Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama: Discover Otherworldly Adventures

It’s here in Huntsville, a typical Southeastern USA city known for its charm and history, that the rockets that sent men to the moon were developed. The U.S. Space & Rocket Center serves as the visitor headquarters for NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center and is the largest spaceflight museum in the world. It contains more than 1,500 artifacts including Explorer I, the first U.S. satellite.

For astronauts-in-training, Space Camp fosters a fascination with the future of space exploration while incorporating valuable STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) practices for real-world learning. When kids attend Space Camp, they become part of a noteworthy lineage of 750,000 camp alumni (including 10 real astronauts) from 120 countries.

When kids arrive at camp on Sunday, they embark on an exciting itinerary of learning: from flight and astronaut training simulators to classroom lessons on the history of space exploration. They’ll also get hands-on engineering and technology practice by building a model rocket and designing a colony for life on Mars. And what kid wouldn’t want the chance to meet a real-life astronaut?

Come lunch time, campers will munch on a “Mars-to-table” menu with ingredients grown in aeroponic gardens – much like the gardens NASA is testing to grow food in space. Along the way, there are camp-wide challenges with awards for outstanding teams and individuals. By the time camp wraps up on Friday, the next generation of astronauts and engineers is walking out the door.

And Space Camp isn’t just for kids; there are options for educators, adults and families, too!

The U.S. Space & Rocket Center has designed various camps to suit different interests and age ranges. At the flagship Space Camp, attendees explore aerospace and STEM-focused careers while learning about spaceflight history and astronaut training techniques. Students in the Aviation Challenge Camp learn life-saving, military-focused skills such as food procurement, how to build a shelter and water survival while testing out military flight simulators. At Robotics Camp, kids work in teams to engineer air, land and sea robots – skills that carry into the next generation of high-tech careers. The center has several other options to choose from including day camps, family camps and even programs for fans of the American Girl series.

Huntsville International Airport (HSV) is served by several major airline carriers and offers easy access to the Huntsville area. Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International (BHM) is located just an hour and 20 minutes south as an alternate entry point; rent a car on-site for the drive to Huntsville.