Newly Discovered Photos from the CMSEC's Voyager Era. June 2002. A Busy Week on the Voyager at Farpoint. Sleeping Giants, A New Mission on the Voyager. An InfiniD Lab Simulator in Southern Utah. Space News: 50 Years Ago. Theater Imaginarium.

Newly Discovered Photos from the CMSEC's Voyager Era.  June 2002. 

Kyler Herring Sleeping on the Job

What is this!?  The Great Fish asleep on the job in my chair no less?  Finally we have proof that Kyle Herring was human after all.  Why he choose to nap at my desk is a mystery considering the CMSEC had 30 beds to chose from in the simulators. Remember, this was during the CMSEC's Voyager Era, a time when Overnight Space Camps ruled the day.  I'm trying to remember what ship Kyle would have been working on back when this photo was taken.  It's fun to see the old technology.  Get a look at that ancient ipod and phone.  And in case you're wondering, the calculator seen in the lower right had side of the photo is still on my desk at Renaissance Academy and used daily.   

The Apollo 13 summer space camp classroom activity was told first during the summer camp season of 2002.  Bryson Lystrup is wearing his Space Center Blues in the photo above.  He was a young and upcoming supervisor and always willing to lend a hand.  This was the time when the "Voyager Boys" as they were known, ruled the roost on the Voyager; much to the annoyance to the other young staff and volunteers :)

You're right if you think the young man on the far right is none other than Spencer Dauwalder, another of the Space Center's finest.  This was taken when Spencer was a camper, before his volunteering days. He would have been in the sixth grade I'm guessing.  Spencer went on to become another fantastic supervisor and Voyager flight director.  

    

A Busy Week on the USS Voyager at Farpoint Space Education Center

Farpoint Space Education Center's 5th Grade Cobra Squadron

Another busy week ended yesterday for the staff and volunteers at Renaissance Academy's Farpoint Space Education Center in beautiful Lehi, Utah.  Farpoint is nestled up against the booming Silicon Slopes - Utah's technology center.  

Four Young Astronaut and Voyager Clubs launched this week on their seven-month Long Duration Mission starting with the 5th Cobras and ending with the Secondary Voyager Club's Dragon Squadron on Saturday.  

The Young Astronaut 5th Cobras are a formidable squadron of highly intelligent (almost too much for their own good) ten and eleven-year-olds possessing an unlimited amount of sarcasm and natural curiosity.  They did their best to discover plot holes in my mission briefing, but I'm proud to say I held my own against superior odds.  What they will do with Chancellor Alexander and the oppressive power of the National Front is anybody's guess.  

Tuesday's 6th Scorpions were good on the ship and walked away with high points under the firm command of Captain Riley and First Officer Anthony.  Chief of Security Adler, by uncovering his chiseled bicep for all to see in the squadron photo just released by Space Guard's Press Office, is formally warning all foes to beware of the pythons living on board the USS Voyager. 

   
The Thursday 6th Lion Squadron took the photo session with a more formal approach.  Captain Nathan proudly unveiled his newly cleaned pearly whites with the biggest smile of all.  He is pining for an advertising contract with Crest as they prepare to launch a new toothpaste - Deflectors Up with fluoride. 

 

Friday ended the traditional work week (except for those of us in the Space Centering community) with the 6th Grade Tiger Squadron.  My advice for anyone wishing this team harm is to back away ever so slowly and not look back. They are capable of slaying any foe of freedom and democracy with an arsenal of good looks and witticisms.  By the way, Chief of Security Bryce used the occasion to answer the Scorpion's Chief of Security Adler's pose with a demonstration of his own pythons.
"What Adler had to show might scare a squadron of Brownie novices," said Bryce, "but not the 6th Tigers!" 

Announcing a New Mission Told Only on the USS Voyager. Sleeping Giants  

The Secondary Dragon Squadron Receiving Their Mission Briefing for Sleeping Giants

The Farpoint Space Education Center is pleased to announce the opening of a new mission told exclusively on the USS Voyager.  Sleeping Giants is a 5-hour private mission which also works well as a Long Duration Mission for our seasoned veterans making up the Voyager Club's Secondary Level Dragon Squadron. Alex DeBirk briefed the Dragons on Saturday right after the GoogleCS Young Astronaut Club ended their early morning programming class. 

The Voyager Club's Saturday Dragon Squadron

  

"They're confident, I'll give 'em that," Alex commented after the mission as the staff and I pondered their scores.  It was difficult finding mishaps I could use to dock their score.  The perfect flight just doesn't exist on the USS Voyager.  The Voyager is a difficult ship to master.  She's free-spirited with a stubborn mind of her own - just ask anyone who works in her control room. 

