The Falcon Returns to the Space Center. See the New Design and Watch a Thrilling Video About the New Simulator. Got the Covid Blues? A Mission at the Space Center is What the Doctor Ordered. From the Archives: A Cold Overnight Camp and Campers Say the Darndest Things. Imaginarium Theater

Happy Birthday Falcon!

In 2001 the inflatable Falcon simulator joined the Space Center fleet. It was housed in Central's cafeteria and flew the overnight campers on adventures to the furthest reaches of the galaxy. Some amazing stories were told in that unique setting.

The CMSC is excited to bring the Falcon back to add new uniqueness to the fleet. The Falcon II isn't the old bubble ship of the past. It is a real permanent set beautifully decorated and equipped to offer its crews unique missions not flown in the other five simulators.

James Porter has released a deeper look into the design of the ship exterior and a video of its new backstory. Watch the video and you'll catch a glimpse of how a civilian merchant ship was originally a warship.

Got the Covid Blues? Take the Family Out and Do Something Fun! How About a Space Adventure at the the Christa McAuliffe Space Education Center?

The new simulators at the Christa McAuliffe Space Center are progressively opening. The first ship to open was the Odyssey. The Odyssey III launched on January 31.

It has been a long 11 months of construction and Covid restrictions, so it was joyous to hear the sounds of panicked crews again echo through the building.

Flights are currently open to FAMILY GROUPS ONLY at this time due to Covid restrictions. If your family is looking for adventure you can find out more and make your reservation at spacecenter.alpineschools.org/group-missions 

Friday, FEBRUARY 4, 2011

The End of a Friday......

     The Younglings from Rocky Mountain Elementary are down for the night. The staff and volunteers have either gone home or are in their sleeping bags winding down from several hours in the simulators. I'm at my desk writing this blog post while I consider hitting the sack myself. The kids have been really good - which is a blessing for us. We have exactly 23 boys and 23 girls on this camp. It's not often we get a perfect balance.
     I just looked outside. The ground is dusted with newly fallen snow. More is falling, but only visible in the street lamp's light. I'll have to brush the snow off the Battlestar before leaving at 6:05 A.M. to pick up the morning's donuts at WalMart. We're out of M and M's (our patented Magic Medicine for everything from Denebian Slime Devil bites to excessive solar radiation to third degree phaser burns and disfiguring transporter malfunctions). I've got to remember to pick up a bag or two during my morning donut run.
     The Briefing Room doesn't have heat so the temperature hovers in the mid 60's for most of the day and lower 60's at night. I brought an extra blanket, having learned my lesson by shivering all night long on last week's camp. Speaking of the cold, before going to bed I need to push the override button for the gym heating system. Mrs. Houston tells me that the heating shuts off at midnight unless I do.
     In 12 hours or so our Super Saturday will start. It ends at 5:00 P.M. For myself, and many of the staff, our one day weekend begins when we hear the final latch engage on the school's front doors when the last person leaves the building at 5:30 P.M. I feel a rush of accomplishment, having put in another long week as I drive home listening to A Prairie Home Companion on the Battlestar's radio. Those darn folks from Lake Wobegon are a hoot, don't ya know.
     Now let's be honest....... Don't you wish you were here with us right now on the overnight camp and not in your warm bed at home?
     Time to collapse on my pad with two blankets, and dream of epic battles in the Orion Cluster.......

Mr. W.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2010

Our Campers Say the Darndest Things......

Hello Troops,
     Campers are surveyed at the end of every Overnight Camp. The staff and volunteers gather after the campers return to reality to review their comments and award points to the simulators and people that score the highest on the satisfaction indexes.
     One section of the flyer gives campers the opportunity to provide feedback in written form. Here are a few of the many comments we received on this last camp. Please be advised that the interesting spelling is the author's and not mine:
“My Favorite part of the mission was the very beginning, running through and halls.”

This is a typical comment- the kind that has us scratching our heads. Kids come to the Space Center because of the simulators and when they get here all they want to do is get out of the ships for Away Teams and Landing Parties. First they want in the ships and then they want out! Go figure that one out.

