Bonnyville boys getting chance of a lifetime at NASA Space Camp

Leland Warburton, left, and his older brother Liam Warburton were both accepted to NASA Space Camp this summer. 

The wonders of space has captured the imagination of young people since the beginning of time and two Bonnyville boys will get as close as they can to the action this summer.

Liam and Leland Warburton, 12 and 9 years old, were both accepted to the prestigious NASA Space Camp this summer in Huntsville, Alabama, the birthplace of America’s space program.

The brothers put together their application, which included creating a mission patch, writing multiple essays, and conducting their own research experiment.

And they both beat the odds and thousands of applicants for the opportunity.

“I’m super excited to go to Space Camp,” Liam said on Connected Tuesday morning.

“I think it’s going to be super interesting. When we are at Space Camp, I’m most excited to build rockets. I think that’s going to be super fun. I also think that the simulators are going to be fun. They have one that simulates what gravity on the moon is like, so you strap yourself in and when you jump you go in the air,” he said.

 

Leland’s patch included a couple of patches from a veteran of the space world.

“On my patch on the bottom left I put two missions patches from an actual astronaut named Leland. I put it because I’ve never heard of someone with the same name,” he said.

“We were watching a documentary about space and he just popped up and I thought I should put him on my mission cap.”

Liam’s included things he enjoys like travelling and sports. His choice of experiment also kept with the athletics theme.

He tracked how exercising before bed can impact sleep.

“We compared the data. What we found out was that exercising directly before bed isn’t good for you, but maybe half an hour before you go to bed can actually help your sleep.”

Leland’s experiment looked at clean hands and whether washing your hands has an effect.

They even grew bacteria to get accurate results.

“The conclusion was that there’s a big difference between washing your hands and not washing your hands. For the first person that used the soap, there were a lot more germs than the last person that used the soap, but still not washing your hands had more than the first person.”

While neither of them want to be astronauts – so far – Liam is interested in becoming an engineer and Leland is interested in mission control.

They applied for a scholarship and will receive $1500 each to go to the space camp.

On Aug. 16, they’ll head the U.S. Space and Rocket centre for a week full of space activities.

Watch the full interview