Medical Effects of Space Travel is Topic for Teens at Cosmosphere Summer Camp

June 25 through 29, campers will arrive at the Cosmosphere in Hutchinson from around the United States to participate in Space Rx Camp—the first summer camp experience in the nation to focus on the impact of long duration space travel on humans.

The campers will engage with a variety of health care professionals and scientists, and experience hands-on activities from learning how to suture wounds to a class on the unique challenges of cooking in space.

Physicians and experts at Hutchinson Clinic and Wichita State University will share topics from their respective medical fields including orthopedics, dermatology, radiology, cardiology and physical therapy. The students will experience clinical environments such as the state-of-the-art Heart Catheterization Laboratory at Hutchinson Regional Medical Center and will learn how to suture using pigs feet.

The cooking classroom at Apron Strings Kitchen Store in Hutchinson will be the site for discussing nutrition as well as the obstacles to cooking in space. Planning meals in space that don’t produce crumbs is important. Sweeping up crumbs isn’t possible in microgravity, and instead, those crumbs can get caught in air handling systems.

Campers will travel to WSU’s Human Performance Studies department where they will consider other physiological and psychological aspects of life in space. One of the faculty members working with the campers is Ryan Z. Amick, Phd, himself a former Cosmosphere Camper who worked with NASA before joining the team at WSU. Dr. Amick will offer the campers insight into Human Factors Engineering, Ergonomics, and Biomechanics as they relate to space crew safety and improved crew performance, as well as the development of prototype spacesuit designs.

Spaces are still available in this year’s all girl Space Rx Camp. To register or learn more, visit: cosmo.org/camps.

The Cosmosphere International SciEd Center & Space Museum is located at 1100 North Plum in Hutchinson, KS. Its collection includes U.S. space artifacts second only to the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, and the largest collection of Russian space artifacts outside of Moscow.