Thursday, and the Super Overnight Camp with The Imaginarium

Flight Director Ben during the Leadership Camp

A Quiet Place in front of the Library Door.

Hello Troops,

It is 11:07 P.M. Thursday night.  We are in the thick of a Super Overnight Camp.  Twelve campers are maneuvering deeper and deeper into the plot of Mercy Strike.  The hallways are darkened and staff and volunteers are spread up and down the length of the school waiting for the crew to beam out of the Voyager and into the alien set - a Romulan prison camp.

The Voyager's Staff during the Leadership Camp.

You see what happens when I turn my back for an instant?

Pandemonium, Anarchy and the Breakdown of Civil Society!

The Space Center was closed Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday to celebrate Independence Day.  The Leadership Camp was brutal on the staff.  The break was well deserved.  Supposedly we are rested and ready for the big push to finish the summer season on July 31.  Three Edventure Camps, two Day Camps, several Overnight Camps, one Super Overnight Camp and a slew of private parties can be seen emerging from the dark in the light from our headlights.  Its a tough schedule.  I wonder what I was thinking when I set it up last February.

One of the campers, a Mr. Flynn, just walked by.  I believe he just returned from the Galileo on some side trip - a subplot complimenting the primary storyline.

A real treat!  I saw the Red Blemish, the Space Center's very own failed superhero, in the school's hallway.  His bright red, nearly floor length trench coat gave him away.  What brings The Red Blemish to our humble school this evening?

He just walked by my desk.  My presence wasn't noticed.  He was focused on something.  Perhaps "M, The Destroyer of Worlds" lurks in the darkened halls, waiting to ensnare our campers.  We will know within the next few minutes.  The landing party is about to begin.

It will be a long night.  The campers won't go to bed until 2:00 A.M.

The Red Blemish walked by again.  He looks perplexed.  Maybe his scooter is out of gas.  A black streak runs down his left cheek.
"Black tears?" I asked.
"A scar," he replied.
"M, The Destroyer of Worlds?" I questioned.
He didn't hear me and disappeared through the office's door.

It's 11:38 P.M. Bracken kicked me out of the office so the Voyager's crew could beam down to the Romulan base without seeming me.  It's getting too dangerous to stay here.  I think I'll creep through the hall to the Library and hide out for spell while the brave crew of the Voyager battle the foes of liberty and galactic human rights.

"The funniest thing is happening in the Kindergarten room," Bracken said.  "Andrew is playing the Romulan Ambassador locked in a cell opposite the Voyager's Ambassador.  Andrew is telling the Ambassador Romulan jokes and he isn't getting them.  The Voyager's Ambassador is telling Andrew human jokes and Andrew is pretending not to get them either.  Its the funniest cross cultural exchange and I'm taking full credit for the idea!"

"Great Idea Bracken," I said.

"Thanks, I needed that," he replied as he disappeared through the Voyager's spinning black door leading to the stage.  

Bracken deserves a pat on the back for spearhead this week's Super Overnight Camp.    

There are a few things I'd like to share from the Imaginarium to top off the post...   

 There is a lot to be said for choosing the right time and place to be clueless

OK, a real test of your sweet tooth.  Can you name them all just on appearance?

We try to make our simulators Kid Proof and they keep making better kids.

Maintenance is a real pain with the use and abuse our ships endure.

True imagination means pushing the boundary.

Uncharted water can be dangerous, but therein lies the Joy in Journey.

Now What?

Freedom isn't free.

And what about those inertia dampeners?  

How can they cancel inertia when the ship jumps to hyperspeed but

not cancel the effects of a simple torpedo impact?

Plot Hole?

Neither are Space Center Directors....

Interesting

I'll continue to use plastic cutlery but

Interesting nevertheless.

Amen.

Steampunked Stormtroopers

What caught your eye?

 

What caught your eye?

The same, yet different in both pictures.

You can live in the world and be one of billions and still be yourself.

Stand out for the right reasons.

 I admire the Doctor.

