Announcements
Winter Campout Under the Stars
by Steve Codling
Now that I've got your attention, let me be clear that this was not an outdoor adventure camp nor a survival skills training weekend! Rather, on January 8-9th, a group of about 50 students and parents visited the Plantearium in Vancouver for an overnight adventure - yes,
sleeping overnight at the Planetarium!
The Friday afternoon started with a session on the obstacles involved with exploring space and traveling outside of the earth's atmosphere. Amongst the interesting facts that we learned:
when doing a spacewalk, if one of the astronaut's shoulders is in sunlight and the other is in shade, the difference in temperature can be hundreds of degrees different over that span of less than a metre!
communication with Mars, even with the fastest technology available today, takes more than 20 minutes in just one direction; so to have the conversation, "Mars Rover, are you alright?" and have the response, "Yes" would take the better part of an hour!
There was a Planetarium show on Extreme Environments (grade 6 learning outcomes!) and then some time with the displays and interactive activities, such as trying to plan and execute a rocket launch (you couldn't go over budget!) or use a joystick and thrusters to dock with the International Space Station. Finally there was a roller-coaster type simulations of a journey to Mars!
There was free time between the afternoon session and the overnight session, where some of us went skating at Robson Square and watched some snowboarders do tricks! And then it 
was back to the Planetarium for more excitement!
In the evening we had another session - this time on how astronauts live in space (including a space toilet which has to compensate for the lack of gravity!). We went to the telescope building, but unfortunately it was cloudy so we just saw how it operated, including the spinning and opening roof. Then was the rocket building session, where we learned about stability and built rockets out of 2L pop bottles.
Finally, to end the night there was a space show with Harold the Planetarium light computer giving us a tour of the stars in the night sky! Wow, those Planetarium seats are sure comfortable!
Then it was time to bunk down in our sleeping bags - with all the excitement and activities of the day it seemed that everyone quickly fell asleep with exhaustion in the Planetarium hallway. And soon we were woken up for a breakfast of drinks and muffins!
The last event was to go outside and launch the rockets made the night before. Students pumped up the rockets with air and then pulled the cord to launch them up into the sky! After a while students learned the secret to higher flight - go a little bit beyond the recommended pressure of 80psi!
The response has unanimously been that parents and students alike had a wonderful time, learning about how special the earth's atmosphere is that God has created for us, and seeing the incredible creativity that God has given us to overcome obstacles involved with space travel and exploration. Thanks to all parents and students involved in making this trip a success, and thanks also to HCOS and Christine Loewen with our Learning Camps for helping to fund our trip!