#ready jet go space camp

[coolsomejet]

Hand Motif in Space Camp

Space Camp has multiple shots of hands, serving as symbolism throughout the movie

One of the opening shots is of Mitchell holding his phone in his hands.

When Jet and Sunspot go surfing, we get a shot of Jet's hand

Just before Jet realizes that Sunspot has shrunken, Sunspot reaches up to him

Jet holds Sunspot in his hands

Mitchell reluctantly hands over his phone to Mindy

Jet and Sean point at Stella while everyone shouts "YOU'RE FROM BORTRON 7!"

During "Super Hyperdrive," Sunspot disappears in Jet's hand

When the gang finds Galacto's log, Jet puts his hand on it

After Jet finds Sunspot after thinking he's lost him, Sunspot climbs onto his palm

Sean and Jet hold hands while resolving that they will find a way to get the deshrinkulum together

During "It Takes a Team," Sydney extends her hand to help pull Jet out of this weird black hole

"It Takes a Team" has multiple shots of hands, like Jet fist bumping Sean, and everyone stacking their hands together, emphasizing the movie's teamwork theme.

Jet finds out that Galacto has shrunken via a handshake, and Galacto also hops onto Jet's palm

Jet saves Stella by pulling her from the filaments

Jet tries to reach for the deshrinkulum, and then Galacto and Sunspot crawl out of his sleeve to get it

Mitchell slips on a puddle and his phone falls out of his hands, causing him to lose the evidence that Stella is an alien

Stella deserves a section of her own, since she is the most associated with hands throughout the movie. First, she taps her fingers together while scheming

Then, Mitchell helps her up from the ground

She wiggles her fingers when Mitchell tells her that Jet is at space camp

She gestures with her finger to introduce herself to Sean, Sydney, and Mindy

She does peace signs twice

Stella presses the buttons on her team's spaceship to "prove" that it doesn't work, but it does work after all

Stella files her nails while asserting she had nothing to do with the ship.

[thecraziestfanever]

Bortronians at Space Camp

Lol, other Bortronians at Space Camp

[volleypearlfan]

"All aboard the toxic gossip comet

Chugging down the galaxy of misinformation"

Inspired by this post

[ari-bat]

Ready Jet Go fans:

The upcoming Ready Jet Go Movie has a title and a pbs kids air date

It's called Ready Jet Go: Space Camp and it premieres on Monday July 24th

[joshuathebeep-0guy]

Guess What?

We Have One More Day Until The PBS Premiere Of Ready Jet Go Space Camp!!! OH YEAH!!!!!!!!

[wordsbyrian]

First Camp - USWNT x Reader

Summary: Another fic set in the Polyglot!verse! This time its R's first time at senior camp set in November 2019

A/N: Bro, there was so much I wanted to fit in to this one that had to get cut. I think I might just write the cut bits as little drabbles instead

It isn’t every day that people get a call-up to play for their senior national team for the first time.

But as you walked into the hotel lobby, you couldn’t find it within yourself to be excited. The only thing on your mind is getting to your room so that you can take a nap and try to fight off your jet lag.

Unfortunately, that isn’t an option for you, as your flight from Spain had been delayed twice causing you to arrive mere minutes before the first team meeting, with not even enough time to put your bags in your room.

Practically sprinting down the hall to the conference room, you leave your bags outside the door and take a seat in the very back-row moments before Vlatko stands to address the team.

“Okay, ladies, let’s get this meeting started, I know you’re all very excited to get to whatever you have planned for the afternoon,” he says, glancing around the room. “Firstly, we’ve got some fitness testing in the morning, so try to make good choices for the rest of the day.”

The rest of the meeting continues in much of the same fashion, with Vlatko and the rest of the coaching staff running through the planned schedule and what to expect going into the two friendlies.

“Final thing before you all head your separate ways,” Coach says as everyone starts to gather their things, “You’ve noticed by now that it’s Y/N Y/L/N’s first camp, so make sure you show her how we do things around here but let her rest before you drag her into your antics. Dismissed.”

Grabbing your suitcases from the hallway, you follow the wave of players leaving the conference room towards the elevators.

As you stand near the back of the group staring into space you feel a hand place itself on your shoulder. 

Turning around you lock eyes with Christen Press.

“Hey, Y/N, you’re rooming with me, Vlatko thought it would be best to keep you away from the chaos of some of the others,” she says.

“Cool, they uh they look like they can be a lot,” you say, watching over your shoulder as Kelley, Rose, and Sonnett shove each other.

“They can be,” she says, “How was your flight in, I know you arrived just before the meeting.”

Stepping around the squabbling trio that has managed to find themselves on the ground, you wait for the elevator doors to close before answering.

“The flight itself was alright, it got delayed a few times because of a storm,” you say watching as the numbers on the display rise and the doors eventually open.

The two of you are silent as you make your way down the hall and into your room.

Once in the room, conversation flows easily, and the two of you get to know each other. Eventually, though Christen leaves to go hang out with Tobin and you take the opportunity to have a shower and a nap.