Thank the BBC for catering to the more intelligent of the masses.

(Yes, that means if you like Dr. Who, you must be more intelligent than your 

average human.  I think its a proven fact).

Pay to have Grandma flown home or be creative.

And Finally

The Truth in Name Brands

Rocket Summer and Other Space News

 

Up, up and away for the Delta-4. Credit: ULA.

For rocket lovers, we live in a wonderful time for rocket watching. Every summer is a rocket summer. On July 29 rocket fans watched United Launch Alliance and the US Air Force launch a satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). Blasting off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (adjacent to the Kennedy Space Center), the Delta-4 Heavy lifted a classified NRO satellite (NROL-15) into orbit.

Liftoff from LC-37. Credit: ULA.

The Delta-4 Heavy is the most powerful variant of the Delta family of rockets (scroll down to the article on the Atlas-5 launch for the graphic display of the Delta family of rockets). It's even more powerful now, with this latest launch featuring new versions of the RL-68 rocket engines, the RL-68A's. These new engines feature an additional 36-39,000 pounds of thrust for a total of 797,000 pounds of thrust. The distinguishing feature of the Delta-4 Heavy is the addition of the two side boosters, which are liquid-fueled instead of the commonly-seen solid rocket boosters. 

With this Delta-4 Heavy launch, it means we've seen recently a launch of the Delta-4, the Atlas-5, the Long March variant for Shenzhou-9, with upcoming launches of the Soyuz and another Atlas-5 in July.

Rocket Motor Two tests in the desert. Credit: Virgin Galactic.

And it's not just rocket flights, either. There's plenty of rocket engine testing going on in the race for commercial rocket development. Virgin Galactic is preparing for the first tourists flights into sub-orbit, and continuing testing of the Rocket Two engine at their facilities in the Mojave desert.

ATK fires up in the Utah desert. Credit: ATK

ATK continues working feverishly to advance the Liberty rocket system. In northern Utah at their facility near Brigham City, ATK fired the GEM-60 solid rocket motor which will power the first stage of Liberty. Liberty is expected to fly in 2014.

Liberty rocket and capsule. Art by ATK.

In fact, it's not just rocket engines that fly the machines, it's computers as well. ATK has recently completed a technical review of its program software with NASA, fulfilling another step in the long checklist of items towards launch. ATK expects to have two unmanned launches in 2014 and 2015, with the first crewed launch in 2015. Other companies will have to press onward quickly to match this schedule, should ATK manage to maintain this pace.

China: Shenzhou 9 Returns to Earth

Shenzhou 9 (right) docked with Tiangong 1. China Space Agency art.

After completing several milestones in Chinese space exploration history, the 3-man crew returned to Earth yesterday, landing in Inner Mongolia. The manned spacecraft had docked under automatic controls on June 18. Liu Yang became the first Chinese Woman Taikonaut in their space program. On June 24, the crew boarded the Shenzhou 9 and undocked from the station. They re-docked with the station, performing the first manual docking in their program. On Friday June 29 they undocked for the last time and jettisoned their service and science modules, returning through the atmosphere in the crew module.

View from Tiangong 1 of Shenzhou 9 re-docking with the station on June 24. Credit: CCTV.

Back on Earth, Liu Yang is helped from the hatch of the tipped-over capsule. Credit: Xinhua News Agency.

Posted by Mark Daymont

Space Center Educator

Spacerubble.blogspot.com

News From the Center, And the Imaginarium

Hello Troops,
We are working our way through day 2 of this year's Leadership Camp.  Leadership Camp is for campers 15 to 17 years old.  There are 34 of them here this week.  This year's Leadership Camp is brought to you by the Center's older staff and volunteers, managed and directed by Megan Warner.  I'm on duty during Leadership Camp but stay out of the picture as much as possible.  This is the staff's responsibility.

