Commentary on The History of the Space Center. Ch. 2

Hello Troops,
David Andrus was a camper from long ago who has since grown up, married and lives a fairly normal respectable life. You see, it is possible for Space Center fans to grow up normally and live productive lives :)

David sent this comment on Bill Schuler's last post on the History of the Space Center. I enjoyed reading it and thought you might also.

Thanks David for taking the time to write.

And Now David's Comments.

I've got to comment on this one. The original run of the Canada mission was my second (of many) trip to the Space Center, and incidentally it was while working that mission that Kyle Herring and I developed a friendship that is still going strong nearly 20 years later.

I remember fondly being scared, yet also kind of amused in some weird way by the strict disciplinarian of Admiral Schuler. I believe he loudly questioned to my face (drill sergeant style) why I was smiling and made me do push-ups.

I'm also one of the few oddballs who somehow was able to do the Canada mission twice. Being a strict devotee of the enjoyment of the journey rather than being in a rush to reach the ending I never divulged anything about the mission to the rest of the crew, and did my part to act like I was just as clueless as anyone else. However I did make the decision to be the chief of security (back when it was at what is now the weapons station). Being the captain would've just been wrong.

I have fond memories of obsessively worrying about the slime devil popping out of the vents in the ceiling, and we had a very nervous communications officer covering a hole in the floor with her foot. I was one of the "lucky" people to find a slime devil egg nestled comfortably in my sleeping bag. That sock puppet was the source of some serious entertainment.

As far as those off-bridge activities go...I know that one of them was security training in the hallway with those buzzing lasertag headbands. I don't recall doing anything else.

I actually asked Vic about the "terrible" stars once and he said told me that they were from the very end of Star Trek 5. It was 5 or 10 seconds of footage that he looped over...and over...and over. I also remember that the visual that was put up on the screen when there was nothing else to show was a freeze frame from Star Trek 1 that was showing off the laserdisc.

The thing that really made me laugh on the Canada mission though - waking up to opera music with the computer explaining that we were listening to Admiral Schuler singing in the shower. Oh...and I accidentally shot Admiral Schuler at least once. That may have been revenge for the wake-up call.

I can't believe I remembered some of these details from 20 years ago. Maybe my memory's not as bad as I thought. Now where did I put my car keys?

David Andrus