In the heart of the Space Center's planetarium, amidst the vast expanse of galaxies and stars, there exists a figure shrouded in mystery: Brian Dean. Rarely seen outside the confines of the celestial theater, Brian seemed to possess an otherworldly connection to the cosmos. Whispers among the staff suggested that he dwelled in the enigmatic realm behind the dome itself, where the boundary between reality and the infinite void blurred into obscurity.
     While the world slept in the comfort of their homes, Brian Dean was awake, immersed in his nocturnal rituals. He would meticulously polish the projectors, ensuring that every celestial body was rendered with utmost clarity. He would delicately rebalance the sound system, orchestrating the symphony of the universe with precision and finesse. For Brian, this was not just a job; it was a calling—a devotion to the boundless wonders that adorned the night sky.
     His existence seemed to unfold in perpetual twilight, a timeless realm illuminated by the stars of an eternal universe. Each night, as he gazed upward, he felt a profound sense of belonging, as if the cosmos itself whispered secrets only he could comprehend. 
      Recently, Brian's solitude was interrupted by an unexpected honor. He was summoned from the depths of the planetarium to receive a distinguished honor: he was to be inducted into the Space Center's Burgundy Order of the Night and receive the title of Planetarium Navigator. Brian felt a surge of humility and gratitude wash over him.  He expressed his thanks to his colleagues present but did so from behind his shirt. The sunlight streaming through the lobby windows was too much for his sensitive eyes.  
     James Porter, the esteemed director of the planetarium, dubbed Brian into the Order by presenting him with the Burgundy Shirt. In the presentation, Mr. Porter expressed his admiration for Brian's tireless commitment to the mysteries of the cosmos, the Space Center, and the planetarium.  Brian's response was characteristically understated, yet rich with a quiet reverence for the celestial wonders that had become his life's passion. He thanked Mr. Porter and the entire staff.  It is said by some who were close enough to see his face, that a single tear traced down his cheek as the assembled crowd shouted, "All Hail Sir Brian Dean of the Burgundy Order of the Space Center!"  
     As he followed Brylee Perry, The Grand Mistress of the Burgundy Order, back into the comforting embrace of the planetarium's night, Brian Dean carried with him not just a burgundy shirt, but a symbol of recognition for his profound connection to the stars. With each step, he felt the weight of responsibility and the privilege of his newfound role as a Planetarium Navigator and Knight of the Order.
     Yet, amidst the accolades and the applause, Brian remained unchanged at his core—a solitary figure, forever bound to the mysteries of the universe. For him, the true reward lay not in the recognition of others, but in the silent communion with the universe itself and the Space Center's mission to create a space-faring civilization. 
     And so, as the world continued to turn and the stars continued to drift across the fabric dome, Brian Dean resumed his nocturnal vigil, his soul in unison with the infinite expanse of space. In the quiet solitude of the planetarium, he found not just his purpose, but his very essence—a navigator of the cosmos, forever guided by the light of a trillion distant suns.

     The fifth grade Lion Squadron is one of 15 Young Astronaut squadrons at Renaissance Academy's The Space Place. Last week they completed this school year's Long Duration Mission (LDM). Their LDM started in September.  Fifth grade Young Astronauts do an extended version of Intolerance.  American history is part of the 5th grade state curriculum.  The Civil War and Intolerance go hand in hand so it is an excellent mission for our 5th grade Young Astronauts. 
     The 5th Lions would like to thank Mr. Funk and the staff and volunteers of The Space Place for doing an excellent job in the Voyager simulator.  Congratulations to captain and crew!  The short video below shows them finishing the mission for the year.  
     

     Most Saturdays I spend a few hours at the Space Center doing my outreach and Voyager Club work.  I choose to set up shop in the Staff Room next to the simulators.  It reminds me of where my desk was located back in the day when I directed the Space Center. If you remember, my desk sat in the Briefing Room.  To my right was the Voyager. To my left was the Phoenix and directly in front of me was the Odyssey.  My desk was at the crossroads of most Space Center traffic as people came and went between ships and to get costume pieces from the Voyager's hallway closets.  While noisy, I was able to get my work done, and at the same time, keep my fingers on the mood, pulse, and energy level of the staff and volunteers. 
     Working in the Staff Room gives me much of the same experience. From my few feet of space I can keep in contact with our volunteers. I can do a quick survey or ask for opinions.  The best part of working in the Staff Room is seeing the volunteer's creativity in costuming.  They'll come in saying they need to play this or that part and disappear into the costume room.  A few minutes later out emerges their creation.  In as a black shirt volunteer and out as a character in a space drama!
     This is what emerged yesterday.  Jack's costume was a site to see.  I was going to tell you more but I'll leave it for you to wonder what ship they were on and mission they were doing.   Great Job Gentlemen!   

