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| Sparky (Bradyn Lystrup) and The Clown (Todd Rasband) Ready for a FrightFlight |
It's Halloween season and time for the Starship Voyager's first annual Flightmares at the Space Academy. What better way to celebrate the season than to bring together younglings wanting to be scared and old time Space Center veterans more than happy to grant their dying wish.
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| The Younglings Wanting to be Scared. "Bring it On!" was their mission statement."Let's see what you old timers can do." |
The first of two spooky evenings in space was held yesterday at the Renaissance Space Academy on a very dark, dreary, cold, and rainy Lehi evening. The second will be held this Friday.
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| The staff of veteran spookologists stuffing themselves with calories in preparation for the five hours of chills and thrills in the depths of space. Bradyn and Jacqueline Lystrup, Skyler and Emily Paxman, Todd Rasband, and Erin Williams |
The "brave" crew of the Voyager arrived at Outpost 14 at 4:00 P.M. for their mission briefing and training. The launch went without a hitch about an hour later.
Todd Rasband got the evening off to a good start by offering the staff Japanese chocolate. That alone was enough to strike horror into any chocolate lovers soul. The guttural gagging sounds from the Briefing Room were mine I'm ashamed to admit.
Bracken Funk conducted the pre-launch safety checklist and acting directives. A few of the younglings commented that his arrival on the bridge was scary enough - well worth the price of admission.
Bracken took his place in the flight director's chair and choreographed a flawless launch..... but then something went terribly wrong. I'm not at liberty to say anything else. I don't' want to ruin the story for Friday's crew.
At first the crew were confident in their abilities to weather any psychological maelstrom the staff could hurl in their path.
But then, things started to change.
At one point Bridge Supervisor Ethan needed to perform emergency CPR to restart the heart of Tactical Officer Loa. A disaster and funeral were averted.
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| What it was like moving through the Voyager's hallways |
The mission had several "away missions" off the bridge. A few of them involved moving carefully through the Voyager's Sick Bay and Engineering halls. Our veteran volunteer staff did an outstanding job outfitting the Voyager with a series of laser lights and mirrors to create the effect you see above.
The Space Academy owes a big thank you to Bradyn Lystrup for organizing another telling of his mission "Child's Play". The Academy has been, and continues to be supported by many of my old staff and volunteers from the Christa McAuliffe Space Education Center. Thank you to all of you for your help in staging these missions. These great folks are volunteering their time so the proceeds from the missions can go directly into the Voyager simulator for improvements and additional set pieces.
Sadly, both Flightmares are sold out, but don't let that stop you from booking a mission on the Voyager for your own group. The Voyager offers 2.5 and 5 hour missions to the general public. Visit SpaceCampUtah.org for more information and to book your own adventure.
Mr. Williamson
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| Overnight Camps 2011 |
Discovery Log, 25 June 2003
By Dave Wall
Moderator's Note: This appeared in the CMSEC's blog "SpaceEdVentures" on YahooGroups. Dave is referring to his program in Cache County back in the day.
It's been a while since my last log but the Summer so far has been off to a slow start. Our first overnight of the Summer went over well, but our second was plagued by a power failure. Last Friday I went to Logan to run the overnighter and the crew was sitting in the Briefing Room, gathered around a flashlight. Apparently the "monsoon" winds had
knocked out the power shortly before we planned to do the overnighter. After around two hours of briefing, drill, and science activities in the dark we finally gave up on the power coming back and sent some disappointed crew members home. One came from a seven-hour drive, so I was not pleased about calling it off.
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| Overnight Camps 2011 |
It seems the bane of the Discovery has been power problems. When we first moved to Logan, it took months before we could get power to the simulator, and now this. I'm not sure what to do about it, but I am not pleased. Perhaps I'll refer back to Mr. Williamson's log entry about running the simulators without power, and see if it will help, but I don't think so.
Dedication Slogan Contest
I am soon going to be making up a plaque for the Discovery's dedication. What I am missing, though, is a "slogan" for the bottom of the plaque, so I am opening it up for suggestions. The winning slogan will receive some wonderful gift as yet to be determined. Some examples are: the Enterprise "E" has (I believe) the slogan, "Where No One Has
Gone Before." Famous quotes that are applicable could also work. Please send me some ideas and win big prizes. Please try and be serious--sorry Mark Daymont, but I don't plan on using "the Oxen are Slow, But the Earth is Patient." Maybe for the next ship. Send your contest entries to dave@pathfinderspace.com.
Dave Wall
Director, Discovery Space Simulator
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| Overnight Camps 2011 |
Space Center Journal: June 29, 2003
People Mentioned: Lorraine Houston, Julie Collette, Matt Long, Jameson McDougal, James Porter, Megan Warner, BJ Warner, Amber, Kylen Herring, Landon Hemsley, Chris Call.
