Starting the Computers on the First Starship Voyager. November 1990
I found this short video showing someone starting an old Mac Plus with a Scuzzy Drive. These are the computers we opened with on the first starship simulator the USS Voyager back in November 1990. You old timers who worked and volunteering back in the day nearly 34 years ago will remember these all too well.
Today's staff and volunteers should be impressed with how far we've come in over 3 decades. Something to note, the computers had 5 in screens and displayed in black and white only. These were the portable computers of their day. Each had a personality of its own. Some would start nicely, others had to be persuaded gently, while others still needed a good slap on the side to get the hard drive to spin and load Hypercard.
In the video below you'll see the startup of an original Mack Plus. I remember those sounds so well. Hearing that clicking meant the drive was working :). Another treat in this video is the printer. He is going to print something on an old Image Writer just like the one you see we had on the bridge pictured above. It was LOUD so everyone knew when a message was coming in from Starbase 12.
And without further delay, watch the start up sequence of the original Voyager computers. A New 5 Hour Mission on the Starship Voyager at The Space Place
Bracken Funk's new mission "Preserved" was told for the first time on June 27th at The Space Place in Lehi, Utah as a practice mission. Practice missions are like dress rehearsals. Crewing the mission were several former and current Voyager Club members who served and serve on the Voyager. Jackson was the captain.
Preserved is a five hour mission and, after a few modifications from information learned during the practice missions, will be ready to be used for an upcoming summer camp and for private group missions.
The mission was reviewed well by the crew. Several suggestions were given to improve timing, visuals, and acting rolls.
I stopped by The Space Place to see how the mission was progressing. I was happy to see the crew were all current and former Voyager Club members from Renaissance and all were former students of mine. I went onto the Voyager's Bridge to snap a few pictures of the crew in action (above) and a couple minutes of video. The Voyager Club's June Meeting at The Space Center
The Space Center's Voyager Club met on June 29th for its monthly meeting. Bingo for goodies starting things off from 8:00 - 8:30 A.M. Bingo is our way of motivating members to get to the meeting on time. Amberly called the meeting to order at 8:30 A.M.
New Voyager Explorers and Volunteers were called to the front to introduce themselves. As you can see, the Space Center has been busy onboarding new club members from the applicant waiting list. Our new Voyagers come from all over Utah County.
After new members were introduced, Amberly turned the rest of the meeting over to me for the lesson. Because we had so many new members present, I took some time to review the club's ranking and ID system. Afterwards, we discussed how effective Disney is at transitioning park visitors from the real world and onto the rides through a series of transitions as they move through the lines to board the rides. We would like to take the lessons learned from Disney and use some of the ideas to make a more effective transition from the main Space Center lobby to the Starbase below. We discussed visuals, sound effects, PA announcements, and character appearances. We watched a YouTube showing park visitors working their way through the line at Disneyland's Star Tours ride and noted how effective the PA announcements were at creating the illusion of being at a starbase preparing to board a transit. I showed several examples of PA announcements I had Chat GPT write, then asked the Voyagers to pair up and write a few of their own for Starbase Williamson. They did an excellent job. Now we need to find a way to incorporate the announcements into something usable at The Space Center.
All Voyager Club meetings end with a raffle drawing for prizes. The following items were given away at the meeting; a full desk mouse pad with phone charger and led lights, a drone with video camera, an LED frisbee, gift cards to Kneaders, Amazon, and Swig, planetarium tickets, and t-shirts.
Thank you to all our Volunteers and Explorers for attending. News on July's meeting will be posted to the club's Google Classroom. Lindsey Hatch is Our Newest Governor General
Lindsey Hatch received the rank of One Star Governor General on Friday. There aren't many Gov. Generals so Lindsey joins a small, elite club of Space Center greats. Her rank badge shows that she is in her 13th year as a volunteer / staff member. Her ID number shows her first mission as a volunteer was on the original Odyssey on July 31, 2012. She flew the old Odyssey's last mission before it was demolished during the Space Center's refit spanning the fall and winter of 2012-2013. Lindsey is an Odyssey Flight Director and is preparing to student teach at Central Elementary in the Fall of this year.
"What's been the highlight of your day so far?" is her copyrighted greeting; so be prepared to give her an answers if you see her coming toward you. In Honor of the Summer's First Gastronomic Discharge, I Present the Vomitcakes
The Space Center had its first Gastronomic Discharge (vomit) of the summer camp season last week. The Galileo had the honors and the horrible duty of clean up. To commemorate the event, I brought "vomitcakes" to share with the staff and volunteers (no, it wasn't planned and yes, I brought them on the same day). The vomitcakes are created using the following procedure.
1. Purchase cupcakes from your local supermarket. 2. Place them on the backseat. 3. Leave them in the hot sun for an hour or so. 4. As you drive to the Space Center, step on your brakes abruptly thus causing the cupcakes to fly onto the floorboard of the car - upside down. And there you have it - Vomitcakes. The cakes were enjoyed by the staff and volunteers so there was no waste. Finally, a reminder that no animals were harmed in the creation of the cakes. Mr. Williamson Imaginairum Theater.
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AuthorMy name is Victor Williamson. I founded the Christa McAuliffe Space Center in 1990. I current teach 6th grade at Renaissance Academy and am the Space Center Outreach Coordinator (I take care of the volunteers). You can reach me by email: [email protected] Archives
October 2024
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