Space Camp Needs $1.5 Million Just to Make it Through COVID-19

Space Camp is out of money. Like a lot of other businesses and organizations, the coronavirus pandemic and its resulting economic strain just may spell the end for Space Camp. To save the science-oriented camp, officials have launched a ‘Save Space Camp’ GoFundMe campaign. The company is hoping to raise the $1.5 million needed to keep the doors open for the next few months. Surprisingly, $250,000 in donations has already been pledged in the first 10 hours of the campaign.

Almost a million space-loving kids have joined Space Camp since its inception, and several of those kids went on to become cosmonauts and astronauts. There used to be Space Camp locations in California and Florida, but both of those locations closed due to financial difficulties in 2002. The building that hosts Space Camp, the US Space and Rocket Center museum, has a Saturn V rocket, an Apollo command module, and a life-size space shuttle model on display.

Thank you for helping us raise our first $250,000 in our first 10 hours, we know that with your passion and support we will reach our goal of $1.5 million! Visit https://t.co/SB9EykZudp and help us on the way to mission accomplished! #SaveSpaceCamp pic.twitter.com/ou7dQPd9m8

— SpaceCampUSA (@SpaceCampUSA) July 29, 2020

The camp and the museum had to temporarily close in March due to the pandemic, and of course, Space Camp has had a unseasonably low attendance when it reopened in June, again, because of COVID-19. That led to a drastic drop in revenue, which forced Space Camp officials to lay off full-time employees and skip their usual seasonal hiring.

The text can be found on Space Camp’s GoFundMe page:

With limited admission from international students and school groups this fall and winter, we’re forced to close our weeklong camp programs again until April 2021. These ongoing challenges have meant a devastating loss of two-thirds of our revenue.

Featured Image Credit: [Space Camp]