Hello Troops,
The battle is being fought. We have reached the Rhine and pushing towards the end. I predict victory over the summer season on August 1. The battles planned for this week should be less intense than previous weeks. I've outlined a week of day skirmishes only. Daytime operations will start at 0900 hours ending daily at 1430 hours. There are minor
`disturbances' expected after the major engagements. We will let the Galileo, Odyssey, and Magellan deal with them. Several of our battle weary troops will get the R and R they've deserved. Passes away from the front will be issued. Get your requests in early. Paris will be a favorite destination although I think I'll take a jeep and spend a few days at that den of inequity that city of lost hope, Las Vegas.
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| Overnight Camps 2011 Starship Voyager |
Last week went smoothly. Monday was a quiet day. Tuesday was the first day of Camp 3 - a good mix of fresh meat (new recruits) and seasoned officers. I still can't get to the end of my new story Event Horizon. There are too many good parts I don't want to cut. Regardless, it must fit the standard five-hour mission length. The blade must be used without mercy and with malice. The cutting will happen, eventually. The other missions seem to be rolling along. I'd like the other flight directors to their thoughts on summer and their groups they give me the "I'll get to that right away" brush off. We slept the girls in room 17. Air conditioning wasn't an issue because of the fantastic cool rainy weather we had last week. It was the best birthday present Mother Nature could give me. I want to thank all of
you that sent birthday greetings and thank you for the gifts. I want to thank Lorraine Houston for the birthday cake we enjoyed Tuesday evening. I'm getting used to spending my birthday with campers and staff. You would think I'd take my birthday off but what kind of statement would that make? There will be enough time to rest once my time comes. Now is the time to work.
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| Overnight CampsStarship Voyager |
The happiest staff and the saddest campers are found at the end of a long camp. EdVenture Camp 3 ended Thursday. The reviews were good and can be found in an earlier post. I want to congratulate the simulators that improved their scores from the previous week. An especially hardy "Good Job," to Julie Collette for the big jump in the thinking score of the Galileo!
Great News! Matt Long has finished installing the Odyssey and Voyager's isolinier chip stations. These are those chip readers built by the BYU engineering students. We have an awesome partnership with Dr. Long (Matt's dad) and the BYU engineering school. Dr. Long thought it would be a good experience for his senior students to do a real project for a senior assignment. The chip readers they built work well. Matt finished the Voyagers on Saturday. If the engineer fails to put the correct chips in the computers see it and won't let that station work. What pressure this will put on the engineer in a critical situation! I can't wait to add this new torture tool to our arsenal!
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| Overnight Camp Starship Magellan |
Matt recently returned from 3 weeks in Germany on a student exchange. We spent an hour or so talking about it. It sounded like an educational, fun experience. They toured Germany, stayed in youth hostels and with host families. All of this for $1,500.00, which included air fare. He even remembered poor Mr. Williamson and brought back several bars of German
chocolate for me. I ate two of them on the spot. I'm saving the rest to pull out and eat in front of you on the next overnight camp. Don't ask me to share German chocolate. If you're desperate you can always buy a Hershey's.
A special pat on the back and shout of praise from the rooftops for Jameson McDougal! Jameson successfully completed two Galileo private missions on Saturday even though he was working under harsh conditions. The first mission was done without visual effects (there were no mission tapes to be found). There were no CD's in the CD player either. The second mission was done without the sound effects computer. Yet, even under those conditions the crews left happy. I want to thank Megan Warner, BJ Warner, and Amber for helping him. It looks like the Galileo may have a new flight director. We will wait for Kyle Herring's ruling. Nobody becomes a Galileo flight director without Kyle's OK. He reserves that right because the Galileo is his ship. If you don't know the story of the Galileo ask him sometime and you'll understand why it is dear to his heart.
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| Overnight Camps 2011 |
We welcome Landon Hemsley back from his travels. James Porter has been a real trooper taking a zillion Odyssey missions this month. The whole Odyssey load was on his shoulders so Landon and Chris Call could have the time for school and vacations.
You know, I'm struck by an observation. I've just realized something about our overnight camps. A frightened camper hasn't woken me up in quite awhile. I can't remember the last time we've sent a camper home because of fright stemming from our missions. It used to be a monthly occurrence in the early days of the Center but not lately. Are our missions less scary? Are we not putting our hearts into the stories or are they being written differently? Are our costumes and masks less scary? What is it? Are kids harder to scare today than ten years ago? Send me your opinions and I'll post them.
Well Troops, that is about it for this Journal. If you have comments or opinions on this entry please send them along.
Best Wishes,
Mr. Williamson
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