Meet the Staff and Volunteers from the Christa McAuliffe Space Education Center's Second Decade 2000 - 2010 (Continued). Meet More Young Astronauts at The Space Place. The Imaginarium Theater.

Hello Space Center Fans,

     This is the continuation of the series I started last week. I'm going through all my photos and posting the ones containing pictures of the staff and volunteers who worked at the Space Center during its second decade of operation (2000-2010).  These are the greats, whose dedicated work kept the Space Center growing and prospering.  These are the true believers in the Space Center's mission of "Creating A Space Faring Civilization One Student at a Time."   

Josh Webb (green) and Scott Slaugh (red)

Josh was a Voyager Supervisor Extraordinaire.  Scott was a young, student, hypercard programmer who played a major role in the simulator's operational controls.  

Josh Webb sleeping on the job. You have to give him a break,

We'd just finished a grueling 27 hours of work (Friday field trips, Friday private missions, Friday overnight camp)

Josh, fully awake now, is back to work cleaning the Voyager's black plastic computer screen covers at the end of an overnight camp.  We had to get the ship ready for the 

11:30 A.M. Saturday private missions.

Stephen Porter is looking bored at the Voyager's IIFX station.

Behind him are two young volunteers waiting their turn to 

go on the bridge to shake up the campers.

I sure wish I remembered the name of this Volunteer (playing the Voyager's ship's doctor).  He's standing with the ship's security in the crew quarters.

There are a few staff and volunteers you may recognize in this early photo from 2002 - 2004.  On the far left you have James Porter in the blue shirt. James is the current director of the Space Center.  David Merrell is next to James in the green shirt at the table. I also see Randy Jepperson in this photo. Dustin Robison there in a black shirt. And the guy in green with this back to the camera is the great Stephen Porter.

It is about 11:30 P.M. on a Friday night. We just got the campers to bed and we've gathered in the Briefing Room to celebrate a staff birthday.  That's the Odyssey's outer wall in the back.  The far wall behind James held the staff bunks. That area was turned into the Phoenix a few years later.

That's Dustin Robison at the Voyager's IIFX station.  Josh Babb is sitting in the Voyager's Flight Director chair (2004)  That huge white computer between them controlled the Voyager's isoliner chip station on the Bridge.

I guess Josh isn't happy with Dustin's work. They're standing on the Voyager's Bridge.

Meet More Young Astronauts from The Space Place at Renaissance Academy, They Keep Coming and Coming and Coming....

     Yes, there are more Young Astronauts you've not been introduced to.  In fact, there are 207 Young Astronauts and Voyagers at Renaissance Academy, divided into squadrons of 7 - 10 members. The squadrons meets after school from 3:30 - 5:30 P.M. Monday - Thursday and 12:45 - 2:45 P.M. on Fridays (our school's early out day). We're spending the months of September and October brining them in for their first meetings and missions aboard the Starship Voyager.  Here are last week's squadrons

Say Hello to the 4th Grade Monday Cobra Squadron

Say Hello to the 5th Grade Tuesday Dragon Squadron

Say Hello to the 5th Grade Wednesday Lion Squadron

Say Hello to the 4th Grade Thursday Scorpion Squadron

Say Hello to the 5th Grade Friday Tiger Squadron

Imaginarium Theater

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

InfiniD Learning's Management Team Returns Where it All Began. Enjoy a Series of Pictures of the Staff and Volunteers around the turn of the Century. Imaginarium Theater

     Friday afternoon saw the return of many of InfiniD's management team to the place where the magic first happened all those years ago - the Christa McAuliffe Space Center.  

     Casey Voeks, Skyler Carr and team gathered in Utah for a management retreat.  Visiting the CMSC was on the agenda for Friday. Casey and Skyler started InfiniD several years ago. Their goal was to take the fully immersive simulations they experienced as students at the Space Center to a world wide audience.  Today InfiniD is in over 200 schools.  Hundreds of thousands of students participate in their simulations yearly.  

Team InfiniD Learning

     I stopped by the Center to say hello and snap a few pictures of the teams in action.  

     Not the best photo, but I was trying not to interfere too much in the ongoing mission.  Austin Nielsen was the captain of the Cassini Team.  Jon Parker was the flight director. They did "A Cry From the Dark".  

     Austin in the Cassini captain's chair.  Austin works out of the company's headquarter in Provo. I see Austin on a regular basis when I go in to record the simulations's computer voice.  

     And who is this sitting at the Cassini's sensor station?  You may recognize Spencer Baird from the Starship Voyager at Renaissance Academy.  Spencer was the lead supervisor before his LDS mission.  It was good to see him still in the simulations business.   

