Moonbuggy Team Italy, Highschool 2012
Daniele Cini, Marco De Lorenzi, Simon Galletti. Giacomo Labbri, Laura Martin
International Space Education Institute
www.spaceeducation.eu

Huntsville, 05.04.2012

As decided on the day before with the time schedule, we met in the parking lot at 9:15 for our daily sightseeing. We went to the University of Alabama, Huntsville, Von Braun Research Hall, a section of the school dedicated to the study of the famous space engineer.

We found vice-president Dr. John M. Horack and co-vice-president Dr. Thomas M. Koshut to welcome us. They guided us on a short tour of the hall that contains numerous documents regarding Von Braun’s work between 1949 and 1969, that involved his transfer to America and the landing of man on the Moon.

We had the opportunity to observe the great evolution of the construction of rockets in the last fifty years, through models in scale positioned at the entrance of the hall; after that we went on with the visit admiring the photo exposition of the most famous space shuttles, of Von Braun and his projects, and of the first model of moon rover.

After that we went to the high school Center for Technology of Huntsville, where we were expected at 10:20 by professor White. He showed us the school’s moobuggys, that have been participating to the Great Moonbuggy Race since 1995, and the garage that the students use for the construction. We met the girl pilot for their team and tried their moonbuggy on the circuit, which they built just outside their garage, with obstacles similar to those of the race.

After that we got back on the bus and returned to our moonbuggy hall to get on with the construction of our vehicles, activity that lasted all the rest of the day,

Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/spaceeducation/7050180567/in/set-72157629387245038/
Galerie: http://www.flickr.com/photos/spaceeducation/sets/72157629387198068/

Tobias Meier, Eric Meinel, Tim Rathmann, Michaela Ebert
Moonbuggy Team 2, HS 2012
International Space Education Institute

Heute ist der erste Tag an dem wir wirklich die ganze Zeit in Huntsville sind. Also geht es als erstes zum Frühstück. Tobias, Tim und Ich sind dort die ersten, aber nach und nach treffen auch die anderen ein.
Nach dem Frühstück hatten wir alle noch ein paar Minuten auf den Zimmern um unsere Sachen zusammen zupacken und noch ein wenig im Internet zu surfen. Danach ging es zum Auto mit welchem wir zur Moonbuggyhalle gefahren sind
Dort haben wir dann einen Zeitplan gemacht und noch einige Sachen besprochen.
Anschließend  sind wir losgefahren um ein paar Sehenswürdigkeiten zu betrachten und zwar einen sehr schönen Park in der Innenstadt Huntsvilles waren. Und waren vor einer Halle welche dem deutschen Raketeningenieur Wernher von Braun gewidmet ist. Nach dieser kurzen Sightseingtour geht es auch schon wieder zu unserer Moonbugghalle
In der Moonbuggyhalle angekommen, ging es sofort an das Fortsetzen des Zusammenbaus unseres Buggys, welches im Prinzip schon zu einem Dritteln fertig war. Nach einer Stunde Arbeit stärkten wir uns erst einmal mit ein paar selbstgemachten Sandwiches und es ging weiter. Trotz ein paar technischer Probleme ging alles glatt und wir kamen sehr weit und denken, dass das Buggy schon am nächsten Tag einsatzbereit sein wird.
Nach der Arbeit am Moonbuggy ist ein bisschen Erholung gut. Thomas, der Besitzer unserer Moonbuggy Halle, hat uns zu sich nach Hause eingeladen um uns mal kennen zu lernen.

15 Uhr fahren wir zu Thomas. Alle haben ihre Schwimmsachen dabei, denn wir dürfen in den Pool. Angekommen springen alle gleich in den Pool um uns abzukühlen. Es macht riesen spaß. Nach ein paar Stunden wird es so langsam dunkel. Ein Gewitter zieht auf. Thomas macht trotzdem den Grill an. Wenige Minuten nachdem der Grill an war fängt es an zu regnen. Natürlich grillt Thomas weiter. Es gibt lecker Burger. Allen schmeckt es gut, am Ende gibt es noch ein Eis. Gegen 19 Uhr fahren wir zurück ins Hotel. Zwischendurch machen wir noch schnell Halt bei Terry und seinem Sohn Trewis. Terry zeigt uns sein Haus und seine 3 Autos.

Moonbuggy team Russia 2012, colledge
International Space Education Institute, Leipzig
www.spaceedukation.de
 

Huntsville April 5th 2012

The day began with breakfast. We discussed the plans with the students today, in the morning we will have 3 meeting in the afternoon - will modify the moonbuggy.

