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| Where has the time gone? |
Twenty-seven years have come and gone. I remember November 8, 1990 very well. I was
nervous. I had doubts. I questioned whether I knew what I was doing. My friends and colleagues also doubted my sanity.
This whole endeavor started with a Young Astronaut Club and a trip to Japan. I saw
a school with a small shuttle simulator and wanted one for my Young Astronauts Club at Central Elementary. Suddenly the dream took on its own life. The little ship Pegasus, destined to be built where the Odyssey is now, had exploded into the Voyager – a new addition built onto the school.
So many people were drawn into the project. Great amounts of money and manpower were spent. It had to succeed, but I didn't know what "IT" was. Failure wasn't an option. I didn't sleep well those first years. My health suffered. My poor heart never completely recovered. The anxiety attacks, I'm happy to say, lasted three years and ended.
I had a building but no real direction. Would I recreate the Challenge Space Center experience - heavily science based? My grants spoke of a science lab on board a futuristic spaceship but that idea just didn't excite me; it lacked the drama and excitement of my classroom simulator run the previous seven years.
In the end, I decided to open the CMSEC with a science-based mission - a trip to Mars. There are people that remember that first school mission. We flew at warp speed using the HyperCard controls I programmed. Once at Mars, I used a Mars laser disc for special effects. We flew around the planet learning about its climate and features. I stood on the bridge next to the Tactical screen. My 6th grade staff (2 kids) sat in the control room listening and waiting for clues on when to play and pause the laser disc player and VCR. How primitive it was compared to what we have now.
After a few Mars missions I felt something was missing. The students showed little
excitement. They were just bodies sitting at the computers listening to me. I was in command giving the captain orders on where to go and what to do. It wasn't working.
I thought back to my days in the classroom with the overhead projector, boom box, and paper controls. Then the idea came – do what you've proven successful. Introduce some drama. I quickly pulled a few of my "Star Trek" videos and, using two of the school's VCR's, edited an ending with a Romulan warbird showing appear to provide a bit of drama. It was a crazy idea but crazy ideas built the Center. A willingness to act on crazy impulses is a character trait I'm proud of.
The idea of adding the Romulan scene at the end of the mission worked well. The kids got excited to see the Romulan ship. The little battle thrown at the end of the was successful. It convinced me that my original idea of taking a class on an EdVenture into space would work with the general public like it did with my captive 6th grade class.
I sat down and wrote another mission. I believe it was called "Epsilon". It was a story of a planet in the Klingon Neutral Zone. Half the planet was under Federation control
and the other was under Klingon control. The treaty, allowing joint control of the planet, was up for renegotiation. The planet would be awarded to the government that demonstrated it could best care for the planet's population.
The story had the Voyager entering the Neutral Zone bringing a new kind of wheat to the planet. This new wheat was genetically engineered to grow well in the planet's harsh climate. The Voyager had a few close calls on the way to the planet and a few others while in orbit. At the end of the mission our classes left the Voyager so excited. I knew I had found the formula and the rest, as they say, is history.
Now here we are 27 years later. The one ship has blossomed into many. Our stories are much more complicated. Today's simulators are ten times more sophisticated. The work force involved in this type of education has exploded. And here I am, after twenty-seven years sitting at the helm of the Voyager, a new Voyager, with microphone in hand. The years have taken their toll. I'm getting older and gray but the magic is still there.
During my time as CMSEC Director, the Voyager Era, I'd often end long days of double field trips and private missions sitting alone on the Voyager's Bridge. I'd dim the lights, sit in the captain's chair and marvel that such a place existed. I could almost hear the voices of 350,000 children swirling around the room - locked in the very fabric of the ship. I'd look at the left wing and see the original staff training crews by hand before the days of training tapes and mp3 players. I'd see Jacob Bartlett over in the corner asleep when he should be doing his job as a bridge staff. I'd hear Russell Smith downstairs playing the blind doctor. I'd watch a much younger Mr. Schuler coming up the stairs in full Star Trek uniform. I'd hear a child's voice shout, "Admiral on the Bridge!" I'd still see that silly mask popping up over the loft to frighten Security. I'd see our many young volunteers growing up in that simulator from elementary school to junior high to senior high and then jumping ship into life. I'd hear the screams, the laughing, and the quiet that came from sadness when Blossom, the Paklid, died in a fiery crash into a planet so many years ago. They are good memories.
The simulators are home to me. They are the work of a professional lifetime. So, as long as I'm able to hold a microphone and utter those familiar words, "Engineering to the bridge, Engineering to the bridge. You've got Tex," why would I ever want to really retire? And so, I think I'll stay in the business awhile longer if you all don't mind...
Perhaps someday video game technology will become so evolved that children will do one of our missions at home connected to some kind of virtual reality machine. The computer will play my part, telling the story and reacting to the kid's decisions. The class will sit with goggles covering their eyes showing them the bridge of some futuristic ship. Gloves will give them the feel of working the controls.
Perhaps one day, the original Voyager will be recreated, spiral staircase and all. It may be a museum set a future generation will visit with their grandparents. As they tour the simulator the sounds of our voices and the blaring music with red alerts will accent their grandparent's stories of when they, once upon a time, flew the Voyager to far places far away.
Thank you, everyone, for twenty-seven years. Thank you to all the volunteers of every Voyager inspired space center for the hours of time you give each month. A thank you to those who work in this business for always going above and beyond the call of duty. We are all involved in creating lasting memories that will stay with our students forever.
And now, we venture onward to 30 years!
Simply,
Mr. Williamson
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