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

Hello to a New Class of Voyager Cadets and Young Astronauts at Renaissance Academy. Want to Hear Happy Birthday Sung in the Languages of the Galactic Diaspora? The Imaginarium Theater.

 

     Monday was the launch of the 2022-2023 Voyager and Young Astronaut Clubs at The Space Place located at Renaissance Academy, a public charter school in Lehi, Utah.

Today's post introduces you to the squadrons who met this week.

The 6th Grade Cobra Squadron.  2022-2023

     Over 200 Renaissance Academy third through ninth grade students joined the after school program.  That is 25% of the school's 800 students.  The club's enrollment fee of $125.00 covers 8 months of meetings, missions in the Voyager Starship Simulator, and a club t-shirt.  Club members are referred to as cadets.  Cadets in grades 3 to 5 are in the Young Astronauts.  Cadets in grades 6 - 9 are in the Voyagers. 

The Middle School Dragon Squadron

     The cadets are placed in squadrons of 7 - 10 students.  The squadrons meets once a month on average. This year's curriculum includes astronomy, space history, current events in space, and of course the humanities included in the starship long duration mission (LDM). Each grade level has a different LDM.  The missions last 8 months.  

The Sixth Grade Scorpion Squadron

       I direct the classroom portion of the meetings.  Bracken Funk is the simulations director.  Our great group of Renaissance Academy student volunteers help Bracken in the Voyager.    

The Middle School Tiger Squadron

    This week's launch scores are on the low side.  Only two squads succeeded in completing all launch tasks within the allocated time to receive full points.  The cadets are getting their space legs under them. They always improve over the year as they learn to work together as a team and communicate effectively.  

     

Want to Hear Happy Birthday Sung in Alien Tongue?  

Mr. Funk Leads The Space Place's Staff and Volunteers in 

Singing Happy Birthday in the languages of the Galactic Diaspora last Saturday

     You're in for a real treat if you book your birthday party at The Space Place at Renaissance Academy. Mr. Funk started a tradition a few years ago where the birthday boy or girl is serenaded by the staff and volunteers.  They sing the usual "Happy Birthday to You" in the languages of the Galactic Diaspora.  The Galactic Diaspora is an element of the Farpoint Universe used at The Space Place, The Space Center at American Heritage School, and the Discovery Space Center at Telos Academy.  To the untrained ear, it all sounds like a bunch of gobbledegook, but quite hilarious for the party.  

     The Space Place offers a fantastic Google 5 Star birthday party experience.  Contact Mr. Funk for more information.  

TheSpacePlace.org

The Imaginarium Theater

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