Every year I ask the senior staff if they are interested in doing a Leadership Camp.  And for the past several years, they've stepped up to the challenge and sponsored the camp.  What happens if they don't?
There wouldn't be a Leadership Camp.  Again, this is something the staff and volunteers do for our older campers.  I'm busy enough keeping the normal camps running.

Megan is doing a fantastic job with this year's camp.  Granted, there is your usual madhouse behind the simulator walls as the staff and volunteers race back and forth setting up and taking down scenes etc.  But overall it goes remarkably well.  Congratulations to Megan and her awesome staff.

Chelsey Roberts in the Flight Director's Seat

The staff of the Phoenix simulator welcome Chelsey Roberts to their team as the newest Space Center Flight Director.  Chelsey has been training for several years to sit in the sacred Flight Director's chair.  Now her dream is a reality. 

This is James.  James is please to be one of Chelsey's first Second Chairs.  A Second Chair (or IIFX in the Voyager) is the right hand of the Flight Director.  You see James monitoring the crew through the closed circuit television monitors.  You also see a video preview monitor and a computer (behind his head) which monitors every computer station on the ship.

Congratulations Chelsey and welcome to the Space Center's Flight Director's Guild.

Side Note:
I'm listening to radio chatter between the simulators as the campers work through this mission.  It's not an easy flight.  Apparently two of the five ships were taken captive by the Dominion.  The crew's of the Galileo and Phoenix are currently being held in a Dominion prison camp.  They didn't get to eat lunch with the rest of the campers.  They were given sack lunches with NO cookie or string cheese.  You can't expect prisoners of war to be given cookies in their lunches, would you?

From the radio discussion, I'm assuming one or more of the other ships might be considering a rescue of their Starfleet comrades.  This daring rescue will not be easy.  The Dominion "Staff" are aware of their approach.  The camp is armed to the teeth.  There may be casualties  - there always are.

I suggest we brighten our day and leave the news from the Front for now.  Let's focus on few things from the Imaginarium.

     

Are these two Peacocks the same color?

Yes.

 

Your eyes deceive you because of the background field.  There is a good lesson to learn here.  Are we guilty of passing judgement on others based solely on the background of a person, or are we willing to ignore the surroundings and focus completely on who that person is and what have they accomplished?  Do we judge on appearance or character?   

I remember attending a little league football game some years ago.  Our Pleasant Grove team was winning against a heavily favored team from Alpine.  The Alpine coach called a time out.  His team gathered around.  I strained to hear what he had to say to his 'favored' boys.

"Come on boys, we can't let these potato eaters from Pleasant Grove beat us, Can we?"

I live in Pleasant Grove and love potatoes with a passion, so guilty as charged.

His statement wasn't a compliment.  I understood that.   I knew exactly what the coach was saying.  Those of us who live in PG do so because we can't afford to live anywhere else.  I guess from his statement, we can't afford to eat meat either.  We must live on a diet of pure starch and water.

Our boys were being judge not on who they were and what they had  accomplished.  Our boys were being judged solely on their surroundings.

The Alpine Team lost.  I was tempted to find the coach's home and leave a ten pound bag of potatoes on his porch but didn't.  I couldn't afford the gas....  :)

Kingdom Wars

The Dark Knight stretched forth his armored hand to steady the young white knight.  The boy stood perilously close to the edge of a tower, a fall from which he could not recover.  The white knight held fast to the rod. One hand quivered against the cold metal; the other, missing - thanks to the Dark Knight's sword.

"Lucas, stretch forth thy hand.  Let the Purveyor of Death pass this day!" the Dark Knight pleaded.

"Never!" the boy shouted.  He glanced to the dusty road far below.

  
       And More from the Imaginarium....

True, very true. Once in awhile, step out of the corral and 

see what happens.  Don't worry, your comfort zone will always be

waiting.  What do you have to loose?  

Now THIS is where the Magic Happens!

And in closing, I'm passing along this Irish virus.

You're obliged to manually erase your hard drive.

Failure to do so could result in an unlucky visit from our little green fellow here.

Have a Great Weekend.

Mr. W.