NEW MEXICO ROCKETEER ACADEMY

NEW MEXICO ROCKETEER ACADEMY

ROCKETEER ACADEMY

Want to be a rocket scientist? Or just know what they do? New Mexico Rocketeer AcademySM has something for the young astronaut in each of us, whether it’s week-long summer camps or education programs held here at the museum or in your class.

Space is a powerful way to enhance and amplify what you do in school. Youngsters of all ages are naturally drawn to space exploration. At the same time, anything we do in space is rooted in STEM-H (science, technology, engineering, math, and health) here on Earth, often in the simplest ways. For example, the butterflies you felt in your stomach as a kid on a swing are related to what happens to astronauts in space, and to International Space Station research that may improve automobile engines, which we can show in a falling tea candle.

Activities can touch on any of the sciences and New Mexico’s rich history in the space program, and encourage kids to pursue education and careers in STEM-H fields, and can help parents understand opportunities for their children.

SCIENCE EDUCATION STANDARDS

Rocketeer Academy℠ programs support teachers in meeting goals and objectives established in the National Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).

LAUNCHING TO YOU

Can’t come here? Rocketeer Academy℠ classes and camps launch to anywhere in the state and surrounding areas. No matter what your needs we can bring the excitement of space directly to your school or community.  Avoid high transportation costs and let us come to you.

Fun & Exciting Education Programs Designed
Just for Your Class!

AMAZING FLYING MACHINES

Take a trip through the history of aviation and learn how airplanes fly with this fun audience participation show. We will cover everything from hot air balloons to drones and everything in between. Perfect for a classroom but great on stage for your entire school to participate.

Cost (per class): $175

CLASS SIZES

Classes are tailored for groups of 30 students. Larger classes are split into groups of 30 and charged as multiple classes. Most classes last 45 minutes.

THE DIRTY, DARK SNOWBALL

Did you know that just the sight of a comet traversing the sky once started wars? Look closeup … can you identify what is and is not a comet? Well then, we’ll make one for you! But dirty snowballs aren’t the only icy objects in the cold of our solar system. Uranus and Neptune are ice planets. We’ll put an icy planet in your hand and give you the tools to create one yourself.

Cost (per class): $100

APOLLO SLEEPOVER IN SPACE: THE TOTAL MUSEUM EXPERIENCE!

An unforgettable overnight adventure! Experience an adventure inside the
New Mexico Museum of Space History. Your evening will kick off with a fantastic 4K film experience followed by an engaging presentation on the history of rockets all the way to the historic Apollo 11 moon landing, fifty years ago. Build water rockets and launch them the next morning, can you save your “Eggstronuat”?

Top it off with a late-night museum tour and the rare opportunity to sleep next to amazing artifacts and be closer to history and space than ever before. Make your reservation today to jump on-board and be a part of space history!

$50 per child, $20 per chaperone, 10-person minimum.

KERBAL SPACE RACE

You too can be a rocket scientist! Learn what it took to get into orbit and return using the popular software package, Kerbal Space Program. As a class you will design, test, and fly a rocket of your own making. Will it blow up? Maybe! Excitement guaranteed!

Cost (per class): $75

 

ALIEN LIFE

A group of scientists has landed on Mars near a subglacial lake less than a mile below the surface. This is important because they need to study and access the water to prepare for a scientific station. They have also discovered some creatures that live in the water! Your task is to recreate these creatures and explain to your classmates what each part of their body does.

Cost (per class): $125
 
EGGSTRONAUTS: A HARD-BOILED LANDING

Gravity is a law and we here at the Museum of Space History obey the law. In this class you will learn about the forces of motion and gravity through launching and dropping eggs. If you want to make a splat, book now for an eggcelent time. Includes a Vacuum-Pump demonstration that shows what your unprotected astronaut might suffer in space.

Cost (per class): $100
REMOTE CAMPS

Bring the Museum summer camp experience to your community! Our remote camp programs provide the educators and materials; just add your kids and a venue and you’re ready to go. We have a wide range of full-day, half-day, and week-long camps.

THE LITTLE ROBOT THAT COULD

These little Ozobots may be cute, but they’ll plow determinedly along the path that you create. Simple robotic programming will go a l-o-n-g way when you create a course to race your Ozobot against those of your fellow students. 

Cost (per class): $65
REMOTE CAMPS

Bring the Museum summer camp experience to your community! Our remote camp programs provide the educators and materials; just add your kids and a venue and you’re ready to go. We have a wide range of full-day, half-day, and week-long camps.

SURVIVE MARS!

