Life's Set of Instructions. The Simplified Version for Busy People

A Day in the Imaginarium. Life is Never Boring.

Our work never ends at the Imaginarium. If it isn't moving large boulders its shaving the sea. Always something........ always something.

Last Chance to Get a Good Look at Mars Until 2012

On Thursday night, March 25, many people may look up at the sky and ask the question, "What's that bright star next to the moon?"

The answer for Thursday night is Mars, but that answer changes night by night as the moon travels along the night sky. If you ask the question again on Monday night, March 29, the answer will be the ringed planet Saturn. Such conjunctions of the moon and planets are regular reminders of how rapidly the moon moves across the sky.

This will be your last chance to get a good look at Mars until it approaches the Earth again in 2012.

The Good Ole Days

Write query, attach stamp, post and wait. Google's Good Old Days (or not). Its just another day of imagining at the Imaginarium.

This Wall Brought to you by, The Imaginarium.

Take your common, everyday red brick wall, then call our experts at the Imaginarium. Leave the rest to us.

Imagineering at the Imagainarium: Making the common, uncommon.

Space Center History. The Early Days

Bill Schuler holding the Silver Chalice of Zod awarded
During an Honor's Night in 2003

By Bill Schuler
The Space Center's Oldest Volunteer.

I started reminiscing with Mr. Williamson about what it was like to be a volunteer in the old days when the Space Center opened. Vic suggested I write a post concerning my early Space Center experiences as a historical prospective. Realizing this will require a substantial amount of commentary, It has been decided to break it down into several separate installments.

The Start of the illness!

Mark Daymont actually introduced me to the Space Center. One day in the fall of
1990 he picked up a local paper her never reads and found an article about how this 6th grade teacher went and built a spacecraft simulator in his school. Mark was so
intrigued he actually sought out the strange teacher, to meet him and see his work first hand. Immediately Mark thought "How can I help with this". Then he thought "How can I drag my friends into this." A week later Mark, myself, and Dave Wall sat in on our first student missions as visiting admiral's. The three of us, for various reasons had acquired Star Trek uniforms from "Star Trek 2 The Wrath of Kahn". The uniforms were not very functional but looked fantastic when compared with the pajama suits of the first Star Trek Movie. These were exact copies made from the same fabrics used in the film uniforms and tailored to the last detail, no shortcuts!. Mine withstood almost 3 years of continuous Space Center use.

Vic conducted the mission from the Bridge rather than in mission control. The
mission consisted of the Voyager, represented by the movie version of the USS Enterprise leaving space dock, and no they couldn't steer out of space dock any better back then than they do now,and set course for the planet Mars. On arriving at Mars various features of the Planet were described, primarily through the cutting edge video technology of the Laser Disc Player. While preparing for the trip back to earth a Romulan Ship uncloakes and some admiral or other swore he would destroy us. Remember, Vic is on the bridge so the voice of the evil admiral is coming out of a 5th grade volunteer in Mission Control and is about as intimidating. Use voice distorters in the Voyager was still some years into future. Fortunately Voyager made her escape to earth and safety.

On completion of the mission Vic talked to us concerning the Space Center and its possibilities. Before the day was out we booked the first ever adult overnight mission. On the appointed night the crew assembled, in full uniform and the mission began. The mission itself was written by Mark Daymont and would become the template for which all previous missions are based.

The crew wasn't a bunch of Star Trek nerds living in their parents basements. In fact the majority of us were full time or Reserve Air Force personnel or had had some sort of previous professional military training who also happened to admire Star Trek. As such the ship was set up according to established military protocol's. I was the first officer and as such I was responsible for seeing to it that the ship and crew were ready for the captain's immediate use. This meant job allocation, training, watch schedules, meal schedules, drill's, personnel evaluation etc. Vic was somewhat taken aback by the professional demeanor of the crew.(remember this was the first adult mission plus the fact that most of the crew had real military experience) and at first was a little unsure how to handle the crew. Despite the primitive state of the ship, after about 45 minutes the entire crew had suspended their disbelief to the point where we saw what was happening on the ship as reality. Easy to do with kids, harder to do with adults. Never since have I enjoyed a mission so much.