Ralph organized our trip to the Werner Von Braun Research University of Alabama in Huntsville. We were met by Vice-President Dr. John Horak. Staff organized a short tour more historical than scientific.

The next meeting was at a local school - Specialized Technical School Huntsville. A local teacher, Mr. White has organized a great team, his students every year take the first places in competitions. They have a good technical base, and their buggies made on a professional level. They organized a track similar to the one that will be in competition. I am and his sportsmen ride on moonbuggy on it. This is a very good school with excellent technical background. Then we went to the garage. The guys assemble the moonbuggy, I trained.

We made a few crash-test flew the central axis, poorly working brakes, and a couple of minor damage was revealed. All the rest of the day Roman and Genya helping students from other teams to collect their buggies.

In the evening came the guys from India Sahil and  Ayrish. I went with Ralph to meet them.

The day was very busy. We did everything  we planned, buggy collected, it now need to test , probably show up more damage inside of it, but it's ready to race.

Moonbuggy Team Italy, Highschool 2012
Daniele Cini, Marco De Lorenzi, Simon Galletti. Giacomo Labbri, Laura Martin
International Space Education Institute
Hunstville, 04.04.2012

 
Today was our first day in Huntsville. At 9.30 we went with the guys of the russian and German team to the garage where the pieces of four moonbuggys are stowed and, when we got there, Ralf explained to us the timetable of the days to come:

8.00 breakfast
9.15 sightseeing of Huntsville
11.00 arrival in the garage, briefing
11.00-19.00 work on the Moonbuggys and on the reports
19.00 dinner and debriefing
20.00 report delivery

He told us the special activities of the next days; in particular, on Easter-Sunday and Monday, a visit to Cape Canaveral in Florida and to the Kennedy Space Center is programmed.

After that we went to the center of Huntsville for a first look of the city: first we visited the cyclism local shop, “Trailhead Bicycles”, which will give us pieces if needed; then we reached Huntsville’s central park, where the Wehrner von Braun Memorial Institute is located, in memory of the German engineer that, amongst the others, is remembered for the special contribution to the Apollo 11 mission, that brought man to the moon.
The park is spacious and in the sun and, after a walk around the artificial lake, we went back to the garage.

Here began our real work: some of us assembled the back seat that we brought from Venice and, once finished, with the help of Roman and Evgenij, the two Russian engineers, we started to put together the pieces of the principle axle of the Moonbuggy; the others prepared an Italian video presentation of the garage, its rooms and their functions. 

At half past three we all went to Huntsville’s downtown to the house of Mr. Thomas, the owner of the garage and other establishments in town, who previously invited us for a barbecue; after a swim in the pool the weather started to get worst, so we went inside, where we had a wonderful supper prepared by Thomas’s wife, Laura, and by all of us.

After about two hours, we left, with the invitation to go back whenever we like to visit this very hospital family, and went to visit another house pretty close by, in which lives Mr. Terry, that generously lent us some tools, that we will use for the construction of the Moonbuggy. Mr. Terry showed us his house and his garage, that contained sport cars that he himself modified.

Schrauben am Moonbuggy
Michaela Ebert, Moonbuggy Team Germany 2, 2012 HS
International Space Education Institute
Huntsville, der 4. April 2012

An diesem Morgen frühstückten wir das erste Mal in unserem Hotel in Huntsville. Gleich nach dem Frühstück machten wir uns auf in unsere Moonbuggy-Halle, um dort einen festen Plan für die restlichen Tage festzulegen. Er bestand darin, dass wir jeden Tag mit einer Sightseeing-Tour starteten, später in die Moonbuggy-Halle zurück zu kehren, um dort Mittag zu essen und bis zum Abend an den Moonbuggys zu schrauben. Zwischendurch besorgt mir Herr Heckel von einem Radshop ein Rennrad mit dem ich dann auf amerikanischen Straßen fahren kann.
Allerdings waren wir an diesem Tag zu Freunden der Fam. Heckel in Huntsville eingeladen. Dort durften wir in deren Pool schwimmen und entspannen. Zum Abendessen gab es dort selbstgemachte Hamburger, die wir uns nach unserem eigenen Geschmack belegen durften. Wir blieben noch für eine Weile und kehrten dann schließlich in unser Hotel zurück, wo wir abends noch schnell unsere e-Mails versendeten und dann auch schon ins Bett gingen.
Fotos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/spaceeducation/6900567310/in/set-72157629378504040