Space Camp

Space Camp. Written by Sean McCollum. Focus question. Why do people want to attend Space Camp?

太空营。 作者：肖恩·麦科勒姆。 思考问题。 为什么人们想要参加太空营？

Introduction. From Space Camp to Space. In 1990, sixth -grader Kate Rubens went off to camp. The camp she attended wasn't the kind of place where she roasted marshmallows over a campfire, though. This was space camp. It was a place where kids learned about space exploration. Kate had told her parents that she dreamed of becoming an astronaut and a scientist.

引言。 从太空营走向太空。 1990年，六年级女孩凯特·鲁本斯出发去参加营队。 不过，她参加的可不是那种在篝火边烤棉花糖的普通营地哦。 这就是太空营。 这里是孩子们学习太空探索知识的地方。 凯特早就告诉父母，她梦想成为宇航员和科学家。

26 years later, a group of young trainees took their seats in a theater at that same camp. They watched a broadcast of the liftoff of a giant rocket. Onboard was a fresh crew for the International Space Station, ISS, orbiting more than 322 kilometers, 200 miles above Earth. One of the astronauts on that rocket was Dr. Kate Rubens, the same person who had attended the camp in 1990 when she was a sixth -grader. For years, she had worked as a scientist. Then she trained to be an astronaut with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA. Finally, she was blasting off to serve on a four -month mission on the ISS. She had fulfilled her childhood dream of becoming an astronaut and flying into space.

26年后，一群年轻学员坐在同一个营地的礼堂里。 他们观看巨型火箭发射的直播。 火箭上载着国际空间站（ISS）的新乘组，空间站运行在距地球322公里（200英里）的轨道上。 火箭上的其中一位宇航员就是凯特·鲁本斯博士，正是1990年参加这个营地的那个六年级女孩。 多年来，她一直从事科研工作。 之后她在美国国家航空航天局（NASA）接受宇航员训练。 最终，她发射升空，前往国际空间站执行为期四个月的任务。 她实现了儿时成为宇航员飞入太空的梦想。

Space camps around the world. Space camps allow young people to learn about space science. Programs teach about the history of space exploration. Some projects focus on rockets and the machines used in space. Campers also go through some astronaut training. They try out equipment astronauts use to prepare for their missions. Today, space camps have taken off in many places. One camp is at the United States Space and Rocket Center located in Huntsville, Alabama. There, space camp trainees can see giant rockets and space capsules, the spacecraft astronauts fly in. More than 750 ,000 trainees have attended that space cap since it opened in 1982. They have come from all 50 states in the United States and more than 60 other countries.

世界各地的太空营。 太空营让年轻人学习太空科学知识。 课程会讲解太空探索的历史。 部分项目围绕火箭和太空使用的机械展开。 营员还会体验一部分宇航员训练内容。 他们可以试用宇航员训练任务时用到的设备。 如今，太空营已经在很多地方蓬勃发展。 其中一个太空营位于美国阿拉巴马州亨茨维尔的美国太空与火箭中心。 在这里，学员们能见到巨型火箭和太空舱——也就是宇航员乘坐的航天器。 自1982年开营以来，已有超过75万名学员参加过这个太空营。 这些学员来自美国全部50个州，还有60多个其他国家。

Some museums in the United States host space camps, too. For instance, children can attend space camp at the Frontiers of Flight Museum in Texas. In Florida, there is Camp Kennedy Space Center. In Washington, D .C., the Smithsonian Association hosts several summer day camps. They even have space -related programs for children as young as kindergarten age. Space camps are also popular around the globe. In Canada, the Cosmodome hosts three -day camps and other programs. Space Camp Turkey is located in Izmir, one of Turkey's biggest cities. Russian space camp includes talks about Russia's amazing history of space exploration.

美国的不少博物馆也开设了太空营。 比如，孩子们可以去德克萨斯州的飞行前沿博物馆参加太空营。 佛罗里达州有肯尼迪航天中心营。 华盛顿特区的史密森尼学会开设了好几个夏日日间营。 他们甚至为幼儿园年龄段的小朋友准备了太空相关项目。 太空营在全球都很受欢迎。 加拿大的太空馆开设了为期三天的营队和其他项目。 土耳其太空营位于土耳其最大城市之一的伊兹密尔。 俄罗斯太空营会举办讲座，讲解俄罗斯辉煌的太空探索历史。

Going to Space Camp. Space camps are available to nearly everyone. At some camps, younger kids go with their family. Camps for older kids are grouped by age. Some space camps hold sessions for trainees with visual and hearing impairments. Space camps mostly concentrate on space history and science. At many of these camps, trainees study rocketry. They build and launch their own model rockets. At others, they research spacecraft construction before designing their own spaceship.

参加太空营。 几乎所有人都可以参加太空营。 部分太空营里，低龄儿童可以和家人一起参加。 面向大龄儿童的营会按年龄分组。 有些太空营还专为视障和听障学员开设了课程。 太空营的内容大多围绕太空历史和科学展开。 很多太空营里，学员会学习火箭技术。 他们会亲手制作并发射属于自己的模型火箭。 另一些太空营里，学员会先研究航天器构造，再设计自己的宇宙飞船。