This is why you’re not surprised to wake up to someone pounding on the door although when you open it you’re shocked to see Mallory and Tierna on the other side.

“Hey, Chris sent us to wake you up and make sure you get ready for dinner,” Mal says, stepping inside when you open the door wider.

Both of them immediately make themselves comfortable on the edge of Christen’s bed, while you head to the bathroom to change.

30 minutes later, the three of you find yourselves seated on one side of the long table that’s been placed in the conference room.

While you would’ve been more than happy for the meal to pass in silence, the other women on the team have chosen to use this as an opportunity to ask more questions than you thought possible.

Some of the questions are fairly tame, like ‘where are you from’ or ‘what’s your favorite cheat meal’ but once Mal asks who your favorite player is, the wheels begin to fall off a little bit.

It’s partially your fault because you should’ve known that they weren’t going to accept you not naming a female player.

“I watched a lot of United and Barcelona matches growing up so I wanted to be Luke Shaw, Patrice Evra, and Jordi Alba,” you say, hoping that would be enough.

“You didn’t watch any women’s soccer growing up,” Pinoe asks.

“I did.”

“So who’s your favorite player,” she asks, and when she sees how hesitant you are to answer she continues her needling, “Is it one of us? More importantly, is it me?”

“It’s not you.”

“But it is one of the people in this room.”

“I plead the 5th.”

This is when Kelley decides to join in on the needling but after a couple of minutes, Alex takes pity on you and gets her to stop, which gives Lindsey, the only other player to skip college completely, the opportunity to ask you a question.

“You left high school early to play for Barcelona, why,” she asks.

“School sucked, home sucked, playing football for money decidedly doesn’t suck,” you say plainly.

“That is the most teenager response I have ever heard,” Alex says.

“I’m 17,” you tell her, “I’m not sure what you were expecting.”

That sends a shock wave through the team, even the ones who were further down the table seem to have heard what you said.

“You’re practically an infant,” Kelley says with a disbelieving grin, “Even compared to Tierna and Mal. When do you turn 18?”

“Next month.”

A look of pure glee comes across Sonnett’s face and it makes you kind of nervous because as the seconds pass it only gets bigger and bigger.

And then she says, “Congrats Baby T, you’ve been promoted to little kid; Y/N is officially the team baby.”

Tierna begins to celebrate from her seat on Mal’s other side and while you are nervous about Sonnett possibly planning to kill you, you do your best to put on a show of moaning and groaning. Besides, it does feel pretty good to know that you’ve been accepted into the fold so quickly.

The rest of the meal continues in much of the same manner, with the entire team taking the time to relax and get to know each other better.

At the end of the meal, you and Christen make your way back to your room and get ready for bed.

Just before turning off the lights, she asks the one question you haven’t heard yet tonight: How are you feeling?

“Nervous but excited,” you tell her, staring blankly at the ceiling, “I want to play well and show Vlatko that he didn’t make a mistake calling me up.”

“I remember seeing you at the U-20 World Cup last summer, I don’t think you’ll need to worry about that too much. You’re talented and everyone who doesn’t know it yet will soon,” she says, flipping the lamp off.

The next few days pass in a way that makes it easy for you to adjust to the rhythm of camp.

Practice is hard, of course, and Columbus is fucking cold in November, but you do your best to push through everything and make sure you show what you have.

You also use the time to continue getting to know everyone both on and off the field, it’s hard because they all play on the same teams and in the same leagues. Even Cook who plays in France has an advantage over you in that she did go to college and has played with or against others on the team.

It’s all made a little easier by the fact that Tobin and Christen have taken it upon themselves to take you under their wings and with them comes Mal, so by the first team bonding activity you find yourself to be the newest member of their makeshift family unit.

It’s weird but it works besides with everything going on you don’t have time to worry about it. 

By the time you turn around, it’s the day of the friendly against Sweden.

Even though the game has a late start time, you still find yourself waking up at your normal time of 8 a.m., so that you can complete all of your game day rituals.

A lot of athletes like to lie about not being superstitious but you’ll admit it proudly: Your entire mood on game days rests on whether or not you can stick to your schedule, even if you aren’t in the squad.

The weirdest of your superstitions and the one that usually requires the most explanation is the fact that you refuse to speak at all before pitch inspections on game days. A routine that you have always accompanied with a pair of noise-canceling headphones.

So before you leave the hotel room, you write two notes explaining the situation. One to keep in your pocket and one for Christen to find when she wakes up. Her note also has instructions saying that she can find you by the pool doing your morning meditation.

Which is exactly where she finds you roughly 45 minutes later.

Looking up at her you can see the slightly annoyed look on her face as she begins to rant but you can’t hear anything she’s saying. Eventually, she huffs angrily and tosses a scarf and hat at you before pulling you to your feet.

At breakfast you watch as the team passes around the note, most of them immediately agreeing to leave you to your routine but there are a few moments where Sonny tries to get you to speak, only to receive blank stares.