Wasn't this epistle about volunteering! Oh Yea I was so exited by the possibilities of the Space Center I couldn't get it out of my head. I thought about all of the possible things I could do to make the space center a better experience, from props to decorations to acting. My head was spinning with possibilities. A few weeks later I was in serious withdrawal and badly needed another Space Center fix. So on a Friday night in February 1991 I packed up my StarFleet uniform and showed up at the Space Center doorstep asking if I could assist with the overnighter.

I'm not quite sure what Vic was thinking but he looked at me with that look he gets when you tell him the toilet just overflowed. After a pause he said Well---ok. So Admiral Schuler was born. I had a great time and couldn't wait till the next week. I'm still not sure what Vic's reaction was.

Well fate has a way of stepping in and changing your view of the world. When I
got home that night I found a note on my bedroom door. (This was when cell phones weighed ten pounds and cost a fortune to use.) "Bill, Sergeant Watson called. Your Reserve Unit has just been activated, report Monday morning. Thus I was integrated into the first Gulf War. At that point I had no idea where I would be sent, so one tends to think about things one does not generally think about. Turns out we remained at our home station in California so we could properly carry out aircraft repairs instead of doing it in a ad hoc manner at some off shore location. So by night I fixed C-5 Galaxy's and by day I thought about the Space Center. Even though I was several states away I sill couldn't stop thinking about the place and what I could do for them in my present circumstances. I turned to my "keep me sane" hobby of plastic modeling as a way of helping the space center. I built models of Starships, missiles and research aircraft to decorate what is now the Space Center office. I would build them, pack them in boxes filled with air dry popcorn and send them to Vic. Some of them are still on display in the glass case in the hall. That doesn't seem like much but when you are on a war footing, having something like the Space Center to contribute to is very therapeutic.

I know!!! I wasn't dodging bullets but we were still under enormous pressure to get airplanes in and out of the repair dock. You must understand aircraft very dangerous things to work around, especially when you are under pressure and in a hurry. I remember on one particular occasion, working in the landing gear bay, pressure was applied to the hydraulic system (2500psi). Unfortunately the Hydraulic Shop boys neglected to reattach several hoses and the hanger soon filled with a fog of highly flammable Spec 4 hydraulic fluid. One spark and the whole hanger would have gone up, mind you I am standing in the landing gear bay, in the midst of a fog of highly volatile petroleum distillate and right above me is the lit turbine engine that is pressurizing the hydraulic system! But I digress.

Contributing to the Space Center even in that limited way made the whole thing
much easier to take.

After six months of active duty and 3 months summer tour directing I was back in
Utah and the Space Center. At this time I was determined to take a larger part in the
Space Center, though at this point Vic knew nothing about it.

On a Friday afternoon in September 1991 I show up again and Vic kind of shrugged
again. After my appearance as the Admiral I am sitting in mission control (During this point in Space Center history there are something like 3 or 4 student staff members, Jr High age or younger) Vic hands me the phone and says "See what you can do with this" and thus was born the "Second Story Line".

I still felt like an outsider looking in, then I noticed on every overnighter Vic had to arrange with the mother of a student to pick up the Pizza (In the old days all overnight missions included dinner.) which I noticed was a hassle for him. This is where initiative comes in! I thought to myself "This is it! My chance to become indispensable. I offered to take responsibility to pick up the pizza every Friday from then on thus freeing Vic from a bothersome chore. He accepted my offer and from then on I was the pizza guy.

Seeing a need and filling it gets you noticed. Admittedly being the pizza guy was not the end but it was the means to give me a chance to do the good stuff.

This concludes the first installment of the "Historical Document" Next installment will include the secrets behind the "origins of the slime devil and the miracle of the 48 hour mission!

The Power of Imagination

Students of the Imaginarium understand the power of imagination, a power we all carry within us. We use it daily, sometimes as a distraction and other times as a release from the here and now.

Learn to harness that power to enrich your life and the lives of those around you.

