History Film / SpaceCamp

* EdutainmentShow: To a degree. It explains various things related to [=SpaceCamp=], the astronaut program, and the shuttle itself[[note]]Including how astronauts go to the bathroom in space.[[/note]].

* LesserOfTwoEvils: The Mission Controller has to choose between letting the the booster fire alone when it overheats, which will pitch the rocket over on its nose, crushing the shuttle and instantly squashing everyone on board into a pancake, or launching a not-fully-flight-ready shuttle with children on board into space and an extremely uncertain outcome.

'''Zach:''' Tell'em the truth: we launched my wife and five kids from the [=SpaceCamp=]. They'll never believe it.

* ChekovsGun: Or in this case, Tish's belt, which is used to help Max fit inside the space suit so he can help Andie bring back the oxygen tanks.

Many contemporary reviews were colored by the disaster. More recent reviews don't treat it much better. But some saw past the disaster and were moved by it: in [[http://www.avclub.com/articles/lea-thompson,69639/ a 2012 interview,]] Lea Thompson said many fans told her they were inspired by the film.

* TooDumbToLive: In context, anyway. Surely, Rudy--who was put in charge of "equipment function and operation"--would've figured out by then that the Shuttle's on-orbit propulsion system was not the same as the launch propulsion system before suggesting it as a source of oxygen.

'''Tish''': The propulsion system uses nitrogen tetroxide[[note]]Technically, it's known as ''di''nitrogen tetroxide, but the other name is also used in technical parlance.[[/note]], Rudy. We wanna breathe, not dry clean our lungs.

-->'''Brennan:''' How am I supposed to keep a lid on this? People for 500 miles know the shuttle went up!

* TheEasyWayOrTheHardWay: Andie lays down the law to Kathryn after the incident with Kevin, telling her ''how'' she can be what she desires to be. This also explains why Andie made her the ''pilot'' instead of the ''commander'' on the Blue Team.

-->'''Zach''': Tell'em the truth: we launched my wife and five kids from the [=SpaceCamp=]. They'll never believe it.

%%* {{Robot Buddy}}

'''Tish''': The propulsion system uses nitrogen tetroxide[[note]]Officially, it's known as ''Di''nitrogen Tetroxide, but the other name has also been used.[[/note]], Rudy. We wanna breathe, not dry clean our lungs.

* AlmostOutOfOxygen: A major plot point. [[spoiler:Twice.]]

* AscendedFanboy: Max is an avid fan of ''{{Franchise/Star Wars}}'' and will make numerous references to the franchise in nearly every scene he appears in.
** Kevin even plays the part of Obi-wan Kenobi to help Max get the courage to help Andie. This was after earlier in the film [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech calling him out on his immaturity, and his over-the-top fandom specifically]].

* CoolPlane: A couple of examples.

* TheEighties

* EurekaMoment: [[spoiler:After they miss the re-entry window, Kathryn realizes the same alternative landing site that Rudy vaguely remembered: [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Sands_Space_Harbor White Sands, New Mexico]], which Rudy got mixed up with White Plains, New York]].

-->'''Jinx:''' C-O-M-E-I-N-C-O-N-T-R-O-L-C-O-M-E-I-N-C-O-N-T-R-O-L Come in, Control! Max's code!\\

* GoneHorriblyRight / BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: "I wish I could go up into space."
** Andie was also wishing to go into space when she got scrubbed from the next launch; like Max, she ended up getting her wish anyway.

* NoOSHACompliance: NASA straps seven kids on the space shuttle unsupervised by a NASA employee, and seals the door. This is negligent even without being accidentally launched, no matter how good their grades at [=SpaceCamp=] were.
** Handwaved in the film; when Zach is pinning up the announcement he mentions the Camp trying to get permission to have campers in the test. After all, accidental launches only happen once in 4 billion years, right?

** Rudy mentions [[UsefulNotes/McDonalds Big Macs]]

* RedWireBlueWire: A modified version, to connect the oxygen tank.
** They both look at the plans, and are sure that their blue hose is the only correct one. Perhaps they were both correct and the blue hoses are both for oxygen?

