Prometheus Squadron Is Named Top Squadron for the 2014-2015 Long Duration Mission. Space News. The Imaginarium.

Prometheus Squadron Wins Top Squad for the 2014-2015 Long Duration Mission

     The Prometheus Squadron was named Top Squadron for last year's Long Duration Mission at the February Voyager Club meeting. Several members of the squad were on hand to acknowledge the occasion and accept the club's congratulations.  Bradyn Lystrup and BJ Warner were the team's two coaches. Bradyn was at the meeting to hear the news.
     The final scores were close:

1.  Prometheus: 304.27 
2.  Scorpio: 294.64
3.  Phoenix: 292.79
4.  Nautilus: 286.05
5.  Kraken:  280.55

     Remember, what you see represents a full year of missions - forty total with each team getting eight rounds.
     The second round of this year's Long Duration Mission starts this Saturday with Scorpio Squadron.  My impressions so far are that this will be an even closer competition. We have many returning cadets who've mastered the strategies for running a perfect mission. 
     Congratulations Prometheus!  We'll have a reunion dinner for the squadron once the Voyager opens. 

Space News

50 Years Ago: The Flight of AS-201

By Mark Daymont

Spacerubble.blogspot.com

The Saturn 1b clears the tower.

 

On February 26, 1966, NASA launched the first test of a Saturn 1b rocket carrying the unmanned Block 1 Apollo command and service modules. Block 1 modules were not designed with the forward hatch necessary for docking with the newly-designed Lunar Excursion Module, so they would be relegated to Earth-orbit-only missions. The purpose of this mission was to test the Saturn 1b vehicle integrity, the connections to the CM and SM, rocket guidance and propulsion, and to test the CM on re-entry. This would also include a test of the vehicle recovery plans and ships.

Recovery divers ensure the safe retrieval of the command module.

 

On the 26th, there was an abort command at four seconds before launch when the fuel tanks in the S-IVb stage fell below expected levels. Quick checking by the engineers and a launch simulation showed that the flight could proceed with the lower pressures, so the countdown resumed and the rocket lifted off from Launch Complex LC-34 at Cape Kennedy. The launch went well, with the Command and Service module separation at 425 miles from the Earth. The SM then fired its engine twice to propel the modules back to the Earth. This proved that the Service module engines could be restarted in space. There were only a few problems with the engine and the control of the CM, mostly dealing with wiring problems and an unexpected leak of helium into the SM fuel.  The command module re-entered the atmosphere and safely made a water landing 37 minutes after launch. The recovery ship USS Boxer found the CM about 70 km from where it was supposed to be. Today the CM is on display to the public at the Strategic Air and Space Museum in Ashland, Nebraska.

USS Boxer (CV-21). USN photo.

 

Mission patch for flight AS-201.

The Imaginarium

The Voyager Club's February EdVenture. Our Custom Circuit Boards are Here from China. Theater Imaginarium.

The Voyager Club's February EdVenture

     Our Farpoint Voyager Club met for another of its monthly edventures on February 20 at our home base - Renaissance Academy in Lehi. The Farpoint Voyager Club is sponsored by Renaissance Academy and The Space Education Center Foundation. Its sixty-five members range in age from ten to seventeen years old and attend several district and charter schools in both Utah and Salt Lake counties.  Our space exploration focused S.T.E.A.M. club meets the third Saturday of every month from 8:00 A.M. to 10:30 A.M. with a several healthy rounds of dodgeball afterwards.  The Voyager cadets also meet once every six weeks for their Long Duration Mission on the Christa McAuliffe Space Education Center's Magellan starship simulator in Pleasant Grove.
     The monthly club edventures begin with three, thirty minute class periods. This year our edventures are in space history (Sputnik and the Mercury, Gemini space programs), engineering, and space center studies which include current space goals and objectives, our vision of the future of space exploration and how it can be achieved within the next one hundred years, and the technology and theory of experiential education through space simulations.  I know it sounds deep, but we enjoy ourselves. 
     Science fiction is a major component of the Voyager Club. Renaissance Academy is the home to the soon to open Voyager II, the finest of Utah's eleven starship simulators. The Voyager Club has the responsibility to care and maintain the new USS Voyager. Additionally, the Voyager cadets will help write missions, create instruments, program simulator controls and tactical displays, flight direct missions, and volunteer in the Voyager II.
     That brings us to the second part of every monthly gathering. Voyager cadets break into their Voyager departments after the three, thirty minute classes.  Cadets can choose between the Acting / Directing Department, the Engineering / Instrumentation Department, and the Tactical / Programming Department.          

      The Acting / Directing Department is coached by Lissa and Lindsey, two outstanding members of our staff.  The cadets learn both the theory of drama and its application in simulator based experiential education. The cadets you see above will be busy playing the role of multiple characters (both human and alien) in upcoming Voyager missions.  

     Lissa and Lindsey also direct the CMSEC's Acting Guild.  They are talented and busy. We appreciate their time as valuable Farpoint staff volunteers.  

     Farpoint Voyager's Tactical / Programming Department meets on the USS Voyager's bridge.  Isaac heads this department.  He is a gifted young programmer who attends Lone Peak High School in Highland. We're lucky to have him on our staff and appreciate his dedication to our club's goals and objectives. Great volunteers are hard to come by and we have the best.

     Sam is the newest member of our Voyager Club. He attends Provo High School. He has found his niche in the Tactical and Programming Department.

     Blender was the topic for Saturday's class. Isaac's cadets will be expected to create multiple tactical cards for upcoming Voyager missions. These cadets will get to see their work used on every Voyager mission. What an awesome bragging point for their future resumes.  

     Four members of the Scorpio Squadron are seen in the photo above.  The Scorpio squadron is one of the Voyager Club's six squads competing in this year's Long Duration Mission program.

     Farpoint Voyager's Engineering and Instrumentation Department met in one of the school's three computer labs. McKay, Matt, and Ben are the department's three coaches.  Voyager Engineers will be busy designing and building a new series of sci-fi phasers, programming and installing a face recognition system in the new Voyager, and designing and building several dial and switch panels for the ship.  

     Information about joining the Farpoint Voyager Club is found at projectvoyager.org.  We're always looking for Utah's best and brightest. Come join us.

Mr. Williamson

Farpoint's Matt Ricks Creates his First Custom Boards for the Voyager's New Dial and Switch Panels.  

     Matt Ricks is one of the Voyager Club's three Engineering and Instrumentation coaches. He attends BYU, works, and still finds time to be a Voyager staff volunteer. His cadets will assist him in the design, programming, and construction of several dial and switch panels for the Voyager II at Renaissance Academy in Lehi.  

     All eleven of Utah's starship simulators either have or need futuristic dial and switch boards to enhance their mission simulations.  These panels cannot be purchased commercially. Each must be custom made.  That is where Matt and his cadets come into play. Matt designs the circuit boards and sends the designs to China where the boards are made. His first designs came back last week. They are something to behold. Several more shipments will be ordered for panels to be installed and or repaired in the Voyager and the CMSEC's Magellan, Odyssey, and Galileo simulators.  The Voyager Club gives its cadet members real hands on experiences with direct applications to the educational world. Contact us for more information: projectvoyager.org

The Theater Imaginarium