“I think you can make the Space Center better by building an addition and make more awesome simulators. And make the computers touch screens".

Sure, an awesome idea. That will be the first thing on my agenda, building another addition to the school. I’ll need some of Obama’s Stimulus money for that because it ain’t gonna come from anywhere else.

“I think you can make the Space Center better by building a Romulan”

OK, someone help me on this one. How do we go about building a Romulan?

“I think the best part of my mission was saving my crew!”

Aaahhhhhh. Sweet. Gets you right in the gut doesn’t it?

“I like that everything at the Space Center felt real like Star Trek”

Felt real, like Star Trek? This kids needs to get out more often. Just Kidding :)

“I think that when the aliens shoot you with the phasers it should feel like you really got shot. Also, make some planets to land on.”

Yes, I finally find someone as warped as me. Wouldn’t you love to go to a place where you can be shot by a fake phaser that does no real damage yet feels like you were skewered with a stream of volcanic plasma? As for building a planet to land on, I've got to first remember my Calculus for planetary orbit before even considering the trillions of possible DNA competitions for life forms!

“I like beating the mission flawlessly.”

Flawlessly? Excellent vocabulary for a 6th grader. Definitely not what you’d hear from some of the students I’ve worked with in the past. “Teacher, I gone and done that there thing without a hiccup.”

"I hated the crazy wake up music.”

Tough because I picked it out last weekend. :)

“I liked blowing up a lot of bad guys.”

That’s what they are there for - blowing up.

And today’s best answer to the question, “What was the funnest thing about your overnight camp?”

Response from an 11 year old girl. “My Farting in the gym.”

     Classic, just classic. We go to all this trouble putting together the best program we can using our million dollar facility and what does this student say about our efforts?
“Farting in the gym?!” I’ll tell my staff of 25 that their efforts were well appreciated.

Sheeeeezzzze. Some Respect Please :)

Thanks Troops for Reading and Thanks for Coming to the Space Center.

Mr. Williamson

Imaginarium Theater

The best videos from around the world edited for a gentler audience.

Imaginarium Theater February 7, 2021 from SpaceCampUtah's Imaginarium on Vimeo.

Mr. Williamson Struggles with Planetarium Controls. On a Brighter Note, the Odyssey III Runs its First Private Missions! We're Back in the Saddle Again! Ten Years Ago Post: The CMSEC Staff Survives the Largest Overnight Mission in History. The Imaginarium Theater.

 Hello Troops,

     Yesterday I met with James Porter (CMSC Director) at the Space Center to begin the process of learning the controls for  the Space Center's new planetarium.  Tricky but manageable is my overall opinion.

     I've committed myself to a few hours most Saturdays at the Space Center to help where needed. Right now the need is in the planetarium - especially with the simulators in the process of launching. Tabitha and Natalie both run planetarium shows and are Odyssey flight directors. The Odyssey is open for private family groups - hence you see the problem.

     My biggest obstacle is characterized by the old saying, "You can't teach an old dog new tricks".  The new tricks being an entire set of computer controls to run live shows in the planetarium. I'll keep you posted as my skill set evolves. Perhaps you'd like to attend one of my shows and snicker politely when I mess up. 

The Odyssey Officially Opened on Saturday with a Full Day of Missions. 

Natalie Anderson and Nolan Welch at the Helm of the Odyssey III

     The Odyssey III was the first of the Space Center's six simulators to open for private family groups on Saturday.  One down and five to go!  The other simulators will open as needed and as health regulations allow. Natalie Anderson was the flight director.  Nolan Welch was her trusted 2nd chair Blue Shirt Supervisor.  There was a black shirt volunteer but sadly I can't remember his name. 

 

     I missed the Odyssey's first mission of the day, but was on hand to see the second mission. Natalie was true to form. The shutdown didn't seem to affect her story telling at all.  There were a few technical glitches (the lighting had a few bugs) but James was on hand after the mission to troubleshoot. 