     The team as seen through the Cassini's security monitor.  I identified the people who many of you former staff and volunteers may remember from your days at the Space Center.  Micah isn't a member of the InfiniD team. He was working the mission.    

     The Phoenix Team was captained by Casey Voeks.  He flew in for the event from his home in Texas.  

     Of course Casey was the captain and yes, I did catch him doing a bit of micromanaging of the crew :)

     Casey has stepped back from the day to day operations of InfiniD and reentered the world of politics. He is the executive director of the Harris County Republican Party. 

Meet Those Who Came Before:  Pictures of the Old Staff and Volunteers from the Christa McAuliffe Space Education Center 

     I know that most of these photos have been posted before, but I've decided to go through all my old photos and put all the pictures of former staff and volunteers on the blog one last time in an orderly way to ensure they are out there to be enjoyed.  

Randy Jepperson and Mark Daymont running the Falcon on an overnight mission

The Falcon all set up for a Friday Overnight Camp

The passing of the Odyssey Set Directorship from David Merrill to Chris Call (or was it the other way around?)

David Merrill flight directing an Odyssey mission

David briefing an Odyssey crew

David Merrill's retirement presentation

Honors Night held in the Magellan

Honors Night in the Magellan approx the year 2001

Honors Night in the Magellan approx the year 2001.  The blue shirts left to right

Bryson Lystrup and Brady Young.  To the right of Brady is Braydn Lystrup

Honors Night in the Magellan approx the year 2001. Bryson Lystrup is getting

an honor from Mark Daymon.  James Porter is in the chair next to the door

Brady Young's birthday. They were celebrated right before bedtime on the

Friday night overnight missions.

Brian Hawkins in the Magellan. Brian was the Odyssey's 

2nd Set Director right after Dave Wall.

Imaginarium Theater

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

Meet More of The Space Place's Young Astronauts and Voyagers. News from Utah Valley's Space EdVenture Centers and This Week's Imaginarium Theater

 

The 6th Grade Tiger Squadron's Official Launch Photo

The 6th Grade Tiger Squadron's "Let have some fun" photo 

     It has been a busy week at Renaissance Academy's The Space Place.  Every afternoon The Space Place staff and volunteers greet a new Young Astronaut or Voyager Club squadron for their first meeting of the school year.  There are over 200 students in the after school club this year. They are divided into squadrons of 7 to 10 members.  Each grade level has a Monday Cobra, Tuesday Dragon, Wednesday Lion, Thursday Scorpion, and Friday Tiger squadron.  

    Take a moment to meet the squadrons that launched last week.  Some did better at others at getting the Starship Voyager launched from Outpost 14.  One team accidentally fired a missile at the Outpost causing serious damage to both Outpost 14 and their team score for the day.  Ouch!       

The 5th Grade Scorpion Squadron

The 6th Grade Lion Squadron

The 6th Grade Lion Squadron wanted a photo showing how tough they are

to intimidate the other teams.  Is it working?

The 6th Grade Dragon Squadron

The 6th Grade Dragon Squadron decided to transition into a Piddlewee

pose to honor the great House Piddlewee of Uck in the Farpoint Universe.

The 5th Grade Cobra Squadron

The 5th Grade Cobra Squadron's tough guy photo.  Their thinking is that once the other 5th grade squads see this photo they'll know right from the beginning which

5th grade squadron will take the Best Team of the Year Award.

News and Update from Utah Valley's Space EdVenture Centers

American Heritage School's Creativity Lab / Space Center 

The Space Center at American Heritage School has the Galileo II, purchased from The Christa McAuliffe Space Center, nearly finished and ready for a test mission.  Alex DeBirk, the Center's Director, wrote:

Phase 2 of #ahscreativitylab includes a second simulator: the Old Bird, the Galileo from Yesterday's Christa McAuliffe Space Center. She's finally back to a single (mostly) piece after 2 long years in storage. And she's back on her own legs and rolling freely and easily. The students have been instrumental in putting her together. Excited to show how things progress this summer.

Alex DeBirk did a walk around video of the 

school's Discovery simulator

Alpine School District's Christa McAuliffe Space Center 

Engagements at the CMSC

James Porter wrote: Congratulations to our wonderful friends who decided to include us in the proposal process. Figured it was safe to share now that we got the official invite. We've had two proposals at the Space Center over the last couple months! Wishing both wonderful couples all the best. Guess we better dust off our fancy uniforms and see if we can still squeeze into them for the events.

Night Out with the Stars at the CMSC

     On September 3rd the Christa McAuliffe Space Center hosted a star party on Central Elementary School's playground in Pleasant Grove. The public was invited to come with their own telescopes or they could see the sights with the CMSC's telescope.  

The Imaginarium Theater

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