Overnights: Cosmic Camp-In

Overnights: Cosmic Camp-In

Scouts, Schools & Youth Groups

Experience the Cosmos Overnight at Chabot!

Visit Chabot Space & Science Center in a whole new way with our exciting Cosmic Camp-In overnight adventure! Whether you’re a scout, school, or youth group, your evening will include engaging educational programs, hands-on science activities, immersive planetarium shows, and the opportunity to stargaze through our historic telescopes.

Your Cosmic Camp-In includes:

• Catered hot dinner and continental breakfast
• Interactive exhibits and scavenger hunts
• A specialized science workshop
• Planetarium show
• Indoor and outdoor sleeping options
• 1 Badge (Scout badge or Chabot mission patch)
• Telescope Viewing (weather permitting)

Check out the Chaperone Survival Guide to fully plan your experience.

WHO CAN ATTEND?

Minimum age: 6 years old at the time of the event
Co-ed siblings: Ages 4+ may attend with a ticket
Chaperone ratio: 1 adult per 7 youths (1:7) is required

PROGRAM OFFERINGS

Our overnight programs are designed for schools, scouts, and youth organizations, providing an exciting and immersive educational experience tailored to different age levels. Reach out to your school, scout group or youth organization to coordinate your groups participation at a Camp-In!

Program Science Standards

Program Badge Information

Space Rocks

Grades: K-12

In this hands-on program, participants learn about their composition, classification, and observation. They create sublimating dry ice comets, complete with frozen gases, dust, and geysers. K-5 campers design imaginary asteroid-mining machines, while older participants collect and graph comet data and explore mining careers. The program also covers how to spot meteor showers and why meteors are scientifically important. Weather permitting, students visit Chabot’s historic observatories to meet astronomers and hear about current asteroid research.

Solar System Express

Grades: K-8

Where are we in the Universe? Journey through our cosmic neighborhood to explore planets, stars, galaxies, and more. Participants learn to identify planets by their unique traits and distinguish them from stars and galaxies. Elementary students build scale models of the Solar System, while middle schoolers explore the transit method for detecting distant worlds and imagining their own exoplanets. Weather permitting, the evening concludes with telescope viewing and conversations with Chabot astronomers in our historic observatories.

Mars Lander Challenge

Grades: 4-8 

Perseverance, NASA’s most recent Mars rover, safely landed on the Red Planet in 2021. How do NASA engineers ensure a safe landing for Mars rovers? What might future missions to Mars look like? In this highly interactive program, attendees build their own Mars lander, to keep rovers safe on their journey to the Martian surface. Your young engineers will receive a briefing on past Mars rover designs and will learn about the challenges of landing scientific instruments on Mars. Then, participants are challenged to design a Mars lander, to test their design, and to test it twice, to see if they can successfully land expensive equipment on the Red Planet. In the evening, if weather permits, meet Chabot astronomers and view planets and stars in our night sky through telescopes in our historical observatories.

HOW TO REGISTER

The price per ticket is $110 per person.

Contact us to arrange for discounted support chaperone tickets for youth with IEP or specific assistance needs.

REQUIRED DOCUMENTS

1. Final participant count and payment is due 30 days in advance of the visit date.
2. Consent Form – One per participant. Available online and via email. Due 14 days in advance of the visit date.
3. Meal Roster – Lists all attendees’ dietary restrictions and allergies. Due 14 days in advance of the visit date.

Late submissions may not be accommodated.

MEAL POLICIES

We provide:

• Hot Dinner (buffet style) with meat, vegan, dairy-free, and gluten-free options
• Continental breakfast to include vegan, dairy-free, and gluten-free options

Please submit dietary restrictions with your Meal Roster 14 days before your visit. Chabot cannot guarantee accommodation for restrictions received after the deadline.

Please note:

• The café is closed during Cosmic Camp Ins
• Guests may bring nut-free snacks
• No alcohol
• No refunds for uneaten meals or leftovers
• No refrigeration or heating is available

SLEEPING ARRANGEMENTS

• Communal sleeping in assigned indoor areas
• Outdoor sleeping available in Courtyard (weather permitting)
• Private sleeping areas are not offered
• Bring: sleeping bags, pillows, cots, sleeping pads, optional tents for outdoor camping, and weather-appropriate clothing.
• No sleeping in walkways or planetarium
• Eye masks and earplugs are recommended due to lighting and ambient noise

EXHIBITS, PLANETARIUM & TELESCOPE ACCESS

• Campers receive a passport itinerary at the start of their visit. Keep a close eye on the time, if a camper is late to an activity, you may miss part or all of the programming, especially for shows in the Planetarium. For safety reasons, there will be no late seating, nor reentry.
• Telescope viewing is weather-dependent

• Youth must be accompanied by chaperones inside the gift shop (1:7 ratio)

CANCELLATION & RESCHEDULING

• There are no refunds for online tickets
• Tickets may be rescheduled up to 14 days in advance (pending availability)
• There are no refunds of the $500 deposit for group reservations
• Each Camp-In event requires a minimum of 100 guests; Chabot reserves the right to cancel the event with 30 days’ notice due to low registration, and attendees will be rescheduled to an alternative date.

HAVE MORE QUESTIONS?

You can contact us at Overnights@chabotspace.org to schedule your visit or make an appointment here.