     Seeing both Natalie and Nolan at work, hearing the familiar sounds of music and alarms, and hearing the excitement in the voices of the crew made me feel right at home - as if it was any old Saturday at the old Space Center. 

     After the mission, James gave Jon Parker and I a demonstration of the Falcon's new lighting system.  Impressive doesn't describe the coolness factor of those lights. They even have a true to task sound effect easily heard on the bridge as the light adjust themselves and focus on the walls and floor through a lens system.  You'll have to see if for yourself once the Falcon opens. 

     Welcome back into Starfleet service Odyssey III. You wear the name Odyssey proudly in honor of the other two great simulators that came before. May Fortuna be kind and always pick on the larger ships as you take thousands of Utah's children to the stars.

Mr. Williamson 

From the Archives, Ten Years Ago at the Christa McAuliffe Space Education Center. 

The Staff and Volunteers Survive the Largest Overnight Camp in History.  51 Campers on a School Year Overnight Camp!  See How You Think on Your Feet at the Space Center.

January 30, 2011

Hello Troops,
     We survived the largest Overnight Camp in the Space Center's History on Friday. Our max. is 45 campers for any given camp. We had 51 show up Friday night. They just kept coming and coming and coming. In the end there were ten not on the lists sent by the schools. I had a choice to make. I could either call the parents of the ten disputed students and have them come to collect them, or I could find a way to let them stay.
     I played out each phone call in my imagination. I didn't even know I knew the swear words my imagination conjured up coming from each of the ten parent's mouths. Thirty seconds into this "What If" scenario I had to shift mental gears and go to my 'happy place' to slow my racing heart and lower my blood pressure. I knew I couldn't make those calls.
     I looked at my older staff. They were looking at me, wondering what my decision would be. I wanted to send ten home, but who would I order to make the calls and handle the phone rage? Who would I have do the very thing I was terrified of doing? Who was on my butt kicking list for having missed work or coming to work not properly dressed? Who deserved to spend an hour listening to language not fit to print in any dictionary, language so foul the nation's alert level would surge upon detecting the hatred spilling through the cell towers and phone circuits?
     Each of them were looking at me with the same drooping, helpless eyes a dog gives its master after having wet on the carpet and not wanting a whooping with the evening's newspaper. In the end I abandoned the idea. I realized if I had one of them make those fateful calls I would be hauled before a United Nations Tribunal in the Netherlands for Crimes Against Humanity.
     "OK, we won't send them home," I announced.
     "What are we going to do with ten extra kids?" Mr. Daymont asked. I wanted to say "Give them to you" but knew the shock would cause an instantaneous loss of blood to his brain causing a physical collapse in front of 51 campers.
     I thought back to the last time we had large numbers, remembered what I did and made the pronouncement. "We take 31 of them and split them into two teams. One team does a Voyager 2.5 hour mission while the other does the same in the Magellan. They switch ships at 10:20 P.M. The Voyager can do a school field trip mission. They're designed for larger groups on the Bridge."
     The staff liked the idea, what choice did they have?
     The campers were delightful. They were excited to be at camp and had no problems doing whatever we asked. We all got through the camp unscathed thanks to an awesome staff and brilliant campers.
     What can be said of my performance? I went and hid behind my desk for most of the night after dividing the kids into their ships. There are times in a teacher's career when hiding behind our desks is warranted. I just crawled into that little space reserved for my feet and stayed there until the world seemed normal again. If the staff asks, I tell them I dropped a thumb tack. Everyone knows you can't leave a lost thumb tack laying around, especially with a staff that likes to wonder shoeless at bedtime during an overnight camp.

     It's Sunday now and all seems well. This is behind us, we learned from it, and will be all the more ready if it ever happens again. 

Mr. Williamson

Mr. Williamson's Imaginarium Theater

The Best Videos From Around the World Edited for a Gentler Audience

Imaginarium Theater from SpaceCampUtah's Imaginarium on Vimeo.

My Quest to Find the Space Center's IT Department. An Unauthorized Post...... And The Imaginarium Theater.