* {{Robot Buddy}}: Take a guess.

* TapOnTheHead / HardHead: [[spoiler:Andie.]]
** Actually handled relatively accurately. [[spoiler:She is heard wearily on the radio shortly after she was knocked out, suggesting she wasn't out for long. When she is rescued, she is treated for a shoulder injury, explaining why she couldn't assist in her own rescue.]]
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Kevin, upset that he was ratted out for his "date" with Kathryn, takes his frustration out on Max when he finds out Jinx did it, focusing on the kid's incessant ''Franchise/StarWars'' {{Fan Boy}}ism.
** Not long after, Andie rips into the Blue Team when a mission simulation goes bad.
-->'''Andie''': [[BigShutUp QUIET!]] I don't want to hear about it. I ''can't'' hear it. You know why? Because you're all dead. You just burnt up on re-entry. Don't you understand what that means?! You're all dead, because you didn't work together as a team.

''[=SpaceCamp=]'' is a family adventure movie from 1986 about a group of kids at the titular real life U.S. [=SpaceCamp=] who unexpectedly get launched up into space for real. However the shuttle was still in pre-flight prepping and thus wasn't prepared for any kind of full mission. With only a limited air supply and virtually no communication with Earth, the kids and their instructor (played by Kate Capshaw) must [[PowerOfFriendship work together]] to get home safe and sound.

* LiteralMinded: Jinx the robot, who obeys any words to him that sound vaguely like a command. His ruthlessness to fulfill them makes him a...
** LiteralGenie: Who sends the kids into space.

* InstantAIJustAddWater: See ReedRichardsIsUseless.

** [[FridgeLogic So why has no one thought to reprogram him?]]

* BigOMG: Max floats off into space behind a rogue oxygen tank, but ''this'' happens after Andie rescues him when he breaks off a satellite dish panel he grabbed to stop himself.

-->'''Andie''': [[BigShutUp QUIET!]] I don't want to hear about. I ''can't'' hear it. You know why? Because you're all dead. You just burnt up on re-entry. Don't you understand what that means?! You're all dead, because you didn't work together as a team.

-->'''Kevin''': Hey! Great boosters!\\

* LesserOfTwoEvils: The Mission Controller has to choose between letting the the booster fire when it overheats, blowing the shuttle and all on board to atoms or launching a not fully flight ready shuttle with children on board into space with an uncertain outcome.
* LikeRealityUnlessNoted: In some ways the tech and abilities of the NASA shown in the movie are ahead of us - there's a sentient robot, a space station already up in orbit with the necessary oxygen tanks - but when the plot demands it everything was at the level it is when the film was released.

* ReedRichardsIsUseless: [=SpaceCamp=] has a sentient, AI robot which is capable of bypassing failsafes to launch a shuttle, but NASA is still counting on the shuttle and mindless computers. Possibly justified: it's pointed out that Jinx is not used more prominently because he tends to make mistakes.

* ThingsGetReal

-->'''Rudy:''' What about the propulsion system? We could breathe the liquid oxygen from there.\\
'''Tish:''' The propulsion system uses nitrogen tetroxide[[note]]Officially, it's known as ''Di''nitrogen Tetroxide, but the other name has also been used.[[/note]], Rudy. We wanna breathe, not dry clean our lungs.

-->'''Kevin:''' Hey! Great boosters!\\

''[=SpaceCamp=]'' is a family adventure movie from 1986 about a group of kids at a space camp who unexpectedly get launched up into space for real. However the shuttle was still in pre-flight prepping and thus wasn't prepared for any kind of full mission. With only a limited air supply and virtually no communication with Earth, the kids and their instructor (played by Kate Capshaw) must [[PowerOfFriendship work together]] to get home safe and sound.

It was released amid a marketing nightmare that came about from the 1986 ''[[TooSoon Challenger]]'' [[TooSoon shuttle disaster]] that claimed the lives of seven American astronauts and grounded the shuttle program indefinitely until the cause could be determined and rectified. It didn't help, either, that the malfunction in the film [[HarsherInHindsight partly resembled the malfunction in life]].

