‘Moon Fest’ was the day in which the public were invited to celebrate the USA’s greatest achievement on the campus. There were plenty of activities to amuse the kids such as an exhibition of previous space mission items. The mini rocket launches also amused the even bigger kids i.e. the parents! As I was lucky enough to be chosen for the life science department, I felt even luckier in our first class as the topic was ‘living in space’. We were privileged to have three previous astronauts presenting some really fascinating stuff. One of them carried out some really funny experiments in space and was kind enough to show us videos. In addition, they brought along some space food and also the medical kit that was actually used on a mission. The other astronaut was the first Asian woman in space (The second Asian woman in space is actually a student in my class!). Each of the astronauts who visited us spoke at the International Astronaut panel held here at NASA.

The core lectures consisted of biology and humans in space.  I found these very interesting. The most exciting task of the week was the NASA robot competition. Each team had to design, build and programme a LEGO mindstorm robot to complete set tasks- I know what you’re thinking reading this, I come all the way to NASA to play with Lego! We had two days to complete the task in between core lectures and other events and even sleep was a less important priority. The competition took place towards the end of the week and there was a full complement of ISU students there to support the six teams each containing six students. The objective was to collect as many gems as possible and also avoid the obstacles on the circuit. Our robot managed to collect fourty gems which impressed us! Unfortunately, two of the other robots collected fifty, then another sixty gems. Either way, it was great fun working with the team and a good show for everyone to watch. 

The week finished off with a trip to San Francisco to meet up with my sister for a night. We didn’t get into an Irish pub as our driving licences weren’t considered as legitimate.  All in all it was great to see a face from home and was a nice break from space camp for a few hours.