Scouts take soggy look into outer space

An overnight stay at the airport was rough on Boy Scout Brent Englehart. Storms stretching from Friday night into Saturday just kept coming, bringing thunder, lightning and, worst of all, rain. Englehart had to endure it all in a tent set up outside the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport.

"My tent awning flew up and things were flying everywhere," Englehart said.

Although he got a little wet from the incident, it did nothing to prevent him from enjoying Saturday's activities.

Englehart, a member of troop 155 from Perryville, Mo., was one of 309 scouts from 23 troops in the Shawnee and Cherokee Boy Scout districts that participated in the 2004 Spring Camporee.

This year's camporee was at the airport so the scouts could work on getting their space exploration badges.

"Other than the weather, it's been going very well," said Mitch Robinson, the program's coordinator.

Robinson said the scout leaders were prepared for the weather and had a backup plan in place if conditions had become dangerous.

The storms woke up Alex Hunt, also from Troop 155, at 2 a.m., but he said he was not worried about it and managed to stay dry the whole night.

"It was pretty fun," he said. "I like camping out in the rain."

They started Saturday's activities at 8:45 a.m. with a session on the purpose of space exploration. It was followed by sessions that taught them about important figures in space exploration, how things work in space, careers in space exploration, the purpose and mission of space shuttles and space travel to the moon and planets.

There were also some hands-on activities. Orbiting space stations were constructed out of plastic cups, straws, paper plates and tin foil and model rockets were constructed.

Unfortunately, the rockets never managed to make it off the ground because the rainy weather caused the launch to be canceled.

However, the weather did not prevent NASA astronaut Linda Godwin from giving the scouts a presentation about her experiences in space.

Godwin currently lives in Houston, Texas, but was born and raised in Cape Girardeau County and received her bachelor's degree in math and physics from Southeast Missouri State University.

She also attended the University of Missouri, where she received her doctorate in physics. She joined NASA in 1980 and has flown on four shuttle flights.

During her presentation, Godwin showed some photos taken from her last shuttle flight in December 2001, when her crew docked at the international space station.

She also talked about NASA's plans for the future, which involve returning astronauts to the moon and eventually sending them to Mars.

"They were really quite a great group of kids," Godwin said after answering questions from the scouts and autographing and posing for photos.

She praised the Boy Scout organization for its strong leadership and the strong background it provides for children.

Although she admitted her bias in valuing the space exploration badge, Godwin said it is important to teach young people about space because they are the next generation that NASA will look to for leadership and new ideas.

kalfisi@semissourian.com

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