Contact Victor Williamson with your questions about simulator based experiential education programs for your school.
SpaceCampUtah@gmail.com

Sunday, October 6, 2013

New Pictures of the Nearly Finished USS Odyssey II at Central Elementary. All the Space EdVentures Ships . Space and Science News. A Huge Imaginarium

Hello Troops,
     On Friday I  posted pictures of the new USS Leo at Lakeview Academy in Saratoga Springs.  Today I'm posting pictures of the nearly completed USS Odyssey II slated to open this week at the Christa McAuliffe Space Education Center at Central School in Pleasant Grove.  
     Before I post the new Odyssey photos, I'd like to officially give it its place in the chronology of Space EdVentures simulators.  A Space EdVentures simulator is a simulator using the basic operating procedures, curriculum, techniques and methodology I developed throughout the 1980's at Central School in Pleasant Grove and enlarged upon by myself and other original Space Center staffers and volunteers from 1990 to 2012. 
     Just look at what we've all created......

The Fleet of Space EdVentures Ships, 1984 to the Present.  

Ship 1:   USS Pegasus: 1984 - 1990 (Before the Space Center.  Housed in the school's gym)
Ship 2:   USS Voyager: November 8, 1990 - July 31, 2012 located at the CMSEC (Christa McAuliffe
               Space Education Center). 
Ship 3:   USS Odyssey:  1993 - July 31, 2012 located at the CMSEC.
Ship 4:   X-Craft: Run in Central School's cafeteria. It was a voice operated simulator with no 
              computers.  It was run while the Odyssey was being built.  
Ship 5:   USS Questar: Opened in December 1997. Closed January 1999. Operated at Sunset View
              Elem. in Provo, Utah for one school year.  Program  Director
              Kyle Herring.  This ship was purchased by the CMSEC and became the Galileo. 
Ship 6:   USS Galileo:  April 15, 1999.  Closed in winter of 2009.  Located at the CMSEC
Ship 7.   Magellan: Opened in 1999. Currently operating at the CMSEC.
Ship 8.   USS Chrion:  A simulator at Silver Hills Elementary School in West Valley Utah.  It ran for 
               six years.  Program Director: Pat Bown
Ship 9.   USS Explorer:  Dates unknown. Operated at Utah State University. No longer in operation.  
              Program Director: Steve Wall
Ship 10.   USS Discovery. Dates unknown. Operated in the Logan Utah.  Not in operation.
              Program Director: Dave Wall
Ship 11:   USS Falcon: Opened in 2001. Closed in 2005. A simulator in two Starlab domes at the 
              Space Center.  It closed when the Phoenix opened.  
Ship 12. USS ?: Dates unknown. A computer lab ship operated at Cherry Hill Elem. for one school
               year.  Program Director: Casey Voeks (he was a 6th grader).  
Ship 13. USS Phoenix: Opened in May of 2005.  Currently operating at the CMSEC.
Ship 14. USS ?:  Operated in Matt Long's home in Provo.  It did several neighborhood flights and
               a few for the general public.
Ship 15. USS ?: Opened in April 2007. Closed in August 2007.  An iWorlds ship located in Murray.
Ship 16. USS ?:  2nd iWorlds ship. Opened in April 2007. Closed in Aug. 2007. Murray Utah.  
Ship 17. USS Galileo II.  Opened in December of 2009. Currently operating at the CMSEC.
Ship 18: USS Valiant.  The third iWorlds ship housed in a semi trailer.  Summer of 2011. Closed in 
               the summer of 2012. 
Ship 19. IKS Titan:  2013 to present.  Housed at Shaler Area Elementary School in Pennsylvania. 
               Program Director: Gary Gardner.  Dreamflightadventures.com 
Ship 20. USS Atlantis:  Currently operating at the DSC (Discovery Space Center).  
               Program Director: Ryan Botts   Discoveryspacecenter.com 
Ship 21. USS Columbia:  Currently operating at the DSC
Ship 22. USS Challenger: Currently operating at the DSC
Ship 23. USS Endeavor: Currently operating at the DSC
Ship 24. USS Leo: Currently operating at Lakeview Academy in Saratoga Springs.  
               Program Director: BJ Warner.  
Ship 25. USS Odyssey II:  Opening this week at the CMSEC.  Program Director: Megan Warner.

Space EdVentures Ships on the Drawing Board

Ship 26. USS Voyager II:  Under development at Renaissance Academy, Lehi Utah.  

