It's All Hands on Deck When the Renaissance Space Academy Runs a Private Voyager Mission
The Starship Voyager at the Renaissance Space Academy in Lehi staged four private missions on Saturday. And when it comes to our private programs, the Space Academy pulls out all the stops. It's all hands on deck to provide the guests with the best experience possible.
In the control room sat Bracken Funk and Logan Pederson. Combined, they have twenty years of flight experience from their time at the Christa McAuliffe Space Education Center and the Discovery Space Center. Add former Space Center director Megan Warner into the mix and you have the absolute dream team of experience and talent.
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| Caleb and Mr. Robinson with their freshly applied battle scars. It looks so real we should provide the crews with barf bags for the extra squeamish. Saturday's make up was for an adult mission. The realism would be toned down for younger audiences. |
Mr. Robinson is our resident makeup artist, fully trained by his wife. He brings experience to the missions. There isn't an adult crew he can't intimidate if needed with his teacher voice and vast knowledge of everything. He is Renaissance Academy's middle school history, debate, and Space Tech teacher. I
The Space Academy has a talented group of high school volunteers and staff. Brad (left) goes to Skyridge. Alex (right) goes to Lone Peak. Brad both volunteers and supervises missions. Alex volunteers on the missions and works on Academy staff helping me with the three coding classes we teach after school each week.
The Starship Voyager's Deck 11
The Voyager's bridge sits on deck 12 in the Farpoint Universe. Next to the bridge sits "Deck 11". Deck 11 offers exciting "away missions" from the bridge when necessary.
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| The Engineering Access Point (EAP) Upper Level with its engine core and switch panels |
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| Sick Bay Mid Level sits next to the EAP. |
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| Sick Bay: USS Voyager. |
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| The curved hallway leading to the double sized turning door adds a nice futuristic touch to Deck 11. The ship's Mid Level Brig sits on the opposite side of the door. From there the ship's Bridge is just around the corner. |
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| On the opposite side of the Deck 11 hallway and just outside the EAP sits another darkroom door leading to another hallway. Go straight and around the corner and up a ramp and you'll be on the bridge. Turn right and you find the Transit Pod. |
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| The Voyager's Transit Pod. It doubles as a turbolift and a transport platform. |
Booking a private mission on the Starship Voyager is easy. Go to SpaceCampUtah.org for more information.
Mr. W.
Construction Update on the New Christa McAuliffe Space Center and Central Elementary School With a Few Historical Photos
The Big Trees in the Churchyard are Gone
I drove by the school on the 11th and noticed the large trees in what use to be the old church's front yard are gone. This picture was taken looking across 400 East toward where the church use to sit. You can see the path the sidewalk made to the building's front door.
The playground is a full construction zone from the north fence to the big toy on the south end of the property. Apparently they dug up an old stove buried out there somewhere.
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| Summer Space Camp July 2008. These three campers are on a 3 day overnight camp. You can see the old church building behind the boy's head on the left. The church closed the building in April 2007 and sold the land to the Alpine School District for a new Space Center |
Picture Left: Looking down the west side of the school. Notice the concrete steps leading into the building from the playground are gone. Looking south you can see where the blacktop ends and the construction zone begins.
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| Spring 2002 on the playground. Principal Dan Adams is counting down for the balloon launch. The Captain of the USS Salt Lake City (Submarine) was visiting the school to officially open the Odyssey as a submarine for our 4th grade program. The back of the old church is visible |
Central Elementary students use the blacktop as their playground along with the area around the big toy behind the trailers. The USS Voyager addition to the building is still there, all sealed up and waiting for demolition in one years' time.
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| The students are waiting for the signal to launch their balloons and wish the Captain and first officer of the USS Salt Lake City good sailing. Spring 2002 |
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| Going back 11 years Looking toward that same spot on the playground. Summer Space Camp 2008. Bracken Funk out on the playground at lunch putting together a touch football game with the campers. |
Honor's Night at the Christa McAuliffe Space Center.
Honors Night was held at the Christa McAuliffe Space Center on Tuesday, April 9. Mr. Porter welcomed both staff and volunteers. The number one thing on everyone's mind was the new space center. What would be the names of the two new ships? What kind of ships would they be?
Mr. Porter started the meeting with a "Which is the Lie" survey. We voted for what we thought was the lie in each of the two columns. Each column represented one of the two new simulators in the new building.
Nothing was revealed that night. Mr. Porter set a goal; the lies would be revealed once the CMSC's Facebook page reaches 5000 likes. We've got some work to do to reach that goal. Please "Like" the CMSC's Facebook page so we can learn the names of the new new simulators and discover their purpose in the soon to be fleet of six simulators at the new Space Center.
Galileo Set Director Erin Williams awarded Mason Edmondston his Galileo pin. As you'll soon see, Honor's Night was pretty much centered on Mason's achievements. Mason has been a volunteer for many years, having started when he was just a young teen during my administration.
Mason was called up again to receive his Magellan pass from Magellan Set Director Connor Larsen.
Mr. Porter wasn't through honoring Mason. Once again he was called up to be awarded his Space Center Blues. Mason reached the Supervisor's level. Congratulations Mason! I'm sure flight director is next, but in what ship?
Wherever Mason settles I'm hoping it will lead to a paycheck. The poor kid only had sliced peaches for his supper. And notice those two bullies laughing behind his back while luxuriating on gourmet soda and deluxe burgers. Bad Josh. Bad Jon.
The idea was floated to pass the hat to see what we could collect from those assembled but Mason refused the offer. "The life of a dedicated space edventurer is never easy," he mused.
"No it ain't!" Jon added with a laugh as he shovelled the last of his burger into his mouth. A river of ketchup dripped down his shirt. "You see, sacrifices must be made," he added as he reached for a napkin.
"If a hat must be passed around, let the money go to the new Space Center," Mason replied humbly. And with that, both Jon and Josh were effectively put in their places.
This is Aaron K. I've heard the staff say good things about Aaron. Some speak of his willingness to take on any assignment. Others say he's a pretty good actor.
Congratulations Aaron on earning your Apprentice Starfighter patch for 500 hours of volunteer service.
This is Katie. Katie rightly deserve the title of "Defender of the Universe" for the time she puts in helping the CMSC reach its goals. I expect Katie is one of those we can expect to see with a microphone in her hand in the near future.
Celebrating staff and volunteers who reach Journeyman status is one of the things Mr. Porter loves most about his job as CMSC director. Tuesday night it was Josh Anderson's turn in the limelight even though it was a bit late in coming. Josh actually hit his five year mark a few years back.
It's tough to get Josh to the Space Center on a weeknight to receive his honors. He is a busy man. But to his credit, Josh always has time to direct a mission when the need arises. I've grown accustomed to seeing him on the Saturdays I stop by the Center to gather news. He is pretty much regarded as the"go to man" when a flight director needs some time off.
Congratulations to everyone who was honored at Honor's Night. I also want to mention how supportive the Space EdVenture family is with one another. I was present to cover the event for the blog, but also in my role as director of the Space Academy. Also present was Sydney Brown, co-director of Reality's Edge at Canyon Grove Academy.
The Space EdVenture Centers celebrate each other's accomplishments as we work together to improve and provide the best experiential education to Utah's children.
Mr. W.
The Best Videoettes From Around the World Edited for a Gentler Audience
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