You have just crash landed on Mars. You and your crew are okay, but you are many miles from the safety of your base depot. Do you have what it takes to survive and get to safety before your air runs out? Find out and play, survive Mars! 

Cost (per class): $75
 
PAPER, SCISSORS, ROCKET

Isaac Newton identified the Laws of Motion that govern rocket travel. Kick your class into action when students kick not-so-massive objects to see how mass reacts and trajectories change. First, we’ll simulate a rocket-fuel demonstration with liquid nitrogen. Then, with paper, scissors, and some tape, you’ll create a rocket to launch on a blast of air.

Cost (per class): $65

CAMP-INS

Reward your students with an adventure inside the halls of the New Mexico Museum of Space History. Our staff will lead you and your group through exciting presentations and projects. Get the opportunity to sleep next to amazing artifacts and be closer to history and space than ever before. Make your reservation today to jump on-board and be part of the voyage. Movie and museum, plus two of the following activities: The Awful Truth About Zero-G; Blast Off With Flying Tea Kettles (includes rocket class)*; Houston, the Peeps Have Landed; Alien Autopsy*; Sizing Up Your Solar System; Put a Spin on Weather. (*extra charge depending on activity.)

Requires 1 adult chaperone per 10 kids under 18 (gender appropriate; no charge for first chaperone/10 kids). Minimum age 7. Groups provide their own meals and sleeping gear. A museum staffer stays overnight with you. Other restrictions may apply. Requires contract and deposit

SCALE SOLAR SYSTEM

Space is big, really big! Find out exactly how big by building your own scale solar system from the Sun to Mars. Then explore your system with telescopes, and travel to the planets at the speed of light by using out ultra high-tech photon car. The solar system will never be the same!

Cost (per class): $65

 

FIELD TRIPS TO THE MUSEUM

Museum tours, big screen movies, planetarium programs, live star talks and engaging classes are all available at affordable prices for school groups. Museum admission and movie or planetarium shows start at $5/student and $6/adult. Tour guides are available for an additional flat fee of $20/30 students.

Add a class and get a free tour guide!

THOSE MAGNIFICENT STUDENTS AND THEIR GLIDING MACHINES!

Aerodynamics is the science of flight. Learn about flight and the different applications through our foam glider class, in which your students get to build and fly their own foam gliders. Book now and you can soar into a fun time. 

Cost (per class): $100

 

YES, IT IS ROCKET SCIENCE!

Some of the greatest Twenty-first Century engineers who built the first rockets to lift off from Earth started out with model rockets. The hobby has fascinated young and old alike for decades. How high will yours go, and will it touch down gently or plummet from the pull of gravity?  Liftoff in 3 … 2 … 1 ….

Cost (per model rocket): $20
Cost (per 2-1/2 hour class): $150.

This is a build and launch class.

 

FIELD TRIPS TO THE MUSEUM

Museum tours, big-screen movies, planetarium programs, live star talks and engaging classes are all available at affordable prices for school groups. Museum admission and movie or planetarium shows start at $5/student and $6/adult. Tour guides are available for an additional flat fee of $20/30 students.

Add a class and get a free tour guide!

Education Programs

THE AWFUL TRUTH ABOUT ZERO-G

Water climbs the walls because there’s no “downhill.” Flames don’t rise because there’s no “up.” Everything floats — but ping-pong balls sink. This popular activity involves students in reenacting the discovery of gravity and learning about research in space.

Grades 4-up; $100/class.

BLAST OFF WITH FLYING TEA KETTLES

Learn the basics of rocketry, then build and launch your own rockets (type depends on grade level.) Each level includes our Flying Tea Kettles presentation on the history of rocketry, with videos of how they work (and sometimes don’t) and a demonstration of Hero’s Very Cold Steam Engine (uses liquid nitrogen).

$60 to $115/class, depending on grade level.

TWISTED WEATHER

Use a spinning water tank to simulate our rotating Earth and video cameras to see how the atmosphere and the ocean circulate See how temperature and
density differences make fluids flow around each other.

Grades 4-up; $75/class.

HOUSTON, THE PEEPS HAVE LANDED

How to Build a Bug shows how we designed the Apollo Lunar Module— starting in 1939! Work in teams to build your own lander that takes marshmallow PeepsTM safely to the lunar surface. Based on a NASA engineering education activity.

Grades 4-up; $100/class.

PAGING DR. 'DROID

You’re the doctor on Mars and your appendix is going bad. Start with clay and a knife, experiment with a surgical simulator (like the ones real doctors train with), then design a robot that can remove that appendix — or handle other problems. Robotic surgery is the way of the future and you can be part of it!

