Space Camp

Space Camp is the world's premier youth space education and astronaut training experience program, operated by the US Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama — a nonprofit educational institution founded in 1982 inspired by NASA astronaut and director of Marshall Space Flight Center Wernher von Braun's vision of inspiring young people toward space exploration careers, that has now served over one million alumni from all 50 US states and more than 150 countries in its 40+ year history.

Located adjacent to NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center — the birthplace of the Saturn V rocket and the primary center for NASA's heavy-lift rocket programs — Space Camp immerses participants in simulated astronaut experiences: multi-day residential programs that include shuttle/International Space Station mission simulations (with roles including commander, pilot, mission specialists, and ground control crew), space flight simulators including multi-axis trainers (spinning chairs used to simulate tumbling), underwater neutral buoyancy exercises, micro-g environment simulations, rocket building and launch activities, NASA mission control center tours, and visits to the Rocket Park featuring Saturn V and Saturn IB rockets.

Programs are tiered by age: Space Camp (ages 9-11), Space Academy (12-14), Advanced Space Academy (14-18), and adult Aviation and Space programs. International camps use simultaneous English-language instruction with translation support for participants from non-English-speaking countries. Aviation Camp variants at Space Camp offer hands-on flight simulator training and general aviation exploration for participants interested in pilot careers rather than astronaut paths.

Space Camp alumni include numerous NASA astronauts — participants have gone on to serve as Space Shuttle and ISS crew members — as well as engineers, scientists, and space industry executives who cite the program as a formative influence on their career choice. The program's cultural impact extends through the 1986 film 'SpaceCamp' (a fictional story featuring Space Camp participants accidentally launched into orbit) that introduced the program to a generation of children.

The US Space & Rocket Center museum adjacent to Space Camp is one of the largest space museums in the world, housing the only remaining Saturn V rocket displayed horizontally indoors, Shuttle Pathfinder (the Space Shuttle test article), and extensive Apollo and Space Shuttle program artifacts.