Countdown Institute

Amazing new SPACE focused summer camp from the founders of Wynwood Maker Camp. Kids 11+

Vector is a summer camp at Florida International University Honors College starting June 13th, 2016 that is designed for children ages 11+ to introduce the topics of physics and rocketry at a beginner level. Through the summer we will learn about the history of spaceflight, use kerbal space program (a rocket construction and simulation game), construct a water, air, and model rocket, experience the Apollo 11 mission in virtual reality, and compete on a grand mission to find the best team to plan, launch, pilot, land, and safely return home a team of virtual astronauts.

http://vector01.space/

Vector - Rocket Physics for Children Learn about the physics of rocketry by building rockets, simulation with kerbal space program, and virtual experiences through virtual reality.

We love to see our students become the teachers!

Yesterday, we had the pleasure of seeing our 'Countdown Pioneers' for a bonus class.

Since we last met, our students have been creating some amazing things.

Shown below is Ricardo telling us how he was able to make his Arduino kit light up to the Star Wars theme song!

We are so thankful to all who participated in the first Countdown Institute class and look forward to our new classes next year!

We like to highlight women who code and this story really caught our eye: Margaret Hamilton was 31 when the Apollo lunar module landed on the moon running her code.

She worked at NASA to gain hands-on experience during a time when computer science and software engineering courses or disciplines were non-existent.

Not only did her software navigate to/from and land on the moon, her work prevented a last-minute abort of the Apollo 11 moon landing.

In 2003, Hamilton earned a NASA Exceptional Space Act Award for her scientific and technical contributions. The award included $37,200, the largest amount awarded to any individual in NASA's history.

Now that's impressive!

This weekend is going to be an exciting one for us!

Not only will we be attending the 2014 Startup awards on Friday, (we are we nominated for four awards, don't forget to keep voting for us at the link below) but we are also very excited to be back at the LAB Miami on Sunday for our BONUS class!!

The students will learn how to analyze data from our Weather Ballon, play with our new drone, in addition to playing with a Occulus virtual reality headset & much more!!

We are so excited to see our Countdown Pioneers!!
If you haven't already RSVP'd for Sunday, please send us an email :)

#MiamiTech: Time to Vote For 2014's Top Startups Time to vote for Miami's top startups in 2014. Winners will be announced during our Holiday Party.

We have liftoff!!! Go go!

Images by NASA and liftoff image by Marsha Collier

We're inside the launch window for the Orion Exploratory Test Flight 1. If the ground wind dies down a bit, we'll be good to go.

Here are 8 things to look for during the flight.

8 Things to Look for During Orion’s Flight | Orion 8 Things to Look for During Orion’s Flight Posted on November 4, 2014 at 11:00 am by Steven Siceloff. 23 Replies Graphics by Aimee Crane, words by Sarah Schlieder Orion is launching December 4 on its first test flight. This launch involves more than just a rocket that goes WOOSH! Orion will reach a…

The journey to Mars starts tomorrow! Orion will fly further than any spaceship since the Apollo missions of the 1960's and 1970's. Here is the stacked spacecraft atop the Delta-IV Heavy rockets. It includes the crew module, which is air locked and contains the heat shields. Below it is the service module, which contains the fuel. At the very top is the launch abort system, which safely ejects people from the crew module.

At 7:05 Thursday morning, NASA is scheduled to take a huge step toward advancing the human space flight program.

The much-anticipated first test flight of the Orion spacecraft is a compilation of the riskiest events that astronauts will face.

Orion will face extreme conditions, from space radiation to 4,000 degree temperatures when it hits the atmosphere at 20,000 mph.

Thursday’s test flight will help “put Mars within the reach of astronauts in the 2030s,” NASA says.

Read more ... http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2014/12/02/nasa-prepares-to-test-the-spaceship-that-could-take-us-to-mars/

Why even do an unmanned launch? Here are the 5 things NASA needs to learn from Orion's first flight tomorrow.

Five Things We’ll Learn from Orion’s First Flight Test Orion's first flight test this year promises crucial data that can be applied to the design for future missions.

We were granted a press pass to attend the Orion test launch on Thursday!

Orion is NASA’s new spacecraft, built to take humans farther into space than they’ve ever gone before. Eventually, it will propel humans to Mars and will carry up to six astronauts compared with Apollo's three.

On Thursday, Orion will launch loaded with 1,200 sensors for a two-orbit, 4.5-hour flight to test many of the systems most critical to safety before it carries astronauts.

The photos depict the various stages of the test flight. Check out NASA's excellent mini site for this launch:

http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/orionfirstflight/

We can't wait!

Do you think it is important for women to learn to code?

Mattel recently pulled their newest Barbie book off the shelves, “I Can Be A Computer Engineer." In the book, Barbie has to depend on her guys friends to do all the programming for her! ( READ MORE HERE; http://techcrunch.com/2014/11/19/mattel-pulls-sexist-barbie-book-i-can-be-a-computer-engineer-off-amazon/)

Countdown institute is a strong supporter of female coders. Recently we have been inspired by this report from 40 Female Y Combinator, the famous startup accelerator:

"One of the most consistent patterns is how many founders wished they'd learned to program when they were younger. Some wished they'd even known it was an option, and many others knew it was an option but were either intimidated or felt they’d somehow missed the window."

What We Learned From 40 Female YC Founders We’re excited to launch Female Founder Stories, a collection of interviews with 40 of Y Combinator’s female alumnae. We asked them about things like how they got started, their experience at Y...