After that, the rest of the day passes smoothly.

You don’t get any minutes against Sweden but that was to be expected, it is only your first camp after all.

The next morning, you along with the rest of the team are on your way to Jacksonville, Florida.

The flight is just as chaotic as every other experience you’ve had with these women, they’re inability to relax is both comforting and agitating at the same time.

Originally, you had sat on your own but now 30 minutes into the two-hour flight, you find yourself surrounded by the younger group of players.

“Y/N/N, have you ever been to Florida,” Rose asks, pulling you back into the conversation.

“Nope.”

“Are you excited," Andi questions, leaning over the seat in front of you, "Do you have family coming?"

“I mean, I’m always excited to play but Florida isn’t really doing it for me,” you answer. “As for family, I doubt that my parents are gonna fly in to watch me play when we haven’t spoken in over a year.”

That seems to have gotten everyone’s attention because suddenly it feels like all eyes are on you.

“You’re 17, why haven’t you spoken to your family in a year?”

“Running away to play professional football kind of puts a strain on relationships,” you say casually.

If all eyes weren’t on you before they definitely are now, especially if the number of gasps you hear is anything to go by.

“You ran away to play in Barcelona,” Becky asks from her spot near the front.

“Not technically but I was told not to go and then when I did I was told in no uncertain terms to not return unless I decided to quit playing entirely,” you explain.

Everyone stares at you shocked until Ashlyn says what everyone's thinking.

“Dude. What the fuck?”

“You would've been what 16,” Christen begins, “Aren’t there a ton of FIFA laws about that sort of thing?”

“Yea but it would take too long to explain how I got around them,” you begin casually, “Besides don’t you like having plausible deniability?” You see a look pass through the faces of each of your teammates that lets you know that the answer is yes. “Ask me no questions and I will tell you no lies,” you finish.

Some of the girls still look slightly uneasy but they all seem content to just let sleeping dogs lie. 

So, the rest of the flight passes with relative ease, and everyone returns to their own activities. You find yourself drawn into what is easily the most competitive game of Uno you’ve ever played.

The remainder of the day, and the next for that matter, pass with the same ease.

On the day of the Costa Rica game, you go through your routine with little stress.

You do your meditation, eat breakfast, take a nap, grab an afternoon coffee with Mal, Sonny, Rose and Lindsey, do pitch inspection and then it's game time.

The first 45 minutes of the game pass incredibly fast and as you make your way back into the locker room, you’re already up two-nil.

Vlatko’s half-time speech isn’t anything special and if you’re being completely honest, you haven’t heard a single word he’s said.

At least not until one of those words is your name.

“Y/N,” he says.

“Yes, coach?”

“You like to play on the left side, don’t you?”

You nod.

“Good, you’re going in for Sonny, go get warm,” he tells you.

You stare at him in silence for a moment before a shove in the back from Rose gets you moving.

You don’t remember much of the match, but that’s a common occurrence for you. Your adrenaline is always pumping way too strongly.

What you do remember makes you think that you played well. A couple of strong tackles, crosses that hit their mark, and no goals were given up as a result of any mistake you made, so it had to have been a pretty decent game.

Your beliefs are further reassured by the way the team gathers around congratulating you on your performance, some of them patting you on the head or back.

Back in the locker room, after you've all spent some time greeting the fans and after coach has given his little postgame talk, you find that the energy in the room is slightly different than what you’ve been getting used to. Everyone is still making noise but now it seems as though they’re all shaking with anticipation.

Then suddenly, Becky is trying to get everyone to calm down so she can address the team.

“Alright settle down girls,” she says, waiting for silence. Once she gets it she continues, “Three players made their senior team debuts today and since they’re all defenders, it’s my job to give them their game balls. Midge, Cookie, the two of you started and kept the right side locked down for the full 90 minutes.” Then she turns to you. “And Y/N/N, you put in 45 and are the only person I’ve ever seen talk trash after taking a cleat to the stomach. But most importantly, the three of you along with Sonny and Sully made life easy for our keepers and no balls found the back of our net. Good Job!”

As the girls break into applause, Becky tosses each of you a ball.

Everyone disperses a bit after that, headed to press conferences and the showers but you take a moment to stare at the ball.

It must last pretty long though because eventually, you feel someone taking a seat next to you. And since you can still hear her attempting to sing from the showers, you know it's not Rose.

“Are you okay,” Mal asks.

“Yeah, I’m good,” you say, “Did I really get kicked in the gut?”

She nods, “It was pretty bad to watch. Does it hurt?” You shake your head slightly so she continues, “Well you took it like a champ and I didn’t hear what you said but the Costa Rican player looked pretty pissed.”

“I don’t know either but I have a feeling I’ll never live it down,” you laugh, finally looking at her.

“It’s probably already all over the internet, so maybe not.”

“Great.”

