The Christa McAuliffe Space Center
Michael Holland was the Featured Speaker at the September Voyager Club Meeting
Michael Holland's Presentation on Saturday
The Voyager Club at the Christa McAuliffe Space Center held its September Club Meeting on Saturday. The Voyager Club is the Space Center's aerospace club whose mission is to create a space faring civilization. The Voyager Club members make up the Space Center's volunteering force. There are over 100 members.
Michael Holland was the club's guest speaker on Saturday. Michael is working on a Master's Degree at BYU. He works for NASA's Kennedy Space Center on their Swamp Works. He also does software development for astronomical observatories. He is also the president of BYU's astronomy club. He and the Swamp Works team are developing mining robots to work on the moon's surface. The robots will be used to extract water from the moon's soil.
Michael spoke to me after the meeting and thanked me and the Space Center staff and volunteers for instilling in him his first love of space and space exploration when he was 13 years old. Michael was a frequent space center camper during his junior high days.
JJ Madigan is the Cassini's Newest Flight Director
Jon Parker Has No Choice but to Award JJ Madigan his
Cassini Flight Director Pass
In a stunning and unexpected decision, Space Center Asst. Director, the Great and Nearly Powerful Jon Parker, awarded JJ Madigan a Cassini Flight Director pass on Saturday. Flight Directorships are hard to come by. One just doesn't slip Jon a 20 dollar bill and walk away with your union card. It can sometimes take a mind numbing number of hours in the flight director's chair with Jon sitting beside you breathing over your right shoulder before you an agreement is reached and your long apprenticeship ends.
JJ is already an accomplished Falcon Flight Director so the Cassini is another notch in his belt as he continues in his quest to conquer all six simulator chairs in what little time he has before life interferes and he is called to other things.
Congratulations JJ.
Nan, a Master Imagineer
Nan Found in the Act of Creation. A Central Elementary School Hallway Transformed into an derelict Starship
We highlight Nan Bryan today for her impressive work at the Christa McAuliffe Space Center. Nan is a Cassini Supervisor who specializes in the art and science of transforming Central Elementary School's halls into otherworldly scenes. Early this month I found her setting up an away mission for the 5 hour mission "Canada". Her masterpiece of a bodyless crewman is her trademark. Wrangling a mass of cables into something meaningful comes in a close second.
Without the budgets of a Disney park, all the Space EdVenture Centers in Utah County work magic in their school's hallways with a few lights, cables, and other trinkets. This requires a heightened imaginative effort from both the staff and the simulators' visiting crew. We've been doing this for 33 years and it has worked so far.
Congratulations Nan on on becoming one of those artists who can create so much with so little. I'm guessing you're also a master at creating Michelin star meals with a few leftovers in the fridge?
Jack Demonstrates What the Blender Class is Creating
Jack is a young Space Center Voyager Club member and a student in the Space Center's Blender 3D Modeling Club. These young modelers are learning how to use Blender to create special effects for the Center's six starship simulators.
The Red Alert clip seen above was his Saturday's creation.
Honor's Night on September 28th from 6:30 - 8:00 PM
Saint Sheila with her husband Lee
The Christa McAuliffe Space Center will hold its biannual Honor's Night this Thursday in the planetarium theater. Space Center volunteers and employees will receive a variety of honors linked to their achievements and lengths of service.
Sheila Powell, a former Space Center educator who passed away recently, will be honored with the Founder's Award at this Honor's Night. Her husband, Lee, will be receiving the honor on her behalf. All former Space Center volunteers and employees who had the privilege of working with Sheila are welcome to come and join us as we pay tribute to our Saint Sheila, and her contribution to our mission of creating a space faring civilization.
The Space Place at Renaissance Academy
Two of the Four 5th Grade Young Astronaut Squadrons
The Space Place's Young Astronaut and Voyager Clubs are busy every day, Monday thru Friday, from 3:30 - 5:30 P.M. with classes and space missions in the Starship Voyager for our 180 registered cadets. With the goal of furthering the cause of human space exploration, our outstanding staff led by Bracken Funk, The Space Place Director, work hard at giving our young cadets in grades 3 through 9 both a fun and rewarding educational experience. Last week we hosted our 5th grade squadrons. This week our sixth grade teams will be on the bridge of the Voyager training for their 8 month long mission.
The Space Place also sponsors the Space Tech class for our 7th - 9th graders during the school day. Group missions for family and friend groups are flown on Friday and Saturdays.
The Discovery Space Center at American Heritage School
Alex Debirk is the Discovery Space Center at American Heritage School's
Director in Addition to his position as High School Physics Teacher
The Discovery Space Center at American Heritage School started a Voyager Club of their own. This will be Utah County's third Voyager Club with sister clubs located at the Christa McAuliffe Space Center and The Space Place at Renaissance Academy.
The DSC's Voyager Club meets every Wednesday after school at American Heritage School in American Fork. The club is open to all AHS high school students. Alex Debirk has the club divided into "guilds" or specialities.
1. Writing Guild. The Writing Guild learns how to write missions for the school's two simulators, the Discovery and the Galileo.
2. Programming Guild. The Programming Guild creates starship controls using the Horizon space simulation software.
3. Media Guild. The Media Guild creates 3D computer graphics in Blender for the simulations.
4. The Engineering Guild using the school's industrial arts shops to create props and furniture for the simulators.
Imaginarium Theater
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