     Summer is fast approaching and that means it is time to book a summer space edventure camp at one of Utah County's Space EdVenture Centers.  The Space EdVenture Centers are; The Christa McAuliffe Space Center in Pleasant Grove with its large planetarium and six simulators (Magellan, Cassini, Phoenix, Odyssey, Galileo, and Falcon); The Space Place at Renaissance Academy in Lehi with Utah's largest starship simulator, the USS Voyager.  The Lion's Gate Space Center at Lakeview Academy in Saratoga Springs with the Apollo and Artemis Starship simulators; and the Telos Discovery Space Center at Telos Academy in Orem with the Hyperion Starship Simulator.   Screen shots of their summer booking pages are below.  

     I was looking at old posts in the original Troubadour Blog and came across photos from the Honor's Night of August 2016 and had this overwhelming urge to share them with you today. All of you Voyager Volunteers know these people.  I'm sure you'll enjoy seeing them back in the day when they were young black shirt volunteers just like you earning their honors and Royal Blues.  Sit back, relax and have some fun with this window back in time nearly 8 years.....

     Did you know that the Voyager Club has an organization for students in the 3rd - 5th grade called The Young Astronauts?
The Space Place at Renaissance Academy has over 100 Young Astronauts enrolled in this year's club.  They are divided into squadrons of 8-10 members each.  Each squadron begins a Long Duration Mission (LDM) every September. The missions take place aboard the Starship Voyager. The missions in sometime during April and May.   The LDM is one mission divided into 7 episodes.  The Young Astronauts do one episode per month.  Their missions are supplemented with lessons in space history, astronomy, math, and science. 
     Today we congratulate the 4th Grade Lion Squadron on a fantastic finish to their mission into the Cardilir Neutral Zone to study the star Betelgeuse.  They almost went down when the star went supernova (notice all the smoke on the bridge) but managed a daring escape at the last second.    

     I enjoy spending a few minutes at night looking at TikTok.  I have several friends who I follow.  Last night I found the Lions Gate TikTok and watched a few of the postings.  The thought that ran through my mind as I watched was how similar all the space center are in Utah Valley.  You would expect that considering they were all started by former volunteers and staff from the mother center, the Christa McAuliffe Space Center in Pleasant Grove.   I put a few of the postings together in a short video.  Please watch and see for yourself how similar we are in our approaching to operating starship simulators. 
     Members of our Voyager Club, my goal is to provide opportunities for our Voyagers to visit the other centers to learn about them and perhaps see a demo of how their starships operate.  We are all a part of Space EdVentures (that's the umbrella term I use for the space centers and Mission.io - InfiniD). 
     Without further comment, let me show you The Lion's Gate Space Center.      

     James Porter has been working morning, noon, and night on the Space Center's newest laser show featuring the music of Taylor Swift.  The hard work paid off.  The crowd loved the show. Most of them started singing along to the music.  Book your tickets today by visiting the Space Center's website.  [email protected]

     The Space Place Team is proud of our 5 third grade Young Astronaut Club squadrons.  This is their first year in the club so it is a big deal when they finish the school year long space mission in the Starship Voyager.  This year they had a difficult mission.  They were tasked with taking Prince Horace from House Piddleweek of Uck back to his home planet.  Horace, along with his body guard Dweeb, were on a galactic wide tour of the Galactic Houses. 
     The 3rd Grade Lions finished their mission last week.  Here they are pictured on the Voyager's Bridge with their captain, the brave and strong Captain Bracken Funk.  All 3rd grade missions are captained by either Bracken, a member of staff, or an older Voyager volunteer. 
     The Space Place at Renaissance Academy has nearly 200 students enrolled in the Young Astronauts and Voyager Clubs. They meet monthly after school for long duration missions (LDM's) and classes on space science and general astronomy.  

