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Publication Date: Friday, January 11, 2002 @pullquote: "What has hurt us _ more than anything else _ is a lack of awareness that we're here."
Julio Valencia, director of Space Camp California
Space Camp closes
Space Camp closes
(January 11, 2002) By Bill D'Agostino and Justin Scheck
Space Camp California closed last Sunday, Jan. 6, but camp officials are still hoping to reopen later in the year, either with the help of corporate sponsorships or another company taking over the facility under license from Space Camp.
"We're closing here, but we're not leaving," said Larry Capps, CEO of the U.S. Space Camp Foundation, the nonprofit that runs the camp out of Huntsville, Ala. 33 employees lost their job as a result of the closing.
Capps was in town this past week, and he and Julio Valencia, the Space Camp California Director, met with a number of potential donors and licensees.
Valencia said he was hopeful the camp could reopen as early as this summer. "I'm very optimistic about the people we have met," he said.
Meanwhile, young John Glenn-wannabes who are currently enrolled in the program will have the option of getting a full refund or going to another Space Camp site in either Alabama or Florida. Space Camp will not pay the airfare cost for those who choose to relocate.
At camp, kids aged 9-14 got the experience of training as astronauts in simulators such as the gravity chair, zero gravity wall and the popular multi-axis trainer, which replicated an out-of-control spin.
The five-day program culminated in simulated flight missions, where kids worked either as astronauts in a model space shuttle or as ground control support, running the mission from a control room.
The success of the program, Valencia said, is that it "exposes kids to the possibilities of what they might be" while also teaching them math and science in a fun and creative way.
Declining attendance, debt to blame
Valencia attributed the program's closing to lowered attendance in 2001. While other Space Camps in the country were down around 20 percent last year, Space Camp California was down about 30 percent due in part to the dot-com meltdown and other local factors like the energy crises.
Almost all of the camp's revenues come from tuition fees. A five-day stay costs around $900, including bunk style housing. 50 percent of the program's attendees came from the Bay Area, and 70 percent came from California.
The entire U.S. Space Camp Foundation is also struggling; Capps said it is currently mired in about $13 million of debt to various creditors around the country. Another foundation program, the California Aviation Challenge in Atwater, closed late last year.
Valencia attributed the problems of the Mountain View program to the camp's failure to develop a marketing plan to spread the word of the camp to kids in the Bay Area. "What has hurt us _ more than anything else _ is a lack of awareness that we're here," he said.
Also damaging, Valencia added, is that the camp has not been able to build long term relationships with local companies and schools because of the bare bones nature of the operation and the overextended staff. In addition to directing the camp's operations, Valencia also runs its marketing, promotions and community outreach.
Capps agreed that the organization has not cultivated the relationships with businesses and the community that are needed for a successful program, and added that, "until six months ago, about 75 percent" of his time was spent working on programs at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, of which he is also the CEO.
The Space and Rocket Center and the Alabama Space Camp program is run by the Alabama Space Science Exhibit Commission, a state agency. Capps said that, because Alabama state law prohibits state agencies from operating out of state, the U.S. Space Camp Foundation was started to open camps around the country.
Capps said he does not know whether the foundation will declare bankruptcy, but said that, even if it does, the Alabama Space Science Exhibit Commission will not be responsible for repaying the foundation's creditors.
"Legally, we're two separate organizations," he said.
When Space Camp decided to come to Mountain View in 1996, it was a major feather in the cap of the city, who lobbied for eight years to get the educational facility to move to town.
The city even lent the nonprofit $1.5 million dollars as part of a revenue sharing deal, which Space Camp paid back after three years. Part of that arrangement required the camp to offer more than 20 scholarships to kids in Mountain View every year.
Nadine Levin, the assistant city manager who has worked with Space Camp, said she was disappointed to hear of the camp's closing. "It was an asset," Levin said.
The company is still seeking organizations interested in helping out. Capps said an announcement about the future of the camp could be made in "about two weeks."
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