[rainbowyumy]

Finally, I am not the only one who noticed how rushed Paisley's redemption arc was. I know PBS Kids is ment to be for kids, but even children would notice how rushed some things are. First Stella, from Ready Jet Go: Space Camp, had a rushed character arc. Now Paisley, who didn't have much screen time as a villain might I add, immediately becomes an advocate for protecting nature. They could've at least have her rethink through her actions before changing sides.

I can tell that the show is already losing its taste. On the other hand, there are some positive things coming from the show, like Jimmy finally getting the spotlight, or fixing that annoying bright color pallette that I hated so much because it white washed Aviva at one point. But then there's the odd pacing and the cycle of plot holes and stupid stories like in No Name Dream. And I believe this is due to the fact a different studio is working on these recent seasons rather than the previous one that worked on the earlier ones.

Hell, I'm having more entertainment from the fandom's fanfictions than the actual show, especially since I've been seeing great talent and beautiful artwork from the best on Tumblr, Instagram, and Tik Tok. (Shout out to the Reprogrammed AU and Krattrastopic creators!) The fanfictions were more aware and accurate with the lore than the show itself.

But why am I complaining? I still liked the Blue and Green World special and still love the show itself. Just wished PBS Kids also cared about quality like they did in the past. If Bluey can impress all age ranges, then any kid show can. And hey, I actually wanted to see how Paisley being a good person would work in the franchise, even before the special came out.

Apologies if that sounded rude.

[4seasonsfangirl345]

The Ready Jet Go Space Camp movie came out on July 20, 2023, and today is July 20, 2024 which means that it's the 1st anniversary of Space Camp.

By the way, I even included my OC Lettuce here.

[knizuu]

So I watched the Space Camp movie (Ready Jet Go) and now I LOVE IT

I can see why people like it :]

Ft. Trans fem Metal as that one announcer on Bortron 7

Tails being Jet, Amy being Sydney, and Nine as the new character Stella

—

I originally did this AU because well-

The main character is the same voice as Tails in Sonic Prime and I CANNOT let that go without thought

Also the voice actor for Face was in multiple Sonic media soooo

I think this was fun to do :]

[laresearchette]

Friday, January 17, 2024 Canadian TV Listings (Times Eastern)

WHERE CAN I FIND THOSE PREMIERES?: SEVERANCE (Apple TV+) ROY WOOD, JR: LONELY FLOWERS (Disney + Star) NFL ICONS (MGM+) HENRY DANGER: THE MOVIE (Paramount + Canada) LONGMIRE (Seasons 1 - 6) (Paramount + Canada) SHARK TANK (CTV) 8:00pm REAL TIME WITH BILL MAHER (HBO Canada) 10:00pm

WHAT IS NOT PREMIERING IN CANADA TONIGHT? HENRY DANGER: THE MOVIE (Premiering on January 18 on YTV at 4:00pm)

NEW TO AMAZON PRIME CANADA/CBC GEM/CRAVE TV/DISNEY + STAR/NETFLIX CANADA:

AMAZON PRIME CANADA THE GO-GETTER GREENBERG HESHER I WANT TO TALK MISSÃO PORTO SEGURO LA LIBERACIÓN LOL: LAST ONE LAUGHING NORWAY (Season 2) LOL: LAST ONE LAUGHING NETHERLAND (Season 3) LOL: LAST ONE LAUGHING SWEDEN (Season 3) LOL: LAST ONE LAUGHING POLAND (Season 3) LOL: DEN DER LER SIDST DENMARK (Season 2) LOS TINELLI MOLLY-MAE: BEHIND IT ALL NHL COAST TO COAST STAND UP GUYS TRAINSPOTTING UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: REGENERATION

CBC GEM CATASTROPHE (Season 4) NAPOLEON DYNAMITE PUTIN’S JOURNEY SHIVA BABY

CRAVE TV AFRAID THE COUPLE NEXT DOOR DARK SIDE OF THE 90S (Season 3) HALF BAKED: TOTALLY HIGH JACKASS FOREVER OCEAN’S 8 READY JET GO: SPACE CAMP THE MOVIE TOOTSIE TROY

DISNEY + STAR ROY WOOD JR.: LONELY FLOWERS

NETFLIX CANADA BACK IN ACTION EVAN ALMIGHTY YOUNG, FAMOUS & AFRICAN (ZA)

GRAND SLAM OF CURLING (SN) 11:30am: Masters - Draw 14 (SN) 3:30pm: Masters - Draw 15 (SNWest/SNOntario) 7:30pm: Masters - Draw 16

2025 AUSTRALIAN OPEN TENNIS (TSN3/TSN4) 7:00pm: Early Round Coverage Day #7

PWHL HOCKEY (TSN) 7:00pm: Frost vs. Victoire

NLL LACROSSE (TSN5) 7:00pm: Warriors vs. Black Bears

NHL HOCKEY (SN360/SNEast/SNPacific) 7:00pm: Penguins vs. Sabres

NBA BASKETBALL (SN Now) 7:00pm: Magic vs. Celtics (SN1) 8:00pm: Raptors vs. Bucks (TSN2) 8:30pm: Thunder vs. Mavericks (SN1) 10:30pm: Nets vs. Lakers

PUTIN'S JOURNEY (CBC) 8:00pm: Putin's 25 years in power have seen repression at home and war abroad.