The Imaginarium's Reminder that Winter is Past. Spring is Here.

The Imaginarium

Thoughts on the Week as We Blaze Forward..

Hello Troops,
It’s 58 degrees outside! I think we can nearly, almost if not certainly proclaim - without too fine a point, yet steadfastly with room for doubt, but firm with conviction without getting too carried away that Winter weather is behind us. Wouldn’t you agree or nearly so, perhaps?

The Space Center is getting more private mission bookings and the last two overnight camps were full - all of which makes me happy. Happy is defined as a steady stream of money coming in and not as much going out; such a situation means we are running well into the black. We need to raise as much money as possible so I can purchase a $27,000 new portable planetarium to take the place or our aging Starlab. That poor dome is so full of holes you’d swear you were looking up into the night sky from some alien planet.

Oh, I can’t forget the remodeling of the Voyager. New computers, new front screens and new chairs.... sigh..... Speaking of chairs, the nice modern chairs I bought for the Voyager nearly ten years ago are breaking one by one over a steady stream of months. We lost one yesterday when the Engineer step down from the Engineering section onto the Right Wing chair and broke a section of the plastic off.

It seems like every week something new breaks but that is the nature of equipment under heavy use.

We had network problems in the Odyssey and Magellan during the overnight camp and Saturday private missions. That’s something else that needs to be addressed. Numont University in Salt Lake City nearly finished the new Odyssey controls before their term ended. Matt Long and the Programming Guild will take what they’ve done and finish them up. I’m hoping new controls on a stable platform like Cocoa will eliminate many if not all of the Odyssey’s issues.

I want to thank all the new volunteers that recently finished their five observations and are now eligible to volunteer at the Center. I signed another young man in yesterday afternoon. These new volunteers are full of drive and enthusiasm. I need you old timers to stand close to them and hopefully some of their energy will transfer into you. And once again a pat on the back to our current volunteers. You guys keep the Center open with your many hours of unpaid time.

Their are several factors responsible for the Center’s success. Among the top five are the outstanding volunteers and staff, all of whom (including the paid staff) donate hours of volunteer time each month. I’m grateful and urge you to keep coming! We are moving into our busiest time of the year and, well, you know. We can’t do this without you.

And now I’ll stop because If I write too much I’ll lose half the Blog’s readers (many of my staff continue to remind me that I write too much and when I do they won’t read it. What is with this younger generation? So many, but not all as I've been reminded, seem to have the attention span of a goldfish!)

Mr. Williamson

Expedition 22 Completed

One of several Russian helicopters flown to the landing site. It looks cold... BRRR.

With the landing of the Soyuz TMA-16 spacecraft in Kazakhstan this morning, Expedition 22 of the ISS has come to a successful end. Jeff Williams and Max Suraev arrived safe and sound.

Russian rapid transit in the steppes.

Actually they arrived in the freezing steppes in Winter. NASA's photo of the day showed a capsule landing in a giant frozen field of snow. Watching the Russian camera footage, one really gets a feel of how different our two space programs really are. The Russian program works, and works well, but at times it almost seems comical or amateurish. Mostly this is because the Russian cameraman did not do a good job. As the space voyagers were carried from their capsule to waiting chairs, the camera view constantly cut off people's heads, he could not for the life of him think of getting both crewmen in the same view, and at times didn't even bother to aim the camera at anything other than the ground- and upside down.

Get used to this view, folks... Once the shuttle retires and all we have left are overpriced trips on the Russian rockets, we won't see our high definition, good quality camerawork that we are used to. We'll be dependent on landing our astronauts in frozen or desolate wastes, with poor Russian camerawork, and it will be a long time until we return to the American way.

ISS in orbit. View of the Central Truss and solar panels.

Meanwhile, ISS Expedition 23 begins with the Soyuz departure. The change of command ceremony was held yesterday, and Russian Commander Oleg Kotov takes over. There are currently three ISS members, and they will be joined by three more on April 4. The Expedition 23 expansion crew will arrive by a Russian Soyuz. The shuttle Discovery will launch to the ISS on April 5th to bring up more equipment.