     Many ask were we get the inspiration for our missions.  You won't believe the answer, but it comes from beyond.   There is something magical about the Voyager's Bridge.  It has a direct neural link to universe itself. The ship's security cameras caught staff members receiving messages from the great expanse recently.  Bracken (left) was looking for an idea for a new summer story.  He has one now.  Canon (center) was hoping for help with his After Effects computer designs.  He is helping animate a new mission.  Livy (right) wasn't happy with her answer and won't tell us what her question was. 
     Isn't having a smoke machine on the bridge a fun thing?!  

Hello,
     We are enjoying the last day of Spring Break . I noticed most of the simulators were closed or running a reduced schedule last week thus giving everyone a much needed vacation from the day to day.  I spent the week catching up on the "ToDo's" that build up over the last several months.  
     With the ship's on a reduced schedule, there is very little news to report so how about we take a quick time machine trip and go back to 2008 and read a post from the archives. 
Sunday, April 20, 2008.
     In this post you'll read about....
             1)  The schedule we kept on the weekly Friday to Saturday Overnight Camps. 
             2) The switch in training methods the Space Center made over Spring Break. A true historical milestone.
             3) An update on the new Phoenix simulator controls
             4) An update on replacing dry wall in the Voyager because of a leaky school roof. 
     Fasten your seat belt, our time machine will blast off in 3......2......1.......
 
April 20, 2008.   Space Center News Update
By Mr. Williamson
Space Center Director
​
     The Space Center will return to business as usual on Monday. I enjoyed my Spring Break. I slept in most days to 6:30 A.M. which is unusual. I’m developing some pretty strange habits when I haven’t got one thousand things to accomplish in a day. Having a Friday evening off was something to be worshipped. At 7:00 P.M. on Friday I looked at the clock. I knew exactly where I would normally be at the start of an overnight camp. I would be sitting at the Sign In Table asking 45 students if their names were spelled correctly.
     “Yes,” would be the normal response.
     “Are you staying here tonight or going home?” would be my next question. Some campers don’t understand that question. I get that ‘are you stupid’ look. They are thinking that if this is an overnight camp why would you be asking that question? I don’t want to take the time to explain that some children go home to sleep.  “Are you staying here tonight or going home?” I ask again.
     “Staying here,” is the normal response once they’ve put away the ‘I don’t understand’ look.
     I find their names and check them off the list. “Take this set of rules and read them. When you finish return the paper to the desk. Keep your rank paper, You’ll be asked for it later. You can have a seat over there,” I say pointing to the stage steps. The campers rush to the steps to unite with their friends.
     At 9:00 P.M. on Friday I looked at the clock once more. Normally my security walk would be finished by that time. I enjoy my walk around the school. The evening air is fresh and its quiet. The school is, for the most part, locked up tight. Occasionally I’ll find one of the trailer doors unlocked.
     Most of the simulators would be well into their missions by 9:00 P.M. I take a minute at 9:00 P.M. and check the Magellan and Voyager to see if they have started. I want all simulators in flight by 9:00 P.M. and the Magellan and Voyager always push that rule. Sometimes their missions briefings go too long. Sometimes the kids took too long to train. Last Friday I was in bed at 10:30 P.M. During a camp I’d be still at my desk working at 10:30 P.M. At 11:00 P.M. I meet with the kids again and give them their snack.
     At 11:30 P.M. I’m assigning the boys a place to sleep either in the Voyager or on the cots in the gym. I’m explaining the overnight rules. I’m showing them the fire exits. I reminding them where I sleep (on a pad on the floor in front of my desk in the Briefing Room) in case they need to find me during the night. I explain again where their two chaperons can be found in case of trouble. I request their help - explaining that if they let us sleep we will do a better job running the simulators for them in the morning. I’m turning down the lights at 11:40 P.M. Most of the time the boys will be good and go to bed.
     At midnight I tell the staff to go to bed. The female staff go to their sleeping zone (or go home). The male staff usually sleep in the Odyssey or in the Magellan (or go home). I monitor the hallways for 20 minutes or so as the staff ready for bed. By 12:30 A.M. the halls of the school are empty. I go to my desk and collapse on my pad. I sleep lightly so I can respond to trouble. Some boys will bypass the chaperons and come to me if they’re sick, or have thrown up, or are homesick. Some wake me wondering where the school’s bathrooms are.
     I’m up at 6:00 A.M. to clean up. Sometimes I need to make a quick trip to WalMart to pick up the donuts for breakfast. I get the staff up at 6:40 A.M. We have our Saturday Morning Staff Meeting at 7;00 A.M. and at 7:15 A.M. we wake the kids up.
     You see how much I enjoyed my Friday night off!? It was awesome going to bed at 10:30 A.M. and sleeping in on Saturday morning.

