A LITTLE TASTE OF SPACE EXHIBIT LETS KIDS SOAR, SPIN.Byline: Peggy Hager Staff Writer PALMDALE - A bit of space exploration has come to the Antelope Valley Mall The Antelope Valley Mall is an enclosed shopping mall in Palmdale, California. Opened in September, 1990, its buildings take up around 1 million square feet (90,000 m²). Its physical main building, parking lots, and ring road businesses encompass an area a bit less than 0. through the U.S. Space and Rocket Center's Mission to Malls, which offers hands-on experiences simulating space travel. Youngsters spun upside down, touched a space shuttle space shuttle, reusable U.S. space vehicle. Developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), it consists of a winged orbiter, two solid-rocket boosters, and an external tank. insulation tile heated with a blowtorch, did a simulated moonwalk moon·walk n. A walk on the surface of the moon by an astronaut. intr.v. moon·walked, moon·walk·ing, moon·walks To walk on the surface of the moon. , and guided a space shuttle through a computer simulated landing. ``My mom said that next year I'm gonna go to the Space Camp in Alabama. I've wanted to and finally I get to do this,'' said 11-year-old Kris Giles, who was waiting for his turn on one of the simulators. ``I used to study about space and look at books and stuff, I think it's fascinating.'' The show is run at the top of each hour from noon to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday through Sept. 22. ``It was fun, kind of weird. I'm not very used to that.'' said 12-year-old Betsy Frame after she spun upside down and sideways on the multi-axis trainer, used to simulate a space capsule spinning out of control during the Mercury program Noun 1. Mercury program - a program of rocket-powered flights undertaken by US between 1961 and 1963 with the goal of putting a man in orbit around the earth; "under the Mercury program each flight had one astronaut" . On the ``five degrees of freedom'' trainer, Sarah Castillo, 11, tried to connect hoses and tighten bolts as the framework into which she was strapped floated on a cushion of air. ``Just when you were kind of floating away, it was kind of hard to reach it,'' Sarah said. Children and their parents can enter to win a free scholarship to the Space Camp in Huntsville, Ala. The camp normally costs between $700 to $1,000. The Space Camp offers an astronaut astronaut, crew member on a U.S. manned spaceflight mission; the Soviet term is cosmonaut. Candidates for manned spaceflight are carefully screened to meet the highest physical and mental standards, and they undergo rigorous training. experience for campers age 9 to 18, said instructor Mario A. Vitelli. Space Camp runs year-round and accommodates up to 1,000 campers a week during the summer months. Scholarship entries will be accepted at the mall's Customer Service Center through Sept. 22. Because the portable simulators don't adjust, there are weight and height limits for participants. To ride on the multi-axis trainer, youngsters must be between 100 and 160 pounds and under 5 feet 7 inches. The five degrees of freedom participants must be 90-100 pounds, and the microgravity mi·cro·grav·i·ty n. 1. An environment in which there is very little net gravitational force, as of a free-falling object, an orbit, or interstellar space. 2. training chair participants must weigh 100-120 pounds and be under 5 foot 5 inches tall. All participants must also wear closed-toe shoes with solid backs, no sandals and no skirts. Children under 18 must also be accompanied by a parent or guardian. The space shuttle landing simulator has no height or weight limitations. Only eight children are accommodated on the simulators during each hour. Other items on display include a glove and helmet from the Apollo missions The Apollo missions were a series of space missions, both manned and unmanned, flown by NASA between 1961 and 1975. They culminated with a series of manned moon landings between 1969 and 1972. , a space shuttle laptop along with a space shuttle heat tile, a Skylab meal, mission patches A mission patch is a cloth badge worn by astronauts and other personnel affiliated with a manned or unmanned space mission. A new patch is created for each mission. Origins Mission patches were first sported by NASA astronauts in 1965. and the Apollo Lunar Rover For the Soviet robotic rovers, see . The Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) or lunar rover was a type of surface exploration rover used on the Moon during the Apollo program. It is also known by its popular nickname of moon buggy. Vehicle. CAPTION(S): 5 photos Photo: (1 -- color) Space Camp instructor Mario Vitelli, left, operates the ``five degrees of freedom'' simulator Friday for Sarah Castillo, 11. (2 -- 3 -- color) Kamara Bowling of Space Camp straps Sarah Castillo of Palmdale into a space flight simulator A space flight simulator is a system that tries to replicate, or simulate, the experience of space flight in a spacecraft as closely and realistically as possible. The different types of flight simulator range from video games up to full-size cockpit replicas mounted on hydraulic during the U.S. Space and Rocket Center's Mission to Malls visit to the Antelope Valley Mall. Far left, Bowling uses a torch to heat a shuttle tile while Mario Vitelli holds it to show how the tile's other side stays cool. (4) Betsy Frame, 12, of Quartz Hill spins in the multi-axis trainer under guidance from Space Camp's Michelle Christensen. (5) Retired Air Force test pilot Col. Larry McClain is the first to try out the U.S. Space and Rocket Center's ``five degrees of freedom'' simulator Friday at the Antelope Valley Mall. Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer |
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