SECRETS OF THE VIKING STONE (Cottage Life) 8:00pm (SEASON PREMIERE): Hollywood actor Peter Stormare and Elroy Balgaard begin a brand-new excavation at the mysterious Runestone Hill.

LUCKLESS IN LOVE (Super Channel Heart & Home) 8:00pm: Dating blogger Winnie writes under the pen name Luckless and goes viral for a post about a bad date with a sports agent. When her boss offers Winnie her own column, she has no choice but to keep dating Holden for content.

SNL50: BEYOND SATURDAY NIGHT (Showcase) 9:00pm (SERIES PREMIERE): The documentary delves into the journey of superstar comedians striving to join SNL, showcasing the preparation, determination and diverse stories of those who achieved their dream and those who found success in other paths.

AFRAID (Crave) 9:00pm: Curtis and his family are selected to test a revolutionary new device called AIA that takes smart homes to the next level. As AIA begins to learn everyone's behavior and anticipate their needs, it soon makes sure nothing and no one gets in their way.

RETROGRADE (Super Channel Fuse) 9:00pm: A minor traffic citation spirals into an all-consuming obsession for a young woman when she decides to take on the police and the city.

[coolsomejet]

Autistic traits in some RJG characters

Jet - stims by marching with his elbows out when he walks, takes things literally, hates ice cream due to sensory issues, very impulsive, is an alien - which is a common way to explaining autism to small children, feeling like an alien from another planet

Sean - huge special interest in space, comfort object is his Neil Armstrong action figure, gets frustrated when things don’t go exactly the way he planned it or he wants it, nervous all the time, displays a lack of interest in pretend play in “Backyard Moon Base,” where he struggles to use his imagination

Sydney - her obsession with Commander Cressida, along with Greek Mythology to a lesser extent, could be read as a special interest

Mitchell - extremely socially awkward, prefers to be alone, special interest in detective work, seems to connect better with his pet dog than with people, takes things literally (in “Detective Mindy,” he thought that the kitchen counter was an actual black hole, but his dad was just using an expression), doesn’t understand jokes (“Jet’s First Halloween”), doesn’t always make eye contact (“Solar System Bake Off,” during the scene where Mitchell said he likes Mindy’s cake), sounds monotonous sometimes (“Eye in the Sky”)

Stella - likes being by herself, obsession with the Great Galacto could be read a special interest, socially awkward (the scene where she bumps into Mitchell is a good example of this), poor social skills in general, quite blunt, impulsive behaviors (when she found out that Jet was the number one Great Galacto fan, her first instinct was to go to earth to try and get rid of him), her saying “excelsior” all the time could be a vocal stim (and since the catchphrase actually came from Galacto, it’s another part of her special interest in him) in fact, she says “excelsior” in the movie way more times than Jet does

EDIT: I forgot to mention that Stella's comfort object is her spaceship thingy. She panics when she sees that it isn't in her bag.

Just thought this was interesting

[thecraziestfanever]

The whole 'Sunspot's backstory' thing in RJG vs Space Camp makes even less sense when you remember Sunspot is supposed to be 899 in Bortronian years - which is 142 - 143 Earth years old!

If he aged slower than humanoid Bortronians, that would make sense, but if Jet just got him a few years ago and in that time he went from kit to adult, what was he doing for 140 years before that?

Are Sunspots one of those animal species that are babies for most of their lives and adults for a small portion of it, like cicadas?

[volleypearlfan]

Gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss

[ari-bat]

We are now one week away from the release of Ready Jet Go Space Camp

The wait is almost over

[jcmarchi]

Three MIT alumni graduate from NASA astronaut training

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/three-mit-alumni-graduate-from-nasa-astronaut-training/

Three MIT alumni graduate from NASA astronaut training

“It’s been a wild ride,” says Christopher Williams PhD ’12, moments after he received his astronaut pin, signifying graduation into the NASA astronaut corps.

Williams, along with Marcos Berríos ’06 and Christina “Chris” Birch PhD ’15, were among the 12-member class of astronaut candidates to graduate from basic training at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, on Tuesday, March 5.

NASA Astronaut Group 23 are the newest generation of Artemis astronauts, which includes 10 hailing from the United States, as well as two from the United Arab Emirates who trained alongside them.

During their more than two years of basic training, the group became proficient in such areas as spacewalking, robotics, space station systems, T-38 jets, and Russian language. The graduates also said that they asked endless questions about the functions of their spacesuit, which they wore while submerged in huge pools to practice spacewalks. They jumped into a frigid lake during a 10-day hike in Wyoming and shared the hauling of a 30-pound lava rock back to camp for more geology study, as well as the last bag of peanut M&Ms after running out of ready-to-eat meals during survival training in the Alabama back country.