* BigOMG: Max floats off into space behind a rogue oxygen tank, but ''this'' happens when he breaks off a satellite dish panel he grabbed to stop himself.

* ConvenientlyClosePlanet: The shuttle is launched outside of its launch window into an unplanned orbit -- but they still manage to make it to the unoccupied space station for supplies.
* CoolCar: Kevin's Jeep and Zack & Andie's Porsche Speedster.

** Kathryn is seen [[UnusuallyUninterestingSight landing her Stearman bi-plane]] next to the Camp's parking lot.

* EurekaMoment: [[spoiler:After they miss the re-entry window, Kathryn realizes an alternative landing site: [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Sands_Space_Harbor White Sands, New Mexico]]]].
** When Zac starts to realize Jinx is spouting out letters, not just breaking down again.

'''Zac:''' Morse code?\\

'''Zac:''' [[PrecisionFStrike Damn it]], they're talking to us!
* EveryoneKnowsMorse: One of the campers thinks to use a telemetry switch to send Morse code in place of the nonfunctional radio. But it takes quite a while for anyone in the control room to notice: before Jinx identifies it, it's lost among all the other blinking lights.

* FreakyFashionMildMind: Tish, full stop. Under the EightiesHair and ValleyGirl look is a genius with PhotographicMemory and a perfect SAT score.

* LikeRealityUnlessNoted: In some ways the tech and abilities of the Space Camp NASA are ahead of us - there's a sentient robot, there's a space station already up in orbit with the necessary oxygen tanks - but when the plot demands it everything was at the level it is when the film was released.

* NoOSHACompliance: NASA straps seven kids on the space shuttle unsupervised by a NASA employee, and seals the door. This is negligent even without being accidentally launched, no matter how good their grades at Space Camp were.
** Handwaved in the film; when Zack is pinning up the announcement he mentions the Camp trying to get permission to have campers in the test. After all, accidental launches only happen once in 4 billion years, right?
* OhCrap: When Jinx initiates the thermal curtain failure on one booster, everyone in Mission Control and the astronaut instructor on board the shuttle have a collective one. The situation's dire nature is punctuated by how Andie commands a launch while at least two of her students on-board are openly panicking.
-->'''Andie:''' Light Booster A, [[PrecisionFStrike goddamnit]]! '''''LAUNCH US, OR WE'RE GONNA EXPLODE!'''''

* ReedRichardsIsUseless: Space Camp has a sentient, AI robot which is capable of bypassing failsafes to launch a shuttle, but NASA is still counting on the shuttle and mindless computers. Possibly justified: it's pointed out that Jinx is not used more prominently because he tends to make mistakes.

* SpiritualSuccessor: 2013's ''Space Warriors'' is this to ''Space Camp''.

'''Tish:''' The propulsion system uses nitrogen tetroxide, Rudy. We wanna breathe, not dry clean our lungs.

* SceneryPorn: The first couple of minutes after they reach orbit consists of the Blue Team, including Andie, taking some time to watch Earth beneath them (specifically Europe and northern Africa) as they approach their first on-orbit sunset.

-->'''Kathryn:''' I could lose the liftoff, but this is incredible

* EveryoneKnowsMorse: One of the campers thinks to use a telemetry switch to send Morse code in place of the nonfunctional radio. But it takes quite a while for anyone in the control room to notice that one of their console lights is rapidly blinking in an irregular pattern...
** Actually, a very regular pattern, unlike the rest of the console.

* CaliforniaDoubling: An interesting case. The movie was filmed on location at the real-life Space Camp at the Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, and at the Kennedy Space Center in Titusville, Florida. However, the movie places both locations together in the same vicinity. Space Camp at Kennedy Space Center did not open until 1987 (it closed in 2002).

* CaliforniaDoubling: An interesting case. The movie was filmed on location at the real-life Space Camp at the Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, AL, and at the Kennedy Space Center in Titusville, FL. However, the movie places both locations together in the same vicinity. Note that Space Camp was also at the Kennedy Space Center; however this one closed as of 2002.