Your Help with the Facts
      
     I know I'm several facts short from the list above.  Will you provide the missing information, dates and names?  Email the missing information or needed corrections to spacecamputah@gmail.com.  I'd also like photos of the ships which are no longer in operation.  The Troubadour will do a separate post on each of decommissioned ships. 

The New Odyssey II at the CMSEC, Central Elementary School, Pleasant Grove.
   

A view of the  Space Center's old office from Central School's main hallway
This was (and is) the way to the Odyssey and Phoenix.  My office was in here
along with the Voyager's very lowdeath door (the one everyone use to bang their head on).
Step through the door and make a hard left to the Odyssey II's Control Room



The Odyssey II's Control Room. The wall opening leads to the ship. The opening will house 
the dials, switches and isolinear chip panel of the Odyssey's Engineering Station. Notice the 
multiple electrical outlets under the desk.  We've learned our lesson about electricity.  The more
outlets, the better!



Step out of the control room, make a left, round the corner and you'll see the Odyssey II's main entrance.  Sorry, no transporter door.  The design has room for one doorway only.


Your first look through the doorway and into the nearly completed Odyssey II.
The station desks are in place.  Let's walk through the door and look to our left.  


The Odyssey's Captain's Platform and walkway to the main viewer covered with rubber flooring.
There are two or three stations behind the captain's station. We discovered a major design flaw with the back desks - they're too tall; student won't be able to see anything but their computer screens. 
The solution may be stools.  


The ceiling looks cool!  I like the supports and the lighting channel.  Rope lighting will go into the
channel and along the rubber flooring leading to the captain's platform.  Let's walk to the 
back of the Odyssey and turn to face the front.


A closer look at the back corner of the ship.


A zoom in on the wall decor.


We walk up the wheelchair ramp to the back station and turn towards the front of the ship.
The engineering compartment can be seen from the ship side.


Megan Warner, Director of the Christa McAuliffe Space Education Center, stands in the doorway with her sister.  Matt Ricks is on his back examining the desk's opening through which the Mac Minis will be placed.  The black plastic covering the main viewer is in place.  The light brown protective paper hasn't been removed.




 Our tour is finished and it's time to leave through the Odyssey's door with the cool handle!


 Before leaving for home, I stopped in the Magellan's control room to take a photo of a Magellan flight in progress.  Three of our Farpoint Cadet volunteers are in the photo, along with the blue shirted Space Center staff.


We've come a long way since those dark days one year ago.  It is time to celebrate!  Who would have imagined a year later we'd have two new simulators opening?  

Mr. Williamson
Alive and kicking at Renaissance Academy in Lehi. Drop me a hello:  spacecamputah@gmail.com
By the way, did I ever mention that teaching 6th grade is hard work?  I'm working more hours now than I did running the Space Center!  Let it never be said that I don't always do my very best at whatever I do.  


Space and Science News  

The Influence of Time Dilation on our Satellites


From Quarks to Quasars
     Like the GPS satellites around the other planets in our solar system must have varying levels of velocity and gravitational time dilation as they orbit closer and further from the sun, is there an equation? How is time on Mars different than on Earth? Mars’ own gravity is also less than Earth’s, has the Curiosity rover given us any information on ...these questions?
      The answer to them all is a resounding yes, except the Curiosity rover… Read More

Revolutionary Ideas about Space Travel



 From Science Gymnasium  
     A look at some revolutionary ideas about travel in space, from ship designs to innovative methods of propulsion such as solar sails and laser beams. Also a look at antimatter as a power source and the possibilities of faster-than-light travel that could make the greatest science fiction dream a reality.  Read More
 A New Race to the Moon



      A whole new space race has begun. Over the next decade, the United States, Japan, India, China, Russia, and even private companies, are planning to send spacecraft to explore the moon.
      They will map the lunar surface, monitor the soil for moon quakes, study the flow of heat from the moon’s core, and prospect for water deep within.
      What they are looking for goes beyond science? These missions are looking for resources that may one day allow humans to settle permanently in space. Read More

   
The Imaginarium
Turning the ordinary into the extraordinary?  How do they do it?







How cool would it be to have this for a bedroom?





Educate your children!  Say "No" to them every once in a while







My Nose!  She's Got My Nose!

Cups for all you grammar freaks


C4!!!  Press C4!!!!








And in case my students are wondering,
No, I don't remember those days ;)






1 comment:

Benji.man.vogeler said...

I do believe that if the list of simulators is supposed to be chronological, ship number 16 should be ship number 1.