfast in the hotel. We ate and then went back upstairs and did nothing for like an hour. The time then came to rent our car and leave for the Hilton. We got a Hyundai and it was really cool, but it had a flat tire. So then we got a KIA which was also nice. When we arrived here, we toured around the lake and everything. The clouds here are amazing, so big and close to the water. Then we went to the meeting that got us oriented with everyone else. They made us do this silly thing so that we had to talk about another person in front of like 50 people. Oh well, I was the oldest person. There was one other guy my age and everyone else is in like fifth grade. Aghhhhh!!! Well now I am back in my room at the Hilton watching Discovery Channel. I hope that the next few days aren't too bad. Okay well time to read a magazine...
-Bye

Day 3
Yay

Wow-Today was really interesting! We went to Space Center Houston and did activities with our groups. The first activity that we did was to built a robotic arm that could pic something up and put it in a cup. We also had to work with a budget of $100,000 (the supplies were in the $1000.) Our group won, so I was happy. Then we had to do this thing were our group was split in two and we each were given a bog of Lego's with random pieces in them. The two groups had to communicate with the other group and try to build the same thing that could fulfill the requirements on our papers. We did the worst on this one, they looked nothing alike. Then, the third activity that we did was to build a battery powered car. That was really fun and mine did well. Then we had lunch. After lunch, we went to watch a video in the NASA theater. I thought that it was one of the best films that I had ever seen. It was about being an astronaut and all about working on and living in the International Space Station. I had always wanted to be an astronaut, but after seeing this film, I am almost positive that that's what I'm going to be. I don't know what it pays, but I don't care- I know that there are a lot of dangers of going into space, but I also don't care. Tomorrow, we are going to the Neutral Buoyancy Lab which is where the astronauts train for zero gravity. It's the largest indoor pool in the world. Oh yeah, I just wanted to add something that I thought was cool that they had in the ISS, (International Space Station.) They had this little robot, actually they had like three, that would float around and help astronauts with tasks. They were about the size of a softball, and were different colors. The acronym for them was PSA, but I can't remember what their real names were. Well, looking forward to tomorrow!
-Bye!

Day 4
Pondering

Well today was pretty awesome. We went to the Neutral Buoyancy Lab (or NBL for short,) and boy was it big. It is the largest indoor pool in the world- and it's a whopping four stories deep. We saw astronauts training and they were simulating an emergency when we got there. It looked like fun. Then we went back to Space Center Houston (or SCH for short, again) to talk about space suits. That actually wasn't too bad because we did some experiments, so it was interactive enough. Then we had some free time so we walked around, and soon enough, it was lunch time. Yay- so we ate and then went to the Museum of Natural Science. That was really boring except for the rocks. I have some pictures of them. Then we ate dinner at this weird Italian place. When we finished, we heard Gene Kranz talk to us about Apollo 13. He was the Flight Director of those missions. Wow! He's a really good speaker and him and his talk only made me want to become an astronaut more. His stories were amazing. When I went back to the hotel room, I started reading this book on space, you know, questions and answers. Since I want to be an astronaut, I figured I'd want to know the requirements to be one. They are STRICT! They require that you be under 40 and under six feet talk, that you have a bachelor's degree in engineering or a PhD in science, that you be in perfect physical condition and have 20/20 vision! Ugh! And if you aren't a scientist or engineer, you have you have graduated from a fighter pilot school and have logged over 1,500 hours in space, that's around 62 days in a plane! That was the requirements for Gemini (1970's) so I'm hoping that in the next years, it will be more...open... I really want to do this; I want to be the first person on Mars, ha-ha fat chance! They say that the people that will go to Mars in 2030 are in the age range of 3 years old to 21 years old, so I'm like right in the middle, yay! Anyway tomorrow we are touring mission control in the Johnson Space Center, (historic mission control.) It is real, no mock up, it's the actual one they used up until Apollo 17. Time to go-
-Bye

Day 5
ISS

Today we went to the mock up of the INternationa Space Station, (or ISS for short.) When you are right next to it, it seems really big. It feels like you are in a garage and you are a mouse, but when you put it in perspective, it is actually really small. The space station is about half the size of a Boeing 747, maybe a little big bigger. The tour of the ISS was part of the Johnson Space Center tour. After the ISS part, we went on the see Historical Mission Control, the actual mission control that piloted all of the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo missions. This, of course, meant that it was the mission control home to the Apollo 13 "successful failure" mission. I thought that was really cool. After HMC, we finished the tour with no other stops, just a drive around the grounds. Then from there we went back to our headquarters at SCH. We were introduced to our newest project. The task was to prevent our egg from breaking when it slammed into a thick Plexiglas target. Our design was best because it had a parachute in the back to slow it down, so w won. We went back to the room and immediately left for a presentation of the Discovery STS-114, the one that meant to take of a while ago, (and just recently did take off,) but didn't before because an Eco fuel sensor malfunctioned. It told the crew that the liquid hydrogen tank was empty even though it was full. After this presentation we went once again back to the SCH room to build a Styrofoam space shuttle to fly. Let's just say that mine didn't do too well. Anyway, then we left to see another film called, "To Be An Astronaut." It was pretty good, and it really gave me idea of what it is like to be an astronaut. It only made me want to be one more. The day went on and we had dinner, then it came time to watch Apollo 13, the movie. I had never seen it, but I can tell you that after seeing all of the tragedy that can happen and all of the bad things that can go wrong, I still want to be an astronaut. In fact, after seeing that movie, I wanted to be one even more. I guess i like taking extreme risks. Well, signing off for the night, -Chris

Day 6
A Mild Day

Well I won't have a lot to write about today because the program is winding down, so we are doing less and less. Anyway what we did today was go into the mock shuttle in SCH and Tim (our guide) did a tour of it. I had been in there before, but no one explained what things were. Then we built some rockets--two sets. The first one was a rocket made out of paper and foam and was powered by a film canister that was pressurized. Ours didn't do too well, but it should of done very well. The lady loading the rockets didn't really have any idea how to use the air compressor, so rockets that shouldn't have gone high at all went really high and ones that should have gone high, didn't! Any who, the next rocket that we built was a model rocket with an engine. It was fun but Time went through the steps one by one when there were instructions looking us right in the face. Oh well, we don't get to launch them till tomorrow, so the day went on and we went to Galveston, kinda like a small shopping area, never mind, its more like a town of shopping. It is very nice to go to because even though it is old, they keep it well cleaned. We got back to the Hilton and had our pool party. I am the oldest one here, so I was giving piggy back rides and throwing kids and being dunked, so it was all good. Well I gotta get some sleep- -Bye!