13th December 2023
Location: USSRC, Alabama, America
Day 4 of 14
Today, once again, was filled with activities; though I felt it stood out more than others.
When I walked to the cafeteria for breakfast, I woke up to the bitter cold and was forced to brace the snow outside. The sixteen of us students gathered around a classic, metal-blue table—the kind straight out of an American high school movie. We talked to each other, to our group leaders Joshua and Jenna (staff at USSRC), and ate some overly-processed food.
Though this was merely the beginning of my day, we made our way to a rather spacious room with random white tubes and so-called ‘connectors’ scattered across the floor. ‘What on earth could this be?’ was my immediate reaction. Before I could further question it, our instructor explained that this was a team-building activity. The challenge? We were restricted to having to touch a wall and use only our bodies as ‘ropes’ to grab the items that were sprawled out. Our goal: create an octagonal prism. This was likely the most chaotic, physical, and time-consuming activity of my day.
Now, I could ramble on about how infuriating that activity was to complete, but then I would never get to the next part. To ‘relax’ (and I say ‘relax’ in inverted commas for a reason), we got to ride the Moon Shot. Imagine this: you are seated around a machine, shot up in the air at, like, 50 miles per hour, and, just as you’re getting your senses back, you fall back down to the ground. Some people’s idea of fun. To me? A one-way ticket to see my breakfast again. I couldn’t fathom how the other fifteen students found joy in it. Nope. Not for me. Never again.
As we eventually detached ourselves from the Moon Shot, we were met with a colossal, real-life model of the Pathfinder shuttle. Of course, this wasn’t the first time we’d seen it, though its realism always managed to catch me by surprise. I had to tear my eyes away from the view as we entered a building to the right of the Pathfinder. We swiftly changed into our ‘Space Camp’ red T-shirts and snapped a photo for the Times newspaper back in New Zealand. But the real reason we were there still hadn’t been met. Things were about to get a whole lot more intense.
We were to be spun around from all possible angles (yes, 360°) in a chair, quickly. They call it the Multi-Axis Trainer. Joshua had to constantly keep reassuring us that we wouldn’t feel sick. He explained that our centre of gravity would stay the same as we spun, and therefore there would be no feeling of sickness. For some odd reason, I believed him. I sat in the ‘death’ chair and strapped myself in. To my surprise, it wasn’t so bad. I enjoyed it. Taking that risk and trying an aspect of astronaut training I probably wouldn’t get to try again was the best decision I’ve ever made.
Today certainly brought a lot to the table. If I hadn’t experienced it today, I would have missed out on so many opportunities; it makes me think back to when I applied to go on this trip. If I hadn’t applied, I wouldn’t have taken as many risks—I never want to miss out on anything ever again. Just going on this trip makes me feel like the luckiest person on planet Earth. I can’t wait for what tomorrow brings!
Writer – Mayah Clements
Editor – Kenneth Gong
Artist – Joyce Xu
–May 2025–
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