“We feel ready to put our efforts and our energy into supporting NASA’s science on the space station or in support of our return to the moon and this program,” says Birch. “All of the Flies feel a great sense of responsibility and excitement for what comes next.”

The team earned the nickname “The Flies” from the previous astronaut class, the “Turtles,” and even designed their team patch into a housefly shape. (The team prefers calling themselves the Swarm, “which has a little bit more pizzazz,” says Birch.) “Traditionally, these names are usually things that do not take well to flight,” she adds. “We were really surprised that they gave us a flying creature. I think they have a lot of faith in us and hope that we fly soon.”

The Turtles were the first class to graduate under NASA’s Artemis program, in 2020. They included three aeronautics and astronautics alumni: Raja Chari SM ’01, Jasmin Moghbeli ’05, and Warren “Woody” Hoburg ’08. Former Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research research fellow Kate Rubins, who was selected as a NASA astronaut in 2009 and had served as a flight engineer aboard the International Space Station, also joined the team.

After the newest graduates received their silver NASA astronaut pins, they joined the other 36 current astronauts eligible “to sit on the pointy end of a rocket” for such initiatives as assignments to the International Space Station, future commercial destinations, deep-space missions to destinations including the moon on NASA’s Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System rocket, and eventually, missions to Mars. The Artemis initiative also includes plans for the first woman and first person of color to walk on the moon.

For now, the Flies will be supporting all of these initiatives while Earthbound.

“Hopefully within next two or three years, my name will be called to go to space,” says Berrios. For now, he will stay in Houston, where he’ll be working in the human landing system program, including with private companies such as SpaceX and Blue Origin. He’ll also continue his training in advanced robotics and Russian, and he is training at various international partner countries working with space station modules.

Marcos Berrios

When he was selected to join the NASA astronaut program, Berríos had been serving as the commander of Detachment 1, 413th Flight Test Squadron and deputy director of the Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR) Combined Task Force. As a test pilot, he has accumulated more than 110 combat missions and 1,400 hours of flight time in more than 21 different aircraft.

Berríos calls Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, his hometown, and says he appreciated other Latino American astronauts, including Franklin R. Chang Diaz PhD ’77, serving as his role models and mentors. He hopes to do the same for others.

“Today hopefully marks another opportunity to open doors for others like me in the future, to recognize that the talent in the Latin American community is strong,” he said on the day of his graduation. His advice to those dreaming of being an astronaut is “to not give up, to stay curious, stay humble, be disciplined, and throughout all adversity, throughout all obstacles, that would all be worth it in the end.”

“I’ve always wanted to be an astronaut,” he says. He read a lot of astronaut autobiographies, and frequently Googled class 2.007 (Design and Manufacturing I), which led him to study mechanical engineering at MIT. He earned his master’s degree in mechanical engineering as well as a doctorate in aeronautics and astronautics from Stanford University, and then enrolled at the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School in Patuxent River, Maryland.

As a developmental test pilot at the CSAR Combined Test Force at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, he learned avionics, defensive systems, synthetic vision technologies, and electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing vehicles.

Berríos says that MIT, particularly while working with Professor Alexander Slocum, instilled within him the discipline required for his successes. “I don’t want to admit how spending, like, 24 hours on problem set after problem set just provided that attitude and mentality of like, ‘Yeah, this is tough, this is hard,’ but you know we’ve got the skills, we’ve got the resources, we’ve got our colleagues, and we’re going to figure it out … and we’re going to find a pretty novel way to solve it.”

He says he found spacewalk training to be especially tough “physically, because you’re in a pressurized spacesuit — it’s stiff, it requires strength and stamina — but also mentally, because you have to be focused for six hours at a time and maintain high awareness of your surroundings as well as for your partner.”

The new astronaut says he identifies first as an engineer and researcher. “We’re kind of a jack-of-all-trades,” he says. “One of the one of the amazing things about being an astronaut, and certainly one of the things that was very captivating for me about this job, was all of the different subject matters that we get to touch on. I mean, it’s incredible.”

Christina Birch  

An Arizona native, Birch graduated from the University of Arizona with bachelor’s degrees in mathematics, biochemistry, and molecular biophysics. As a doctoral candidate in biological engineering at MIT, she conducted original research at the intersection of synthetic biology, microfluidics, and infectious disease, and worked in the Jacquin Niles lab in the Department of Biological Engineering. “I really am grateful for (her advisor, Niles) taking me on, especially when he was starting up his lab.”

After graduation, she taught bioengineering at the University of California at Riverside, and scientific writing and communication at Caltech. But she didn’t forget the skills she gained while on the MIT cycling team; in 2018, she left academia to become a decorated track cyclist on the U.S. National Team. She was training for the 2020 Summer Olympics, while also working as a scientific consultant for startups in various technology sectors from robotics to vaccine development, when she was selected by NASA.

