Challenger Center teaches kids about space

Twelve-year-old Callie Mouser got interested in space exploration in 4th grade. She took that interest another step last month by attending a week-long camp at the Challenger Learning Center.

Callie Mouser

Callie, who lives in Manchester, said her interest in space started with a school paper she wrote. The report was on Christa McAuliffe, the school teacher who died in the explosion of the Challenger Space Shuttle.

The local Challenger Learning Center was established last year to honor the crew of the Challenger shuttle.

In July, Callie was one of 12 kids who took part in a day camp at the center. It’s located on the grounds of the new McClure South Berkeley High School.

(To find out how you can take part in learning center activities, see sidebar below.)

Callie will be a 7th grader at Parkway South Middle School in the fall. She wants to have a career in space exploration. “I want to either be a space engineer or work in mission control,” she said.

Ryan Anani

She’s not so sure about actually going into space. Callie said, “Going into space would be an experience of a lifetime. But, I’m not sure yet about doing that myself.”

The camp kids got a lot of information about what’s involved in a space mission.

On the first day of the camp, they heard from an astronaut. They also got to try on a space suit. And they saw how the astronauts slept in the weightlessness of space.

Twelve-year-old Ryan Anani said, “We got to see how uncomfortable it is to sleep in a space suit.” Because of the weightlessness, astronauts had to tie down their sleeping bags.

Ryan lives in O’Fallon and will be a 7th grader at Francis Howell Middle School this fall. He said he first got interested in space when he saw a space film in the Omnimax theater at the St. Louis Science Center.

He said he learned about the Challenger day camp from his grandfather, John Schoep. Ryan said, “Grandpa was in the Air Force. He was a friend of one of the people who died in a recent shuttle explosion.”

Francesco Vasi

One of the team projects at the day camp was building a bottle rocket, powered by water and compressed air. The goal is to launch the rocket and have it come to earth without breaking a raw egg in the nose cone.

Thirteen-year-old Francesco Vasi of Chesterfield said his three-man team has a plan for cushioning the egg for landing. He’ll be a 7th grader at Rockwood Valley Middle School.

He said, “We’ll wrap the egg with cotton and then with rubber. We’ll also have mini-springs wrapped around it. Then, we have a titanium cap for the nose cone. We’ll pack everything in tight so the egg can’t move.”

Francesco said he got interested in space three years ago. That’s when his father bought him a model of a 3-stage Apollo rocket. It was propelled by a solid fuel.

He put a “micro-camera” in the nose cone in order to film the launch and landing.

Each stage of the rocket returned to earth with its own mini-parachute, so it could be used again. He said, “It was pretty cool.”

Savannah Anthony

Eleven-year-old Savannah Anthony of Florissant was on the same three-person team as Callie Mouser. The girls named their team Discovery 37. The significance of the 37 was that there were three girls and all will be in 7th grade this fall.

Savannah will be going to Saint Sabina Catholic School.

She said participating in a mock Mission to Mars was one of the highlights of the camp. There is a simulated mission control and shuttle cockpit at the Challenger center.

Savannah said she isn’t planning on a career in space. “I’d like to be either an actor or a teacher,” she said. One of her favorite activities is playing the guitar. Her favorite tune is “The Rakes of Mallow,” an Irish folk tune.

For 12-year-old Joe Kehrwald of Chesterfield, attending the day camp will be one of his last activities in St. Louis. He and his family are moving back to Colorado.

He said he expects to be in Colorado by the time school starts in the fall.

Joe is another camp participant who had past experience with rocket launches. “It was one of those rockets that went about 100 feet in the air and then parachuted down,” he said.

Joe said he isn’t planning on a career in space. He wants to be either a pro athlete or a video-game designer. He said he was already taking technology classes and has a number of designs made.

Four more Voyage to Mars sessions

The Challenger Learning Center has four Voyage to Mars sessions open to the public in July. There’s even a 2-for-1 enrollment feature.

The “public missions” will be held on Thursday, July 8; Saturday, July 24; Thursday, Aug. 5, and Saturday, Aug. 21.

Regular admission is $25 per person. But, for these four “missions,” two people will be admitted for the price of one, according to Tasmyn Front, center director.

Although you actually won’t be going to Mars, you’ll feel like it. The Challenger Learning Center has state-of-the-art flight simulation equipment that you’ll be able to use.

For reservations or information, call (314) 521-6205 or visit wwww.clcstlouis.org.