 ​
We’ve Gone Digital!
     I want to thank Sheila Powell, a teacher at the Space Center, for taking the Magellan, Voyager, and Odyssey’s training tapes home over the vacation to digitize them and burn them to CD. I’m moving our simulators from cassette tape training to CD or Mp3.
     The Phoenix is currently training by Mp3 player. On Monday we open with most of the Voyager’s stations on Mp3 training. The Mp3 players are tricking to turn on. They don’t rewind so if the student misses something he must stop the player, raise his hand, and have us help.
     It was revolutionary when we went from hand training to tape training fifteen years ago. This next step will be more time saving then revolutionary. No more rewinding the tapes. No more having tape players eat the tapes. No more using your finger to wind a tape that the machine nicely unwound for you. No more dealing with the cheap tape players.
​     Campers, look forward to digital training for your next visit to the Space Center.

Maintenance Update
     Megan Warner gave up a large part of her Spring Break to work on the Phoenix. She came in and took apart the Phoenix’s bridge to deep clean and paint. Megan sets the example for all Set Directors on the proper way to care for a simulator.
     Spenser R. has been hired as the Space Center’s Asst. Director of Maintenance. He will work with Kyle Herring’s direction. Spenser spent several hours tearing out the bunks in the Captain’s Quarters. The Voyager’s ceiling sprung a leak during the winter. Each time the snow melted the water would leak into the Captain’s Quarters. The ceiling and one wall was damaged. The roof was repaired a month ago.
     Spenser found mold on the sheet rock when he checked the way last week - a result from getting soaked by the leaking roof. I ordered the wall and a part of the ceiling torn out and rebuilt. I don’t want a camper to have an asthma attack because of mold growing on the opposite side of a sleeping wall. Giving our campers and students a safe and clean environment is one of the Space Education Center’s primary goals.

Programming Update
     Alex A, the Space Education Center's boy genius, was in during the Spring Break to work on the new Phoenix ship controls. He is getting close to the finish line. He promises the controls will be ready for beta testing in May and full deployment for the first summer camps. Thanks Alex for going the extra mile.

Let’s Get to Work
     OK troops, the vacation is over. We have thousands of students and campers ready and waiting to come to the Center for their field trips, birthday parties, and camps. Let’s get back to work rested and excited to give them the best experience possible.
     We are the only place in the world that does what we do. That can, at times, be a hindrance. Without competition there is no external source to motivate us to do a better job. To improve we must motivate ourselves. We must maintain and strengthen what we do right and change and adapt to fix what doesn’t work.
     Self motivation requires more mental fuel than motivation from an outside source. Staff, remember coming to the Center when you were younger. Do you remember the excitement? Now, recreate that for the students coming to you.

Thanks to all,
Mr. Williamson

     Galileo Flight Director Orion and his three Voyagers held the fate of Renaissance Academy's The Space Place in his hands on Friday.  Into his ship did the adult staff venture.  Making up the crew were Bracken Funk, Space Place Director and his highly trained, brilliant band of Troubadours:  Megan, Lejana, Tom, and Livy.  Orion's Voyagers were Preston, Jaxon, and Henry.  Henry was particularly excited to volunteer because he is both a Christa McAuliffe Space Center and The Space Place Voyager.  He is a member of both clubs.  Henry asked to work this mission so he could see Bracken and team take it instead of always giving it out. 
      I couldn't stay for the mission so I don't know how they did story wise, however I did talk to Bracken briefly. He said they completed the mission and had a blast.  He had nothing but praise for Orion and team.    
     It's fun for one space center to host another center's staff for a mission.  Perhaps we should start a mission exchange program.  One simulator's staff swap a mission with another space center staff. It is a great way for our people to get to know one another.  And, if everyone has an open mind, and realizes that we are all in this together, we can learn from each other.  Remember, one bad experience at any simulator at any space center reflects on us all. We should learn from each other, help each other, inspire each other, most importantly, just have some fun.