“I really need to give a shout out to the MIT cycling team,” she says. “They helped give me my start,” she says. “It was just a fantastic place to get a taste of that cycling community which I’m still a part of. I do still ride; I’m focused on longer-distance races, and I like to do gravel races.”

She’s also excited that the International Space Station has a bike trainer called CEVIS, and Teal CEVIS, to reduce muscle and bone loss experienced in microgravity.  

Her next role is to support the Orion program.

“Last week, I was out in San Diego supporting the underway recovery training, which is the landing and recovery team’s practice to recover crew from the Orion capsule after a simulated splashdown in the Pacific. It was just such an incredible learning opportunity for me getting up to speed on this this new vehicle. We’re doing the Orion 2 mission, which is really an incredible test flight.”

“The more I learn about the program, the more I see how many different elements that we are building from scratch,” she says. “What really sets NASA apart is our dedication to safety, and I know that we will fly astronauts to the moon when we’re ready, and now that comes under a little bit of my purview and my responsibilities.”

How does she incorporate her backgrounds in cycling and her biological engineering research into the space program? “The common link between my pursuit of the pointy edge of the bike race, and also original research at MIT, has always been the stepping into the unknown, comfort-pushing boundaries. Whether it’s getting into the T38 jet for the first time — I don’t have any prior aviation experience — and standing up in front of an audience to give a scientific lecture or to make an attack on the bike, you know I’ve done that emotional practice.

“I think being comfortable in discomfort and the unknown, stepping through that process with a rigorous sort of like engineering-questioning, is because MIT set me up so well with a strong foundation of understanding engineering principles, and applying those to big questions. Places where we don’t have full understanding of a system or how something works, and then there is spaceflight, how we are very much developing these technologies and testing them as we go. Ultimately, human lives are going to depend on asking really good questions.”

She says her biggest challenge so far has been diversifying her skill set.

“I had to make a pretty big transition when I arrived (to NASA training) because I had previously been in a mentality of trying to be the best in the world at something, be it the best in the world on the bike, or you know, being the expert in RNA aptamer malaria-targeting technologies, which is the research I was doing at MIT, and then having to switch to being both knowledgeable and skillful in a huge number of different areas that are required of an astronaut. I don’t have an aviation background so that was something very new, very exciting, and very fun, it turns out. But also having to develop spacewalk skills, learning to speak Russian, learning to fly a robotic arm, and learning all about the International Space Station systems, so going from a specialist, really, to a generalist was a pretty big transition.

“One of the hardest things about astronaut training is finding balance, because we are switching between all of these different technical topics, sometimes in the span of a day. You might be in the jet in the morning and then you have to turn around and go to an emergency simulation for a space station in the afternoon. Reid Wiseman, the commander of the Artemis 2 mission, says, ‘Be where your feet are.’ And that was some of the best advice that he gave us coming into the office as candidates.”

Christopher Williams

Williams knew going into the training program that he would learn things in which he had no prior background.

“When you’re flying in one of the T38 jets you’re having to do, you know, back-of-the-envelope math estimating things while operating in a dynamic environment,” he recalls. “Other things, like doing an underwater run in the spacesuit, to finding alternatives when conjugating Russian verbs … learning how to approach problems and to solve them came from my time at MIT. Going through the physics grad program there made me much stronger at taking new topics and just sort of digesting them, figuring out how to how to break them down and solve them.”   

He did end up working with many MIT alumni. “Lots of MIT people have rotated through, so I’ve had lots of good conversations with Kate Rubins and a bunch of folks that passed through AeroAstro [the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics].”

Williams grew up in Potomac, Maryland, dreaming of being an astronaut. A private pilot and Eagle Scout, Williams spent much of his high school and Stanford University years at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, studying supernovae using the Very Large Array radio telescope, and researching supernovae at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.   

At MIT, he pursued his doctorate in physics with a focus on astrophysics. When he wasn’t working as a campus emergency medical technician and volunteer firefighter, Williams and his advisor, Jackie Hewitt, built the Murchison Widefield Array, a low-frequency radio telescope array in Western Australia designed to study the epoch of reionization of the early universe. 

After graduation, he joined the faculty at Harvard Medical School, and was a medical physicist in the Radiation Oncology Department at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. As the lead physicist for the institute’s MRI-guided adaptive radiation therapy program, Williams focused on developing image guidance techniques for cancer treatments.  

He will be supporting the ongoing missions until it’s his turn to head to space. In the meantime, he looks forward to using his background in medicine to research how the human body is affected by space radiation and being in orbit.

“It’s strange, because as a scientist you know you’re kind of in a different role. There are physics experiments on the space station, and tons of biology and chemistry experiments. It’s actually really fun because I get to stretch different parts of my brain that I haven’t had to before.”

“We’re really representing all of NASA, all of America all over the world,” he says. “That’s a huge responsibility on us. I really want to make everybody proud.”

Encouraging the next generation of astronauts

After the graduation ceremonies ended, NASA announced that it is accepting applications for new astronaut candidates through April 2. 

