The Space Center Paid What for this Thermos? Has Mr. Williamson No Shame for his Actions?

Hello Troops,
Yes, that's one expensive thermos. Care to take an educated guess? What would you expect to pay for this white thermos? Notice there are no cartoon characters decorating the outside cylinder. Why buy a thermos for your milk, coffee, hot chocolate etc without pictures of your favorite cartoon characters? When I was a kid at Canyon Lake Elementary School in Rapid City, South Dakota I had a Johnny Quest lunch box with a Johnny Quest thermos. Standing alongside Johnny was his best friend Hadji and Bandit the dog.

What would I pay today to get my Johnny Quest lunch box and thermos back? I'm thinking $50.00 real American money. So if I'd pay $50 for a vintage Johnny Quest lunch box and thermos, what would I pay for a plain white unremarkable thermos?

I asked Jon Parker (Voyager Flight Director) what he thought this white thermos was worth. Jon appreciates a good vintage lunch box. You rarely find him coming to work without his Amazing Hulk lunchbox.


Jon looked at the picture of the thermos I had just purchased for the Space Center and nearly fainted to the ground at the price.

"You paid WHAT?" he exclaimed after coming around. We had to use the extra strong smelling salts from the big First Aid kit. Everyone in the room agreed that I was the perfect example of Government waste.

"What did you pay for this plastic ruler?" Stacy asked sarcastically. "$200.00?"

"But this isn't your run of the mill lunchbox thermos." I stood my ground with determination. "This is a Cryogenic Liquid Nitrogen Dewar 10 Liter 1C0- 10 D."

"A What?" The staff spoke in unison. They were perplexed by my use of scientific words.

"This is a Cryogenic Liquid Nitrogen Dewar 10 Liter 1C0- 10 D," I repeated myself. The words fell from my tongue with ease. They were impressed. Heck, I even impressed myself, and that isn't easy to do.

Jon raised his hand to speak for the rest of the staff. "What do you carry in Cryogenic Liquid Nitrogen Dewar 10 Liter 1C0- 10 D?"

"Liquid nitrogen, of course."

Stacy laughed. "Of course, why didn't the rest of us think of that? But come on, $430 dollars for a thermos to carry liquid nitrogen? Are you crazy? Think of what we could have bought for that kind of money."

"It will allow us to do liquid nitrogen science demonstrations for our field trip lessons." My explanation didn't seem to sway them to my way of thinking. I resigned myself to the fact that my staff would always be skeptical toward my nearly $500 thermos.

By the way, I thought you readers of the Troubadour, and true fans of the Space Center might like to see the other flight director's lunch boxes so Jon doesn't feel picked on.

Zac's Lunchbox (Magellan Set Director)
He is a closeted Jetsons fan.
I'll tell you a secret, I think he's got a crush on Rosie the Robot.

Emily's favorite lunchbox (Voyager and Odyssey Flight Director). She rarely arrives at the Center without her Barbie lunchbox complete with a Ken Thermos and an assortment of decadent delicacies. Emily and her Barbie lunch box are well known at BYU's Cougareat where some mistake her for BYU's Homecoming Queen. Emily rarely if ever corrects their misunderstanding.

Stacy's Lunchbox (Galileo Set Director).
Careful, she also carries her live fishing bait in this box.

Christine's Lunchbox (Odyssey Set Director) with
Woodstock Thermos. Christine always shares, just in case you
arrive at the Center hungry.

Dave's Lunchbox (Phoenix Set Director)
Always carries a Thermos full of Mt. Dew, a BLT sandwich and a Twinkie.

Megan's lunchbox. Megan doesn't get a thermos

until she learns how to drink from one without spilling!

And life moves on at the Space Center.

Have a Happy Easter!
Mr. W.

The Volunteer Club Meets for Keyboard Training and the Space Center's Great Wall Under Construction

The Home for our Special Volunteers
(a crow caws in the distance)

Hello Troops,
Flight Directors Emily, Megan and Jon held a special training meeting on Monday, April 2 for the Space Center's special volunteers. The training was held in the computer lab at Central School - home of the Space Education Center.

