How About a FREE Stem Camp Sponsored by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Maintenance Week at the Space Center: It was All Hands on Deck! The Imaginarium.

FREE MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) STEM Camp

Our friends from MIT will be stopping by on July 21st to offer some STEM activities to our community, hosted at Central Elementary.  This opportunity is part of Spokes America and more information about the activities can be found on their website: www.mitspokes.com

• Ages 10-17
• Free
• There are three different session times
• Bring your own lunch

To register, go to the Christa McAuliffe Space Center's website and scroll down to the MIT camps.  Register quickly, the slots fill up fast!


Maintenance Week at the Space Centers. Summer Camp Season is Here.

The concept of a maintenance week began in June 1991. I was gearing up for the Space Center's first summer camp season. We only had the Voyager that first summer and the simulator needed work - lots of work.  I couldn't close the center until the school year ended - field trips you know.  To get the needed maintenance/repairs done I needed to close the first week of June. I called it Maintenance Week and it stuck. 

The Christa McAuliffe Space Center held their annual maintenance week the first week of June.   

We start with the Magellan. When doesn't the Magellan need a bit of TLC considering it is one of the most used simulators at the CMSC.  The staff are pictured in the Magellan's Engineering Hallway. The engineering panels are out of the wall being tested.  The Space Center does its best to make everything installed in the simulators kid proof, but there are some kids you can't proof from.  We do our best, that is all that can be said.  

The Discovery Room at the CMSC was the place to go when the frazzle of wires, dust, spiders, broken wires, and paint fumes get to be too much. 

The Discovery Room's white board held the ToDo list and what a ToDo list it was.  Enlarge the picture and read what the outstanding staff had to do in one week's time to have the simulators ready for the first camps of the season.  

Tabitha was in the Odyssey spearheading that ship's repairs.  Supposedly the Odyssey wouldn't need a lot of maintenance considering it is the Space Center's newest simulator, but as I said before, there are some kids who make it their mission in life to test the durability of everything within arm's reach. 

Of course, let's not forget that Maintenance Week is also a time for ship improvements. Many of the simulators, in addition to repairs, received new instruments and an overall face lift.

How many times have we had to pull up that piece of flooring in the Phoenix to repair the rope lighting?  I'll tell you - too many to count.   I think that part of the ship is jinxed.  

And finally the Galileo.  It needed a good exterior cleaning and polishing in addition to  a few other odds and ends.  

The ships are repaired, cleaned, polished, refurbished, and ready to leave space dock for this summer's eight weeks of summer space camps.  Be sure to sign up for one of the camps. Go to the CMSC's website and choose a camp that's best for you.   

You'll be happy you did for many reasons:

1.  All new missions in all the ships.

2.  Great staff who eagerly await your visit.

3.  You'll make Mr. Porter really happy. He's a great Space Center Director and is waiting by his computer this very minute for your registration.  

See you at Space Camp!

Mr. Williamsn

The Imaginarium

 

The Head Cranker on the Voyager Bridge and other Things. Plus the Theater Imaginarium

I'm in beautiful soUth dakota this week so for today's Post i'M going to share a few posts from the past.  Plus the famous imaginaRium  theater.   

SUNDAY, MARCH 9, 2008

The Head Cranker

The Head Cranker!

There are times I get chuckles just watching a crew in action on the Voyager. Last week I was running the Voyager mission for a sixth grade class. There were two boys working Damage Control. It just so happens that the camera above the first office always points to Damage Control and Left Wing. The camera's direction gave me a perfect view of "the head cranker".

There are many intense moments in "Intolerance". It is easy for a crew member to become distracted. Once distracted it can take several minutes to refocus a kid back to his job. I'm used to seeing kids abandon their jobs and watch the action as it unfolds around them. This was not the case with one of the boys at Damage Control. Several times during the mission the officer working on the right computer would stop working and look around to follow the excitement of the mission. This was normal. I didn't pay attention. Suddenly the boy on the left computer reached up with both hands to remedy the situation. One hand was placed on back of the other boy's head and the other on his chin - Then "CRANK" the boy turned the boy's head back to his computer. I read his lips. "Get to work!" he said.

In seventeen years I've never seen a kid take the situation into hand like that. The rest of the mission was a joy to watch. Every time the right boy became distracted the left boy would reach up and crank his head back to his computer with the same words, "Get to Work!". I'm guessing it happened over 20 times during the mission. I was amazed that the boy on the right didn't punch the kid out but he calmly would go back to work for a few minutes before looking around again. Crank........ Towards the end of the mission the right boy had worked out a system where he could take super fast glances without getting caught by the boy on the left. He adapted to the situation.  I was amused. It was awesome to watch.

Mr. Williamson

The Formula for a Successful Life

Troops,

I was asked once how the Space Center "got here".  

"Imagination, Education, and Hard Work!" was my answer.  I've discovered that success is build upon those three things.  

Imagination gives us the belief that anything is possible.  Imagine the amount of Imagination it took to dream up this place!  

Education gives us the tools to give substance to the powerful thoughts generated by imagination.

Hard Work is the hours of labor required to take imagination and education and fuse them together to create a legacy -  something that lasts beyond your years.

  

     • Keep Imagining 

     • Give Education 100 %.

     • Work hard to give your dream a physical presence.

Success, in all its forms, is waiting.  Go Get It.

Sincerely,

Mr. Williamson  

I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world. 

Albert Einstein

Imaginarium Theater

The Best Gifs of the Week From Around the World Edited for a Gentler Audience