A Quiet Night, So Let's Just Enjoy the Imaginarium.

Hello Troops,
No news to share tonight so how about I just stop typing and post

The Imaginarium
Where the ordinary bows to the Extraordinary

Found in a book at a bookstore

 

 

 An Art School's Campaign to encourage the study of art

Smithsonian Delegation Visit Simulator. New Magellan Controls. The Imaginarium.

News from our Friends at Dream Flight Adventures.  The IKS 

Titan Hosts Smithsonian Delegation

A delegation of executives from the Smithsonian visits the IKS Titan

     The IKS Titan had the honor of hosting a group of executives from the Smithsonian.  They were very impressed by what they saw and asked many very good questions.  The guest list included:

• Claudine K. Brown, Assistant Secretary for Education and Access, The Smithsonian Institution
• Jane Lipton Cafritz, Chairman and CEO, Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation
• Trisha Edward, Education Specialist, Lemelson Center
• Ryan Hill, Director of Digital Learning Programs, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
• Dr. Kim Kiehl, Executive Director, Smithsonian Early Enrichment Center
• Caroline Payson, Director of Education, Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum

     But this guest list wasn't the only impressive thing—there was a rockstar group of GATE students from Shaler Area Elementary on hand to present the Titan. They discussed their experiences in it, and how it's impacted their educational experience.  They did a fantastic job and really made the Smithsonian's visit a powerful one.

Gary Gardiner
Dream Flight Adventures

A Video from the Discovery Space Center

Space Center News

     The Magellan is proud to announce two of the new missions they will be flying this summer. "Paradise Lost" is the working title for their new 5 hour mission to be run on our camps this summer. Based just a few months after the Dominion War, the Magellan is working on picking up the pieces in all the aftermath. For this year's NEW Super EdVenture Camp, Magellan will be putting a new twist on the old Voyager's mission "Silhouette". In this revamped 12 hour mission, the Magellan will join a Federation task force that is helping a friend made during the war to bring stability to their country by taking down the terrorist leader Stanton Everett.

Today we are sharing a screenshot of the new Magellan controls that are being programmed in Cocoa. Development of the controls should be finished by spring break this year.

Space and Science

The Tadpole Galaxy:  A Collision of Two Galaxies. 

This is the Tadpole Galaxy. It is about 420-million light-years from Earth in the constellation Draco; while it measures in at approximately 390,000 light-years across.  The Tadpole gets its iconic shape from interacting with a smaller, more compact galaxy many millions of years ago.  Read More 

The Imaginarium

Why be Happy?

 

The Space Center Mascots VS the Olympic Mascots. A New Odyssey Flight Director. Earth and the Moon as Seen from Mars. A Flying Car - Witness the Future. The Imaginarium.

Hello Troubadours!
     It's a perfect weekend for people like me who prefer overcast, drizzly days.  Life couldn't be better!  And for those of you who go into a depression when the sky is dark and foreboding, you have my sympathies and nothing more.  It's our turn to enjoy a few days of delightful gloom.

Saturday at the CMSEC

     Our Farpoint Cadets were busy at both space centers today.  Pictured above is Isaac O., Jace B., Harrison B., and Dakota H.  They just finished another successful Magellan mission.

Space Center Mascots vs. Sochi Olympic Mascots.  Which do you Prefer?

     The CMSEC has decided to reintroduce the public to their mascots in honor of the Sochi 2014 Olympics showcasing theirs. Above, the Sochi Olympic Mascots........OK, but how do they compare with the Odyssey Simulator's mascots? Who gets the gold medal, Russia or the Space Center?  You decide.

   
Einstein and the ducks have been the Odyssey's Control Room mascots for five years (?).  They look down from their high shelf and supervise, scrutinize and evaluate every Odyssey mission.

     The Odyssey's 'sub'mascots lined up in front of the video monitor.  The pink ducks have been been around quite awhile.  The two yellow ducks are recent additions to the Odyssey's mascot family compliments of Nathan Young.

Nathan Young Given Odyssey Flight Director Certificate.

   
     Nathan Young was shocked and bewildered this afternoon when Megan Warner, Director of the Christa McAuliffe Space Education Center, told him that she was giving him his Odyssey Flight Director Certification.  "Why,...... How?.....," Nathan questioned. "That mission went really bad.  I thought for sure I'd flunked."
     "That's just it," Megan explained. "Your crew was difficult and you handled them well.  Flight Directors have to be able to handle rough crews and you did it."
   

     I followed Megan and Nathan into the Odyssey Control Room for the official presentation of the Odyssey microphone - signifying Nathan's new status as Odyssey Flight Director.  Nathan couldn't control his pride, as demonstrated in the photo above.  "I did it, I did it," he mumbled under his breath over and over again.  I told him to STOP and come back to Earth after he was seen asking people to pinch him to make sure he wasn't dreaming!

The Volunteering List Returns! 

      Megan directed my attention to a Space Center feature not seen since the Center closed in August 2012 for repairs and renovation.   "It's the Volunteering List!" she proudly said as she framed the printed listed with her hands in a very Vanna White pose.
     "Wow, flashback to happy times," I replied.  "Things are really returning to normal around here."
     "Yes Sir," Megan replied.

   
Earth and the Moon as Seen from Mars

From Space.com

 NASA's Curiosity rover on Mars has captured its first view of Earth from the surface of the Red Planet — a striking image that shows our home planet as a bright light in the Martian sky, with the moon shining nearby.     The Curiosity rover photographed Earth from Mars on Jan. 31 using the left-eye camera on its head-like science mast. You can see a video of Curiosity's Earth-from-Mars images here.The rover apparently watched the Martian sunset, then photographed Earth in the night sky about 80 minutes later, NASA officials said in an image description. [Amazing Photos of Earth from Space (Gallery)]     "A human observer with normal vision, if standing on Mars, could easily see Earth and the moon as two distinct, bright 'evening stars,'" NASA officials said in the image description. Aside from some processing to remove the effects of cosmic rays, the Curiosity photographs are unmodified, they added.     The Mars rover Curiosity snapped the photos of Earth from Mars during its 529th day on the Martian surface. The $2.5 billion rover has been exploring the vast Gale Crater on Mars since August 2012.

The Aeromobile Flying Car.  Its Time has Come.

The Imaginarium
Where the Ordinary becomes Extraordinary

Perhaps they don't know how to spell Aquarium?