"Our special volunteers enjoy the time we give them away from the day to day drudge of the Home for Special Volunteers," Emily said. Emily started this special training program last month. She says her special program is a win win for all. "The Space Center wins because we get a better trained staff who require less supervision. The volunteers win because good volunteers get released time from the home on a more regular basis."

Megan and Jon walked the volunteers across the marshlands and bog to the school for the training meeting. There was a bit of a crisis along the way. One of the smaller volunteers was pushed off the well worn path and fell into the marsh. He was up to his neck in mud and muck before Jon successfully pulled him back to dry land with a rope and hook.

" 'bout lost one," Jon meekly confessed to Emily when they arrived. Emily stood outside waiting. She was aghast at the boy's mud pie appearance.

"We've had this conversation before," Emily reminded him. "Lose just one more and you're through."

Jon glanced down at his feet, embarrassed at the dressing down he was given in front of the volunteers. He spoke in his defense, "You can't blame me for...."

"Stop right there," Emily held out her hand as if to strike. Jon winced backward. "Don't start - we still haven't found that boy you lost along the path two years ago." Megan smirked. She's been after Jon's position for several years now. Anything that makes Jon look incompetent and untrustworthy betters the odds of her removing him from his position.

The volunteers marched through the school's halls and into the computer lab.


Each was assigned to a computer. James sat down, licked his lips, mumbled "glass and aluminum" and leaned forward to touch his tongue to the computer. Some people like to smell things. James likes to taste things.

"NO!" Jon spoke sharply. James stopped abruptly - his tongue 1/2 inch from the screen.

"James was going to lick the screen again," Marissa giggled. James kicked her from under the table. Marissa yelped.


"STOP IT!" Jon spoke even more sharply. He caught Emily glancing at him questioningly from the white board. He heard Megan smirking. James went back to chewing on his yellow shirt sleeve - a tactic suggested by his therapist to help overcome the urge.



Jorden raised his hand. "What's today's lesson on?" he asked. Jorden likes to smile. His nickname at the Home is 'Smiler'.

"Good question, ten points for the Blue Team because of Jorden's good question," Emily snapped her fingers and ten points appeared on the Home's House Tally Board. Matthew patted Jorden on the back. Jorden's smile broadened to stretch from ear to ear. Seeing his face contort like that can take you slightly off your mark if you've not seen him do it before.

"STOP IT!" Jon barked. "Smile normally."

"Smiling normally," Jorden's smile released its broad hold on his face, returning his ears to their normal position.

Emily cleared her throat and continued. She was careful not to look at Jorden. "We are going to practice our keyboarding. The biggest problem volunteers have at the Space Center is keyboarding and spelling. We flight directors need volunteers who can keyboard quickly and spell reliably.


Al sat up smartly and spoke out of turn without raising his hand. "I keyboard quick and can spell Reliable."
Kimball smirked. He knew that Al had a hard enough time just finding the home row on the keyboard, let alone type anything readable. Nathan starting making monkey faces and noises. He sat on Al's right. No one knows why, but Nathan makes monkey faces and noises when he feels threatened. Keyboards threaten Nathan - with all the buttons and the consequences for not pushing each one correctly.

"What is that?" Emily questioned, pointing toward Al.

"His name is Nathan," Jon answered. "He's somewhat new to the Home for Special Volunteers. He makes those faces and noises when he feels threatened. Just ignore him. He stops after awhile if you ignore him ."

"I'm not referring to Nathan," Emily moved closer to Al. "What is that on HIS face!?"

"A beard," Jon answered.

"And what is a beard doing on the face of a Space Center volunteer?"

"Is there a policy against it?"

"If there isn't then there should be."

"I'll consult Mr. Williamson on the matter - shall I?" Jon moved toward the door.

"Let's get through this class first." Emily walked back to the white board. "Hands on the home row............"

"STOP THAT!" Jon reached out and stopped James from licking the back of his chair.

Emily continued. "And begin.... A, S, D, F....."