InfiniD Prepares to Launch the Newest InfiniD Lab Simulator in Southen Utah

Majestic Fields Elementary School in St. George, Utah will be the newest home to an InfiniD Lab simulator.  The good folks at InfiniD were there this weekend installing the lights, sound, and software. 

Welcome Majestic Field Elementary School to the InfiniD family and the expanding family of SpaceEdVenturing schools discovering the power of simulator centered experiential education.  

Up Goes the Newest InfiniD Lab in St. George, Utah

The SpaceEdVenture Directors Meet to Imagineer the Way Ahead

Late Wednesday afternoon the directors of the SpaceEdVenture Consortium met at the TDSC Canyon Grove Academy site to continue the imagineering required to forge ahead with new missions and digital assets to provide the students and visitors the best experience possible at the three member space centers: Telo Discovery Space Center, Farpoint Space Education Center at Renaissance Academy,  and the Lions Gate Center at Lakeview Academy.   

In the photo above Maeson Busk was proud to show his newest tactical creations to Ryan Anderson and Nathan King.  The team is busy at work getting screens ready for the debut of Ryan Anderson's first mission soon to be told on the USS Hyperion when it opens. 

Lion Gate Center Director Nathan King demonstrating the proper attitude required when creating tactical assets. 

The SpaceEdVenturers migrated from Canyon Grove Academy to Farpoint's USS Voyager to pick up where they left off from last week's tactical effects class. 

Nathan teaches both Blender and After Effects to would be digital artists expressing themselves through the medium of tactical stacks for starship bridges in the SpaceEdVenture family of simulators.  The workshops are taught on the third Wednesday of every month on the Starship Voyager.  Participation in the free workshops is limited to those invited by the SpaceEdVenture directors.  Contact Ryan Anderson at Telos, Nathan King at Lions Gate, and Victor Williamson at Farpoint if you're interested in attending. 

Space News. 50 Years Ago, November 1967 
by Mark Daymont
From SpaceRubble.blogspot.com

50 Years Ago: Apollo 4 Flight Gets the US Closer to the Moon

Lift-off of the mighty Saturn V rocket assembly from pad 39. NASA.

After the fire disaster of Apollo 1, tests still continued while lessons were learned and changes were made to the Apollo command and service modules. Possibly faulty wiring and systems in the Apollo Block 1 command modules were redesigned to bring newer, better safety factors in line with program directives. There was still a use for the Block 1 command modules though, and the flight of Apollo 4 was one of them.

Stages being assembled in the giant Vehicle Assembly Building, or VAB.

The Apollo 4 mission, also designated as AS-501, was the first mission to start with the Apollo naming protocol. The families and friends of the Apollo 1 fire tragedy had insisted failed test being redesignated as Apollo1.  Three other Saturn test flights had occurred before this mission, but had used the Saturn 1b first stage for the unmanned tests. This Apollo 4 mission had been delayed from its original date in 1966, due to the Apollo 1 Stand-down and the delays in re-wiring and re-equipping the newer Block 2 capsules. Thus it was that this mission would use a still-functional, unmanned Apollo Block 1 capsule as a test capsule to record data during the flight.

The fully-fitted Saturn V stack inside the VAB, in one of the four assembly bays. On a humid day, tiny clouds could form at the very top inside the building.

Roll-out of Apollo4 on the giant crawler and tower transporter, slowly moving away from the VAB.

Apollo 4 in place on pad 39A. The crawler has already unlocked and moved away from the launch base.

The Saturn V's first stage heaving the rocket into the upper atmosphere.

Liftoff finally occurred on November 9. This was the first flight of the Stage 1C and S-2 second stage. It was the first time NASA had restarted the S-IV-B third stage. The capsule was placed into a high arc to simulate the returning velocity of capsule coming back from the moon. The capsule safely passed through re-entry, chutes deployed, and it landed in the Pacific ocean not far from the recovery ship USS Bennington. It was a hugely important mission, because it proved that the Saturn V could work, and that the systems were in place to get men to the Moon and back safely before the end of the decade.

Apollo 4 capsule ends its trip in the Pacific Ocean.

Apollo 4 command module next to the USS Bennington before retrieval.

Theater Imaginarium
The Best Gifs of the Week Edited for a Gentler Audience

Post from the Past. The Starship Voyager Acting Challenge. Create A Memorable Character and Live Forever. The Imaginarium.

