Space Camp cadets enjoy a great start despite last-minute cancellation

It’s not how we wanted to end camp, that's for sure”

Alyssa Young, Deke Slayton Memorial Space Museum Executive Director

The Deke Slayton Space Camp made its return this year after its cancellation last year due to the COVID-19 situation. While the week started out with a bang, the fun nearly fizzled on Wednesday after one of the 20 cadets tested positive for COVID. 

Even though most of the cadets were advised to quarantine, Executive Director Alyssa Young was determined to finish out the week with as many virtual opportunities for the kids as possible. 

“We did as much as we could to figure out what to do,” Young said. “We cancelled Thursday’s activities and then managed to arrange for Zoom meetings on Friday that all of the kids could join from home.”

Prior to the change to virtual space camp, the cadets were given the opportunity to hear from experts at NASA and view presentations throughout the week by science professionals at the top of their fields. The kids learned about the history of the space program, training, exercise and nutrition of astronauts.

Additional presentations were on the exploration of other planets in the solar system, current NASA projects and research, engineering, principles of flight, spacecraft construction, how weather affects space launch conditions, and so much more. 

Camp also included hands-on STEM activities, building, creating and solving various tasks and team building activities, which is important for astronauts. Each cadet got to be a team leader for a day to learn about being a mission commander. 

The kids also visited the Sparta airport to learn about navigation, watched remote controlled aircraft in action, conducted zero gravity experiments at the Sparta pool and visited a planetarium in La Crosse. 

They got to build robots in a robotics lab. The cadets also built rockets, which they were unfortunately unable to launch due to the unexpected closure of in-person camp activities. 

Young had been able to reschedule the presentations scheduled for Thursday to Friday. “We did what we could, and I thought something was better than nothing,” she said. “I didn’t want to have to cancel the whole day if there was any way we could do something.” 

The graduation ceremony is held every year on Friday after a week jam-packed full of fun activities. Each student is recognized and presented with a diploma and special lapel pin from retired astronaut Mark Lee, the Sparta mayor and the museum board president followed by a dinner and presentation from Lee, however, graduation was cancelled this year. 

The cadets did however get the chance to hear Lee’s presentation via Zoom. “It’s not how we wanted to end camp, that's for sure,” Young said. “But we did what we could. Last year we were totally cancelled and this year we got halfway through. That means, next year it will be 100 percent awesome all five days!”