Berrios advises MIT students that no matter what their background is, they should apply if they want to be an astronaut. “Try and express in words how your education, how your career, and how your hobbies relate to human space exploration. Chris [Birch] and I have very different backgrounds and combinations of skill sets … I guarantee the next class is going to have an individual from MIT that has a background that we haven’t even thought of yet.”

Birch says that just interviewing for the Artemis program “absolutely changed my life. I knew that even if I didn’t become an astronaut, I had met, you know, a real incredible group of people that inspired me to push further to do more to find another way to serve and so I would really just encourage people to apply. A lot of people (who were accepted) applied more than once.”

Adds Williams, “If you meet the requirements, just do it. If that’s your dream, tell people about it — because people will be excited for you and want to help you to achieve.”

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Tow bars 101: Your Comprehensive Shopping Guide in Australia

Whether you’re hauling a trailer, a caravan, a motorboat, or attaching a towbar to a bike rack, you need top-of-the-line towbars to keep your possessions safe and secure during packing and moving.

At Roof Rack and Towbar World, we make sure that you have access to the best towing equipment and accessories that you need. So if you need towbars for personal or professional reasons, your search ends here.

What are Towbars

Towbars are flat towing setup tools that typically feature a steel bar on one end, and a ball mount or a related accessory on the other end. The steel bar attaches to a vehicle's underframe, equipping it to pull another vehicle, trailer, hauler, boat, or equipment. And the ball mount connects to the receiver, which creates a solid and stable towing link.

These accessories are fitted on vehicles to eliminate the need to hire towing services and help you save on cost -- making them convenient, practical, easy to attach to a trailer, and user-friendly. In addition, they are necessary for:

● Towing box or camper trailers

● Towing boats for jet skis

● Carrying bikes; and

● Creating a secure attachment for towbar-mounted cargo boxes

Towing systems used for travelling can also serve as extra baggage space, providing comfort for your passengers so they can relax and focus on the fun that is to come! 

Additionally, towbars can:

● Make it easy for your vehicle to tow anything in any given situation, as long as your car load capacity can     handle it

● Add a secure and convenient way to carry other equipment with you on any trip

● Give you a permanent or removable option, depending on your needs; and

● Broaden your vehicle's functionality so you stay ready for whatever may happen on the road

And the best part? They come in various styles and sizes so they don’t need to detract from the aesthetics of your vehicle. 

At the Roof Rack and Towbar World, we also ensure quality towbar installation to make sure that you get to harness all the advantages that come with towbars.

When Do You Need Towbars

There are various situations where towbars are not only ideal, they are a necessity. Here are three of the most important of them:

When You’re Travelling

Going on an adventure with friends or family -- or even just by yourself -- is a wonderful opportunity that should not be hampered by mediocre concerns about luggage capacity and the like. 

With towbars, you have the option to lug around everything that you may need to make the experience more enjoyable and rewarding -- like bringing along gear such as bikes, ski and surfboards, or camping equipment. And you won’t have to give up precious legroom in the process!

When You’re Moving

Moving from one area to another demands a lot of logistical planning, and it can be time-consuming and expensive. At the very least, you’ll have to factor in the costs of hiring a moving company to transport your things to your new location.

With towbars, you can lessen the hassle and expenses associated with moving by transporting your stuff yourself. All you need to do is hook the right type of towbar to your vehicle, attach it to a trailer that houses your possession, and be on your way to a new life.

When You Want to Mitigate Potential Damage to Your Car

Finally, towbars can help reduce the risk of serious consequences from rear-ending. These accessories can provide a certain cushion against other vehicles, which might create a whole world of difference when something untoward happens.

Types of Towbars

At Roof Rack and Towbar World, we supply many types of towbars that are ideal for various applications, towing requirements, and budgets.

European Towbars

If you need towbars that do the job and look great for various types of cars, our selection carries excellent options to help you satisfy both. Take your pick and let us set it up so you can get on the road in style.

Flat Tongue Towbars

Straightforward, secure, and strong, the flat tongue towbar is especially ideal for smaller cars. If you have a limited budget, this one will also get you the functionality that you need without breaking the bank.

Horizontal Hitch Towbars

If you have a larger car or you're towing larger loads, horizontal hitch towbars are what you want to purchase. This equipment typically features multiple accessories, including a horizontal frame that you can mount to the factory-mounted points on your car's underside.

Light Protector Towbars

Also called the Taillight Lamp Protector, light protector towbars come with a tongue and ball towbar, as well as a lamp and body protector. They're best suited to commercial vehicles that frequently tow light trailers. You'll also find models that can carry up to 1000kgs, replete with an 80-kg ball weight capacity.

Vertical Hitch Towbars

Vertical hitch towbars mimic European towbars in the sense that they allow the towbar to exit through a concealed cut on the bottom portion of your bumper. They also have a forged system that comes with a three-ball locking mechanism, which delivers the best of both form and function.

Learn more About Tow bars here