March 11, 2008
From the CMSEC's First Blog: SpaceEdVentures

Hello Troops,
Tonight I'm posting an article written in March 2008 announcing a challenge to the volunteers in the Space Center's Acting Guild back in the day.  After rereading the article, I decided to bring the concept back to my staff and volunteers on the new USS Voyager.  

OK Voyagers, read the article below and create that character never to be forgotten.  Let's see what you come up with.

Mr. Williamson

Wyatt Lenhart reimagined as The Red Blemish, spotted by one of the Space Center's Security Cameras

Great Acting. Great Actor. Great Character

Hello Troops,
A side note to the acting class. I watched very carefully and noticed that many of you are very good at impromptu acting. You think very fast on your feet and are excellent at staying in character. Let's talk for a minute.

I'm thinking of letting a few of you that have shown some talent in this regard try a little experiment.

1. Create a character. Someone that lives and works on board the USS Voyager in the 24th century. Give your character a name and write a complete biography of this person. Identify what ship department your character works for. Describe your character's personality, likes and dislikes. Flesh this person out completely. Provide a believable accent if you wish. 


2. Post this biography and character description on the egroup for all to see. If you are too embarrassed to post it then how in the world will you be able to become this character in front of a live audience. 


3. Be willing to make changes in this character based on the feedback you get from me and the rest of the egroup.


4. Pass this section and then we move on to the next:

Character Acting Level 2:

1. Write 2 or 3 scenes where this character can make an appearance in one of the Voyager's missions. What story would your character appear? Intolerance, PooPah, Greenpeace or perhaps your scenes would be good for all the stories. 


2. Remember, the reason for your character's appearance in the simulator must make sense. In addition, it would have to follow the following guidelines:
     A. If your character needs to make an appearance on the bridge then for how long and              for what purpose. 
     B. Your character cannot distract from the mission. Your performance's purpose is to                  make the mission and the ship more real to the audience (the crew). 
     C. Your performance can involve interaction with crew members. But, these interactions            must be with crew members whose jobs need to be enlarged and made more                        important. You know, your performance really makes the mission for the poor                        records officer that never feels that important on the mission.

or....... for example:

Let's say you are a character from the Astrophysics dept of the ship. Now, we all know the Science Officer in the Intolerance mission just interacts with the computer. The science officer only sends messages to Astrophysics but never actually meets anyone from that dept. Your character could be the Chief of Astrophysics - A sharp but nerdy person that 
comes to the bridge from time to time in the story to compare notes with the Science Officer and discusses the importance of what the Science Officer is discovering. 

This is an example. 

D. Your character must not be a vital part of the running of any mission because you are not here for every mission. But...... Your character could be someone we grow fond of in our
stories. A character like Tex that just makes the place special and memorable so that when you volunteer I look at you and say "Hey, We need your Dr. Zamo on this mission!"


E. Your character is not a comedy act! Tex can be funny but can also be as serious as a heart attack. We don't need stupid Paklids on every mission but we could use people that act like real people. Funny at times and serious at others.


F. Think of the Star Trek shows. Some great characters - Spock, The Dr. on Voyager, 7 of 9, Data.... just to name a few. Let these be your guide.

Once you have your scenes created you will sit down with me and we will discuss the possible use of your character and scenes within my missions. Remember, your scene could be as simple as sitting down in the crew quarters and talking with another Voyager or Pioneer (also in character). Security could be walking by and listen to your conversation about warp field technology and stop to listen for a minute. That is a good scene that accomplishes our purpose. Those security guards will walk back up on the bridge thinking that maybe there really are 300 people on this ship!

Once all is said and done and permissions are granted your character will make his/her grand opening night performance. If successful your character may become a regular on the USS Voyager like Tex. 

IF this works on the Voyager, the other flight directors may want to enrich their missions with good performances from other fine Voyager and Pioneers. 

I really think this might work. Who is first? Come on troops. IF you think you have it then post those characters and let's see the Voyager become alive with a solid crew of characters besides Tex. 

I'm sitting here waiting to read about the crew of the Voyager. I'm ready to be introduced to the crew that has been working on the lower decks of my ship for the past 10 years. People I knew were there in my imagination. Please bring these people up in the turbolift elevator 
and into my control room so I can shake their hand and send them out to the bridge of their ship to meet their captain and bridge officers. 

Deep in the brilliance of your imagination lives my crew and the heart and mind of the Voyager. BRING THEM OUT INTO THE LIGHT. 

Mr. Williamson

The Imaginarium