The Space Center's Great Wall.
One of the Space Center's New and Marvelous Wonders

The Great Wall of the Space Center is under construction. This new wonder will divide and separate the school's commons area from the 6th grade hallway. The commons is where the Space Center's Digitarium Planetarium is housed. Noise from the hallways is a constant disturbance during the Space Center's planetarium shows. This new and wonderful wall will solve the noise problem.

In addition to the wall, the Space Center is installing black out curtains in the commons. The black out curtains will completely darken the room. Having a dark room is a real plus because of the tiny pinpricks in the planetarium's fabric dome. The pinpricks let in tiny points of room light into the dome. Each point of light is seen as an extra star in the night sky. I'm sure you get the picture.

The Alpine School District Maintenance Shop is building the wall. It should be finished by week's end. We are all very excited.

ATV-3 Resupply Docks with ISS

ATV-3 Resupply Docks with ISS

ATV-3 (left) approaches the docking port of the Zvezda Module (right).

On Friday, March 23, the European Space Agency launched the third in their series of Automated Transfer Vehicles (ATV) to resupply the International Space Station. ATV-3 was nicknamed "Edoardo Amaldi" after an Italian scientist. The launch, operated by ArianneSpace, took place at the Agency's Korou, French Guiana space center in Northern South America. The mighty Arianne 5 rocket lifted off for an 8-minute ride to orbit, lifting the 20-ton cargo vessel in a beautiful flight over the Atlantic and past the Azore islands.

ESA launch facilities in French Guiana.

ATV-3 blasts off on an Arianne 5 rocket.

The Edoardo Amaldi is the first of the ATV series of 5 launches to meet the ESA's goal of one flight per year to the ISS. The Agency hopes the remaining two flights in this first resupply program will continue to meet their goal. Soon after reaching orbit, the ATV extended its 4 solar panels and made course corrections to catch up to the orbiting ISS.

ATV-3 is powered by 4 solar panels (2 in the shadows on right). An ISS solar panel, seen edge-on, blocks the front view of the ATV.

ATV-3 finally caught up to the ISS and docked to the aft end of the Russian-built Zvesda Service Module on March 28th. Although the craft itself weighs about 20 tons, its cargo comprised about six and a half tons of propellant, air, water, food, and other supplies needed for operations. It will remain docked to the ISS for 5 months. One of its most important missions will be to use it's own propellant and engines to boost the altitude of the ISS higher above the Earth.

50 YA - Kennedy watches an Atlas Test

President Kennedy with Air Force Generals at Vandenberg AFB. Picture from the SAC Elite Guard Association site.

On March 23, 1962 President John F. Kennedy did something no other president had ever done. He watched a test firing of an Atlas D InterContinental Ballistic MIssile (ICBM) from a silo at the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Vandenberg AFB was the site for many of the military test missions of ICBM's, and also included launch silos for operational use of in-service ICBMs.

Welcome for Air Force One and the President. Picture from the SAC Elite Guard Association site.

It's important for us to remember today, that way back then in the early 60's our nation was experiencing the Cold War with our enemies, Soviet Russia. ICBMs stood by in each country ready to launch and inflict nuclear warfare on the other nation. So it seems more than appropriate that the American President should have been witness to a launch of our country's most important defensive weapon at the time. At the same time, both of our countries were engaged in a politically-inspired race of technology to conquer space and lead the world in space technology. In 1962, the Soviets seemed to be winning that race, and President Kennedy was gearing up the nation to be the first to land men on the Moon.

Atlas D ICBM at Pad 12 at Cape Canaveral.

The rocket launched that day from California was the Atlas D model ICBM. This type first flew in 1959. The operational rocket witness by the President was launched from a silo buried in the ground to protect it from enemy attack and hide it from surveillance. I was unable to find a picture of the silo and launch, though there is a video on Youtube that shows President Kennedy observing the blast-off: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3j5UaRnk4mg

(Thanks HelmerReenberg and Youtube!) I've included a picture of an Atlas D model at Launch Complex 12 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The Atlas D was used for other NASA purposes as well, including 4 Mercury Program launches.