 Hello Troops,

     Back in the day when I was Space Center director, I wrote short fanciful stories for the blog about life at the Space Center.  Most were completely true, others were embellished with bits of fiction to make the read more interesting, and then there were others written just for fun, like the one below.  

     Today I repost one of those "just for fun" stories written in January 2011 to poke fun at the Center's programming and IT folks. I wrote it pretending to be a nosy new volunteer just learning the ropes.  The story is illustrated with several photos taken in the school's hallways and basement. I darkened the photos for story's sake. 

Enjoy!

Mr. Williamson 

From The Troubadour's Archives

SUNDAY, JANUARY 16, 2011

My Quest to Find the Space Center's IT Department. An Unauthorized Post......

From Space Center Wikileaks.
What "They" Don't Want You to Know.

I hacked into the Space Center's Blog to share the following with you all. Read quickly because it will be deleted as soon as 'you know who' discovers it.

     I won’t give you my identity because it would risk my status as a volunteer and hopefully a future employee. Let’s just say I’m someone who happens to be of a curious nature when it comes to all things Space Center. I asked Mr. Williamson once about the computer programs running the simulators. He explained that the Voyager’s controls were written in Hypercard. The other simulators were using Revolution.
“Soon we will have our first set of Cocoa controls in the Galileo,” he added with a look of satisfaction.
     I knew the Space Center was a unique institution, the only of its kind on the planet, so I was naturally curious about who wrote the programs if they weren't available commercially. Mr. Williamson looked surprised by my question and asked for my name (he has a tendency to forget my name but that’s OK, he’s busy and I’m just one of many faceless volunteers that darken the Space Center’s walls on a regular basis). I said my name and he promptly wrote it on a sticky note. Below my name he put a check mark with the words “Too Curious” scribbled in a manuscript barely legible. I pretended to hear someone call my name and lied about being called for an acting part. I walked away shaken by his reaction.
     I found a blue shirt Supervisor who had befriended me in the past and asked him the same question. He said he would tell me what he knew but made me swear never tell anyone where I got the information. He took me by the elbow and walked me down the hall toward the Faculty Room. We stopped and stepped into a classroom’s doorway.
     “The Space Center has its own IT department but it's kept hush hush. Only Mr. Williamson and his most senior staff know who they are and where they work. For your own survival as a volunteer, I suggest you never mention programming again. Let’s just say that loose lips sink volunteers and ships.”
     He told me he knew a few other things and if I was really serious about learning one of the Space Center's best kept secrets to return to this doorway again after the last of the staff left the building after the 2:30 P.M. missions ended. He stepped from the doorway, looked up and down the hall, and walked quickly back toward the Odyssey.
     One hour later I went to the Faculty Room to buy a soda. I heard people talking and stopped before anyone saw me. I peeked into the room. Emily, Stacy and Jon were huddled around the pop machine. I could barely make out what they were saying.

     “They’re starting the Voyager Controls then?” Emily asked.
     “Today,” Jon replied. “I think Mr. Williamson is going down there to meet with them after we all leave.”
     “I’ll give him my artwork to take with him. They’ll need it,” Emily said.
     “What are they like,” Jon asked. From the question I gathered that Stacy was the only one who had actually met someone from IT.
     “You don’t want to know,” Stacy replied.
     “Come on, tell us something,” Jon stepped closer into the huddle, bringing Emily with him. 

     “Well, I could tell they haven’t seen the sun in a long time. Their skin is prison pallor white and slightly transparent. I saw light purple veins on their cheeks and necks.”
     I heard someone else approaching and knew it was time to step into the room to buy my soda. I cleared my throat and stepped in. The huddle immediately broke apart.
     “What do you want?” Emily said perturbed.
     “Just a soda,” I answered sheepishly. She motioned me forward. I stepped up to the coin receptacle, dropped in four quarters, made my selection and left as quickly as I could.
     The flights ended at 5:00 P.M. I stayed behind pretending to be waiting for my ride. I hid in a classroom doorway and waited for Jon to leave. He is always the last to leave the Center on a Saturday. At 5:40 P.M. I heard the school's front doors latch shut. Jon was gone leaving only the custodian in the building mopping the floors in the new addition. I was alone in the old section. I walked back to the doorway where the supervisor and I had met earlier. There, taped to the door, was an envelope. I removed it and found a map of the school with detailed descriptions on how to get into the building when no one was there. Arrows pointed the way down the south hallway and into a section of the building I’d never seen. Under it was written “Good Luck” in red ink.
     Today I woke with a determination to solve the mystery of the Space Center’s IT department. I faked sick to stay home from church. Once the family was gone I pedaled my bike the few miles to the school. I walked around the building once looking for cars. There were none. The building was empty.
     I entered the school from the door I’d left partly ajar the night before.

