A Week at Space Camp with Presbyterian Ladies College (PLC) Melbourne
After many years of organising school tours to Space Camp at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, and visiting the facility, I finally had the privilege of spending a full week there with PLC Melbourne.
The group had already had an epic start to their tour in Orlando: 29 excited girls and six amazing teachers taking on Universal, Disney, Kennedy Space Center, iFLY and WonderWorks. There was also time for the serious cultural research: a Walmart shopping mission, taste-testing the Instagram food crazes (Raising Cane's and Chick-fil-A) and Crumbl delivered via Uber Eats.
Welcome to Rocket City
We reached Huntsville, famously known as the Rocket City, with a flight from Orlando to Nashville and a two-hour coach ride. We arrived on Saturday night, a day before the program started, which gave everyone time to settle in.
PLC were taking part in Advanced Space Academy, the most popular option for Australian schools and perfect for ages 15 to 17.
Phones Down, Heads Up
Check-in was smooth and well organised by the Space Camp operations team. It's a residential camp, so students stay in dorms of six or seven, while teachers are at The Marriott, less than a five-minute walk away.
Then there's the phone policy: no phones or connected electronics, apart from 30 minutes each evening before bed. As you can imagine, there was plenty of trepidation about handing them over. But the girls adapted quickly, and it was brilliant to see them old school socializing and chatting at meals. A few even admitted they were happy without their phones.
Not Your Average School Day
The girls were split into two teams of up to 15 and stayed in those groups for most activities, apart from the ones needing extra supervision, like the Scuba Underwater Astronaut Trainer.
The schedule is intense. You don't go to Space Camp to relax, you go to learn and take part in extraordinary activities you can't do anywhere else on earth. Wake-up is at 7am, breakfast at 7:30, then it's activities, talks and simulators all day long until 9.30pm when it is shower and phone time.
The crew trainers, one for each team, were phenomenal: highly intelligent, personable and very good at keeping the teams in check. One of ours was awaiting security clearance to become an FBI analyst. Top secret, so she couldn't say what she'd be doing!
Watching the girls build real relationships with their trainers, then seeing the tears and hugs when it was time to leave, was a joy. It's a powerful lesson in how much a great mentor can lift a young person's confidence.
Safe and Secure
Because it's a residential program, the whole facility is secure and very well staffed, with nurses onsite. The campus is vast, and getting between venues means hopping on a traditional American school bus branded with Space Camp. Oh, and the food is pretty good for American fare, a couple of options at each meal, with salad and fruit at every meal so you can stay healthy!
Teachers don't take part in the activities, so you're there as an observer and chaperone. You get a key card that opens all the main areas at any time, apart from the sleeping quarters. Fancy a visit to the museum to see the Saturn V rocket at 3am? You can! It genuinely feels like a real privilege.
Highlights of the Week
Simulators
The simulators now have a brand new fantastic home, thanks in part to fundraising by NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. As a Space Camp graduate himself, he clearly knows what an invaluable learning experience it is for young people.
1/6th Gravity Chair: The girls started with Mars-style gravity (one-third) and its smaller hops, then graduated to massive moon-gravity leaps at one-sixth. Cue plenty of giggling and a very hands-on lesson in how gravity shapes movement.
Multi-Axis Trainer: This one looks like something from a sci-fi film. It has three concentric rings: a locked outer ring, a motor-powered middle ring and a free-spinning inner ring that holds the chair. The rider sits with their stomach near the centre of rotation, which helps keep motion sickness at bay. The girls loved it, and so did a couple of lucky teachers.
The original was built to train the first NASA astronauts for the worst-case scenario of a spacecraft tumbling out of control. Spinning on several axes at once, they had to stay calm, work out which way they were moving and bring themselves back under control.
Scuba Underwater Astronaut Training
Real astronauts train at NASA's Neutral Buoyancy Lab in Houston, using a mock-up of the ISS. Space Camp's 24-foot tank is designed to simulate microgravity, and the girls were expertly guided by a trainer who had trained astronauts at the Lab in Houston.
Most got comfortable fast and were soon playing underwater basketball and testing each other's skills. It's nearly always a highlight for groups, and it's a great lesson in working through nerves and trusting your team.
Missions
For most of the girls, this was the highlight of the week. There were two missions to the ISS, with the team taking turns managing operations from Mission Control, flying the Shuttle, working onboard the ISS and simulating spacewalk repairs on the outside of the station.
It was fascinating to watch the girls in Mission Control, with the flight director communicating clearly with the team while they worked through realistic system failures and critical emergencies between the cockpit and Mission Control. High stress, high stakes. They learnt to stay calm, speak clearly and listen actively, which are skills they'll use long after Space Camp.
The final mission was a three-hour deep space voyage to the Red Planet. The team set up and sustained operations at the "Mars Elysium" base, managing life-support systems, medical stations and a hydroponic garden. Not a bad way to learn about teamwork, planning and responsibility!
Rocket Building
Another favourite was rocket building. Teams of four built rockets from cardboard body tubes, balsa wood or plastic fins, plastic nose cones and recovery parachutes. There were some great designs and some very Aussie, Vegemite-style logos.
The challenge was to fly in the right direction, then land safely with the parachute deployed, all while protecting a cargo of one egg. There were some hilarious attempts, including one rocket that took its own landing gear with it on take-off. One rocket was the clear winner, parachute deployed, and everyone learnt a lot about design, testing and what happens when the plan meets reality.
Graduation
The week finished with a fantastic graduation ceremony, live streamed so keen night-owl parents can watch live or catch up later. Team and individual prizes were awarded, and then it was home to share stories of the epic Space Adventure.
So Much More
There's so much more that happened at Space Camp: flight simulators, low and high ropes courses that challenged the girls and built teamwork, space suit design lectures, crew logistics, the museum with the Saturn V and the Rocket Garden. It goes on and on.
What the girls take home goes well beyond space. They build confidence, resilience, communication skills and the ability to stay calm under pressure, alongside real STEM learning, and hear from so many experts in their fields. I was expecting it to be impressive, but it exceeded my expectations; the educators, the range of activities, what an experience for the students and I’m sure it opened their eyes to exploring more pathways in science, engineering, technology and the space industry.
If you'd like to see the Advanced Academy lesson overviews or find out more about planning an epic educational adventure, please get in touch.
“We had an amazing experience with Educating Adventures. Organising our first overseas school trip to Space Camp USA initially felt daunting, but their team made the entire process smooth, stress-free and incredibly enjoyable. They created a tailor-made itinerary to suit our requirements and provided invaluable advice throughout the planning process. The accommodation, restaurants and activities were carefully selected to maximise our students’ experience while minimising travel time. The team were exceptionally friendly, professional and responsive. No request was ever too big or too small, and the support we received both before and throughout the trip was outstanding. The meticulous organisation of hotels, buses, transfers and activities gave our staff tremendous peace of mind. Most importantly, our students had an unforgettable experience!
We cannot recommend Educating Adventures highly enough to any school planning an educational overseas tour. Their professionalism, attention to detail and genuine commitment to creating an outstanding experience were exceptional. We would absolutely use them again!”
Lindsay Van Der Pal – PLC Melbourne – Space Camp USA 2026
