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| A Younger Casey Voeks in the Discovery Room. The dark blue shirt signified his status as a flight director. Was he caught attempting a candy counter heist or perhaps just a gander of what was on offer? Only Casey knows.... |
Hello, Troops,
The CMSEC's Voyager Era goes from November 1990 to July 2012. It was a time of invention, imagination, trial and error. It was a time of overnight camps, 48 Hour Camps, 5-day camps, international camps, private missions, and field trips. Simulator-based experiential education was in its infancy. The CMSEC was the nation's premier, school based, testing grounds. We were busy. One hundred plus hour weeks were the norm in the summer. I calculated once that I'd spent over 1100 nights sleeping on the floor in front of my desk on those long overnight camps.
There was so much to be proud of. The CMSEC was a community project with a staff of dedicated space and science fiction enthusiasts. Thousands of young volunteers came through the Space Center's doors contributing to the program's success. Recognizing the talent drawn to the center, I often felt it best to just get out of the way and let imagination and creativity flow. It didn't take long to figure out that I couldn't run the Center like a one-man band. Any help offered was gratefully received. After all, we had the world to change, and that kind of change required an army.
There are always regrets and an endless dialog of what-ifs, but such is the nature of the business. One mistake I've vowed not to repeat was my disregard for keeping accurate historical records from the Center's first decade. The history of that decade is documented in memory only. Very few photos were taken, fewer videos and no stories written at the time and archived for posterity.
In the year 2000, I realized my mistake and made a commitment to change. In March of that year, the Space Center's first online blog was founded - the Space EdVentures EGroup. EGroups was bought out by Yahoo a year or so later thus giving the blog a new name: the Space EdVentures YahooGroup. Since then, the CMSEC's history, along with the history of the other organizations modeled on the Voyager's success, has been meticulously documented.
What a treasure it is to find previously unknown photos from the Voyager Era. Such was the case a few weeks back. Buried in a gray tub, inside a packing envelope, I found a stack of photographs. Over the next few weeks, I'll post photos to The Troubadour for all to enjoy.
Now to those new to the space edventuring movement, while you may not know anyone in the pictures, it is still important to understand the hows and whys these centers and simulators came into being. It is a rich tale to tell. It adds to your experience as a volunteer, staff, and camper.
And now, today's photographs.
There are precious few photographs of me at the Space Center. I was the one behind the camera taking the pictures. Somehow someone with a camera caught me off guard during an overnight camp most likely heading toward the gym to start the sorting of overnight accommodations. I had a habit of twirling my keys around my finger and thumb. People learned to stay out of my comfort zone or they'd get whacked by my spinning, slicing, keyring of death.
This is Kyle (the Fish) Herring. Today he goes by David. Kyle is in the Voyager's flight director's chair neck deep in an overnight camp.
And while we are on the subject of Kyle, how about a photo of The Fish in full Star Trek regalia standing in front of his ship - the original Galileo Mark 5 stationed in the school's cafeteria.
The Great Fish once again sitting at the Voyager's Security Station, hammer in hand. Either our phasers were out of batteries and a hammer was the only weapon available to ward off the dread Orion Pirates, or something on the bridge needed hammering. Kyle was the go-to man for all ship maintenance.
Metta Smith is the supervisor calling someone down. Either the Voyager or Magellan crew is working their way up from the kindergarten hallway on a late night landing party. Central's custodian loved us. We kept the school's hallway's polished and bright.
Today's last posting is of a young volunteer armed and ready to defend life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. He stands in front of the Galileo in the school's cafeteria. The Galileo needed constant puttying and painting. Sometimes we didn't have the time. A clever scheme was devised to explain the damage. We painted the ship's bumps and bruises black and said the ship had taken heavy damage in the last attack. The story worked until we had time to adequately make the necessary repairs.