Grades 4-12; $80/class.

OZOBOTS

These busy little guys go everywhere — so long as you tell them where to turn or spin, and how fast to go. Ozobots have sensors that follow color codes you draw on a game mat and select the best hike for collecting rocks on Mars or to automate a rocket factory.

Grades K-12; $75/class.

GIMME A HAND

Build a working model of a hand and program it to pick up a pencil. And what can you get (or lose) if you trade that little finger for a second thumb? Based on a NASA class and inspired by the Luke Hand project to build prosthetic limbs.

Grades 4-9; $80/class.

ALIEN AUTOPSY

Welcome to the Antaeus Orbiting Quarantine Facility. Your mission is to dissect alien lifeforms brought from Europa, the ice-covered moon of Jupiter. Student teams work in a quarantine glovebox while learning how Tortilla volante (Flying Tortilla) is like us — and different. They have fun learning the basics of biology and scientific inquiry, then reporting what they find. Includes a presentation on the search for extraterrestrial life.

$95 to $145/class, depending on grade level.

SIZING UP YOUR SOLAR SYSTEM

Map out the solar system on your school and neighborhood and find out why we call it space (there’s a lot of it). Discover why sunspots aren’t black. Make a solar ribbon bigger than Earth. Includes A Map of the Universe, taking you 13.8 billion light-years across space, from here to the Big Bang.

Grades K-12; $100/class

THE FLYING GIZMO SHOW

This 45-minute show teaches the history of aviation and how airplanes fly. An engaging encounter with various flying machines including birds, hot air balloons and rockets. Each flying toy tells a story, instructor and student participation.

For all ages; $125/show

AIRSHIPS AND BLIMPS

This is a fun drop-in program where students will build a real flying blimp using a balloon and paper cutouts for fins and balance. Learn the difference between airships and blimps and basic gas laws in the process.

For all ages; $50/hour.

A BRIDGE TO SPACE

Rockets don’t just push — they can squeeze. Your challenge is to design a bridge that handles the squeeze from the Space Launch System’s two solid rocket boosters and supports the core stage. Then we’ll test until it falls apart and you build it better using the NASA Engineering Design Process.

Grades 4-12; $100/class.

DARK SIDE OF THE SUN

Yes, it has a dark side — at least, invisible. The same force runs electric motors and generators, powered the Red October submarine, and rules pulsars and … vending machines. And it may take you to the planets. You start with a battery, a switch, a lamp, and some wire.

Grades 4-9; $75/class.

MY SKY TONIGHT

Introduce preschool kids and kindergarten to basic astronomy concepts with My Sky Tonight, lessons produced by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. Seven different programs are available.

Ages 3-7; $75/class

PORTABLE PLANETARIUM PROGRAMS

Take a trip and never leave your school! Explore the heavens with our portable digital planetarium and see the night sky as we see it today or at any time in the past or future. Our experienced educators will bring the wonders of the universe right to your school. Each program is approximately 40 minutes long, classes are held in one hour blocks.

Grades K-12 $100 hour, 3 hour min.

Note: The dome is 20 feet wide (takes half a basketball court and requires a high ceiling) and generally seats one class at a time (or two K-1 classes). The domes are not soundproof, so please do not schedule other activities in the same room.

Grades K-12. Approximately 3 hours. This includes two instructors to conduct the program.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT US AND WE'LL GET BACK WITH YOU AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

Voice: (575) 437-2840
Toll-Free: 1-877-333-6589
Fax: (575) 434-2245

Mail:
P.O. Box 5430
Alamogordo, NM 88311-5430

Delivery/Visiting:
3198 State Route 2001
Alamogordo, NM 88310

New Mexico Rocketeer AcademySM is an entity of the New Mexico Museum of Space History, a division of the Department of Cultural Affairs for the State of New Mexico, and the International Space Hall of Fame Foundation. Formerly known as Shuttle Camp, the camp was established in 1986 as a program for local school children, and has grown to host students from throughout the United States, Canada, South America, New Zealand, and Europe. It is operated through the International Space Hall of Fame Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation. Technical assistance and educational support for the program are provided by the Apache Point Observatory; Holloman Air Force Base, High Speed Test Track; NASA Johnson Space Center, White Sands Test Facility; National Solar Observatory, Sunspot; New Mexico Tech; White Sands Missile Range; White Sands National Monument; City of Alamogordo Recreation Center; Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum; Las Cruces Museum of Nature and Science; New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science.