     The school was quiet. It was weird. Usually the sound of explosions, music, and kids shouting and screaming filled the vacuum. I took out the map, paused to get my bearings, and proceeded down the hallway - past the front doors and office.

     I walked toward the Cafeteria and Faculty Room. The sound of my footsteps echoed off the brick walls. Needless to say I was spooked and terrified I'd get caught. But, as I wrote earlier, I am of a curious disposition.

     I found the hallway with the Fallout Shelter sign just like the map described.

     I was curious why a Fallout Shelter sign was on the wall in the first place. Fallout Shelters disappeared from American's lexicon in the 1980's. So why was this sign still there? Curiously, the arrows pointing down the hallway were scratched away.

     I turned and looked down the cold, dimly lit hallway. The air was thick, carrying a feeling of gloom. I was tempted to abandon my quest, but considering what I'd risked to get that far, I decided to soldier on. I started my descent down the ramp.

     "Look for a door labeled 'Boiler Room'," the map said. "If you're willing to stare into the abyss then go through that door." There was nothing else written. It seemed the Supervisor abandoned his attempt to learn the truth at this point. He failed. I wouldn't. I had to go on.

     I picked the lock and slowly opened the door. I was met by a concrete stairway descending down below the main level of the school, ending in a room illuminated by a single light bulb. My heart raced. Sweat formed on my forehead.
     "Hello," I said hoping there would be no response. There wasn't. I repeated my greeting. Again it was met by silence. "Nothing ventured, nothing gained," I mumbled and stepped into the mystery and down the stairway.

     At the bottom of the stairs was another staircase.

It ended abruptly into a cinder block wall. I examined the wall. "Hypercard Department" was written in pencil on one of the blocks. I remembered the Voyager was programmed in Hypercard in the 1990's. The computer language hadn't been used since 2000. Was this the home of the Hypercard programmers?
     I knocked on the bricks and stepped back. I smiled thinking how absurd it was that anyone could still be there, trapped behind that solid barrier. I turned to continue my explorations; then a sound..... a scratching sound from the other side of the cinderblock wall. The sound was faint and stopped as abruptly as it had started. Needless to say I was freaked out..

     I moved on, finding these signs near a door that looked like it hadn't been opened in decades.

     I opened the door and found the school's boiler room lit by a single bulb hanging near the boiler, just as described on the sign in the hallway at the top of the staircase.

     The boiler room was strangely quiet. With it being a cold winter day outside, I thought the boiler would be working. To my left I found another stairway ascending into blackness.
     There was a sound in the corner of the room, a whisper coming from another long disused stairway. I froze for several seconds as I found the courage to continue my exploration.

     The stairway led up to a landing before turning 90 degrees. I walked closer and paused. A few deep breaths gave me the oxygen to move forward the last three steps to see what was at the top. I looked up into one eye and dark face peering at me from the top of the landing. In an instant the head vanished, leaving behind the sound of footfalls moving down another concrete hallway.
     I had a decision to make. Would I continue my quest for the illusive Space Center IT department or be grateful I made it this far and turn and go home. 

TO BE CONTINUED........

Signed,
Your Friend
The Truth Will Prevail

 

Mr. Williamson's Imaginarium Theater

The Best Vidoes From Around the World Edited for a Gentler Audience.

Imaginarium Theater January 24, 2021 from SpaceCampUtah's Imaginarium on Vimeo.