By Mark Daymont
spacerubble.blogspot.com

A National Geographic Special. Asteroid Impact!

Could an asteroid impact with Earth wipe out the human race? Known Universe explores what is being done to prevent such an Armageddon by heading to the first line of asteroid defense: the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory in Arizona. Here we see the technologies used to monitor the skies for near-Earth objects, including a football stadium-sized rock that will pass close to Earth on Friday the 13th, April 2029. Scientists predict it may be so close that gravity could cause a catrophic collision.
Be sure to watch this Known Universe show on the evening of April 1st on the
National Geographic Channel.

I know I'll be watching :)

Mr. Williamson

Marshmallow Pirates in the Imaginarium.

It's True. You'll never know what you're going to get in the Troubadour's Imaginarium.
Tis a wonder to Behold.

The Wednesday Imagination Challenges

Imaginarium Challenge #4
A packet of ketchup
A tomato

You have five minutes. Engage Imagination.......

The Winner


No Imagination: Welcome Back to School. School Starts Sept. 4
That's what 95% of the nation's children read when they started school this year on their school's marquees.
Imaginarium Challenge #5. Say the Same Thing but With Imagination.

And the Winner is: Cloverdale Primary School


OK Troops,
Expand your Horizons. Think......

Mr. Williamson

Our Tuesday. A Happy Day at the Space Center.

Hello Troops,
We had a great day at the Space Center. We hosted the Sixth Graders from Fox Hill Elementary School. They were briefed on Midnight Rescue. They were great kids.

You know what I love about my job? I love working with groups of students that come to the Center well briefed on their mission. I love working with students that are quiet and focused on their jobs and really work hard to win the mission. I love working with Captains, Ambassadors and First Officers that are teachable and willing to take sincere criticism of their work and then improve.

That's what we had today. Two great sixth grade classes that worked hard to win their missions. I had two great command crews that listened to my criticism and really worked hard to improve. They were all awesome.

There are days where I really love this job. Of course there are those other days we all have where at the end of the day we question whether or not we should have rolled out of bed. I'm please to report those days are rare at the Space Center.

The Space Center is a happy place full of people that have fully developed imaginations. Our staff use their imaginations to make our magic happen.

Disneyland is very sure of itself when it says they are The Happiest Place on Earth. Perhaps some day we may challenge them for ownership of that slogan (And I'll confess, I'm one of Disney's greatest fans).
I'm sure such a challenge will end up in the Supreme Court.
It could very well be the Trial of the Century.

From the Space Center's Imaginarium,
I'm Mr. Williamson

From the Traffic Engineers at the Imaginarium

Taking the everyday and making it extraordinary. That is all we ask of our students at the Imaginarium.

Imagination, use it or lose it.

From the Imagination in Design Department of the Imaginarium

There are bridges, and then there are bridges designed by graduates of the Imaginarium, a place where students are filled with A Sense of Wonder fueled by Imagaination.

Remember Daylight Savings Starts Sunday.

Hello Troops,
Yep, you loose one hour of sleep on Saturday night. Be sure to set your clocks one hour. Blahhhhh.....

Mr. Williamson

Two Stars Orbit Each Other every 5.4 Minutes!

James Owen

for National Geographic News

Published March 12, 2010

Two extremely dense stars in an intimate dance are spinning around each other in just 5.4 minutes—making them the fastest known stellar partners in the galaxy, astronomers have confirmed.

To have such a speedy orbit, the stars must be moving at about 310 miles (500 kilometers) a second, the team calculates.

The whirling duo, known as HM Cancri, also has the tightest orbit of any known "binary" star system. (Related: "First Proof 'Tight' Double Suns Can Have Planets.")

Both stars are white dwarfs—the dense, white-hot remnants left behind when sunlike stars die. The stellar corpses are separated by no more than three times the width of Earth.

In such tight quarters, hot gases flow between the two stars, releasing huge amounts of energy.

"This is the most extreme example of one of these double white dwarf systems we have so far," said study co-author Danny Steeghs of the University of Warwick in the U.K.