Space Camp was the brainchild of a missile designer. The life-sized space-shuttle flight-deck and mid-deck built for the film were donated to the camp and used as a simulator there from 1986 to 2012. SpaceCamp shot many of its scenes on location at the Huntsville center. Deborah Barnhart, the real camp’s director for part of the 1980s, told AL.com that attendance doubled following the movie’s release. The film saw success in the home video market and became popular enough to leave a lasting mark on pop culture. But it didn’t fade into obscurity completely.
It grossed just $9,697,739-a little more than half its reported budget. SpaceCamp, the movie inspired by the real camp in Huntsville, Alabama, wasn’t a huge hit when it debuted in theaters in 1986.