Mr. Williamson
The New Thorium Starship Controls Tested in Flight on the USS Voyager
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| Matt Ricks and Alex Anderson in the USS Voyager's Control Room. Renaissance Academy. Lehi. |
There are things all starships need; a well-trained crew, an intelligent captain who leads by example, a well-stocked galley, a Michelin Star chef, A doctor, and sickbay staff suited to deep space medicine (good bedside manner not essential but helpful), a chief engineer with either a Scottish or hick western accent, a forgiving chaplain, a Vulcan (to keep things in perspective), uniforms complimentary to the human figure made from futuristic intelligent fabric programmed to make 10 to 20 pounds disappear without discomfort, an obnoxiously annoying Admiral Schuler who spends his days searching for the thing that irritates him most - lint on the carpet. Strange how the Admiral consistently finds himself trapped in malfunctioning turbo-lift elevators. And, without wanting to leave dozens of other items off this impressive list, drawing this string to a close by listing a fantastic set of starship controls as an absolute necessity.
Alex Anderson's Thorium starship controls fit the description. While not perfect, and quite capable of doing a crew a mischief at the most inopportune times, Thorium controls are pleasing to the eye, well thought through, and quite capable of keeping a crew engaged and a flight director happy during the most grueling of missions. Alex and others who've contributed to the Thorium project should be proud of what they've accomplished.
Thorium was tested on the USS Voyager on Saturday. The test crew beamed aboard shortly after 11:00 A.M. The mission - Intolerance.
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| Alex in Pennou mode. Matt logging glitches. |
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| Thorium's second chair screen |
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| Thorium's flight director screen |
I tipped toed to the bridge for a few action shots. My sudden appearance startled some, but my non-threatening smile coupled with an older model iPhone held out in front of my face, put all at ease. They soon resisted the impulse to stare and returned to their duties.
The Voyager had a bout of indigestion with Thorium partway through the mission. "Everyone stop touching your computers." It was Alex's voice over the bridge speakers, not the voice of the ship's engineer or computer. For a reason only known to the ship's server, the bridge computers refused to communicate with the control room. It happened all at once. The Voyager went on strike.
Alex enjoys a challenge and discovering why the ship reacted the way it did will occupy much of Alex's free time this week. Regardless of a glitch or two, the mission continued to a successful completion.
Would you like to know more about Thorium? Does the word "free" mean anything to you?
If so, visit Thorium's website to learn more about this open source project and how you can contribute.
Mr. Williamson
Space News
by Mark Daymont
spacerubble.blogspot.com
Last of the Summer ISS Traffic
Space Voyagers prepare to board their spacecraft. Top to bottom: Alexander Misurkin,
Joe Acaba, Mark Vande Hei.
As we approach the time for summer to transition to fall, one spacecraft arrived at ISS while another took its leave. Soyuz MS-06 lifted off from Baikonur on Tuesday, carrying the second half of the Expedition 53 crew. The Soyuz was piloted by Soyuz commander Alexander Misurkin (Roscosmos), and flight engineers Joe Acaba and Mark Vende Hei both of NASA. Both Misurkin and Acaba are veterans of previous space missions. Vande Hei is making his first trip into space. The crew will stay aboard the International Space Station for five and a half months, eventually becoming the lead half of Expedition 54.
Soyuz rocket departs at night from Baikonur.
The crew joins Expedition 53 Commander Randy Bresnik and flight engineers Sergey Ryazanskiy (Roscosmos) and Paolo Nespoli (ESA). As well as working on over 200 experiments in the next half year, the team is preparing for three spacewalks during October.
On the 17th, the SpaceX Dragon unmanned cargo ship undocked and was moved awy from its berth by the robotic arm, under the control of astronaut Bresnik. Once at a safe distance, ground engineers fired the descent thrusters and slowed the craft for re-entry. Splashdown in the Pacific off of California took place at 10:14 a.m. This had been the 12th resupply mission with Dragon for SpaceX.
Space Station parking before the Dragon left the station.
Theater Imaginarium
The best gifs of the week edited for a gentler audience
