American Dynasty

Did that headline capture your attention?  Are you curious what is this addition to the Space Center?  Let me say that it isn't a new simulator........ sorry to dash your hopes.  So if it isn't a new simulator, and according to the headline it may be the best addition to the Space Center yet, What Could It Be?  I'll answer with this photo  You're thinking the new addition are these great looking young people sitting in the planetarium's lobby.  Of course they are awesome and according to you, good looking; but they are NOT the greatest addition to the Space Center yet.   The clue is the phrase "sitting in the lobby" I wrote in the paragraph above.  I'll write that once more - "sitting in the lobby".  Do you get it now?   THE GREATEST ADDITION TO THE SPACE CENTER YET ARE THE NEW LOBBY SEATS!  And anyone who has had to wait in the lobby for an extended period of time for a ride, or a show to end, or waiting for a crew to fin...

     The best harvest season for new Flight Directors at the Christa McAuliffe Space Center is at the end of the summer space camp season. Summer is the perfect fertile ground to grow new Flight Directors, with daily camps of 52 campers running 2.5 to 8 hour long missions.  Daily camps mean many opportunities to learn and practice the skills needed to be successful in the Control Rooms' First Chairs.       Local Flight Director Farms Announce a Bumper Crop of New Flight Directors reads the headline of the latest edition of Starfleet Farming Today.  Yes, this summer's space camp growing season was busy, but the hard work of tilling the soil, planting the seeds, nurturing the growth, battling the weeds of nerves and time along with infestations of self doubt and shyness has yielded a fantastic crop of new, young, Flight Directors harvested to occupy the Control Rooms' First Chairs for years to come.        The Odyssey's Far...

It is my honor and pleasure to introduce the Space EdVenturing community to the newest Space Center baby. His name is Boston. He is the son of Bradyn and Jacqueline Lystrup. The title "Space Center Baby" is bestowed on those younglings born to parents who met and fell in love as Space Center volunteers or staff. Bradyn and Jacqueline met at the Christa McAuliffe Space Center where they both worked first as volunteers and then as staff. Braydn was a flight director and Jacqueline a supervisor. Jacqueline works as an RN in the maternity ward at the American Fork Hospital. Bradyn is a teacher at Canyon Grove Academy in Pleasant Grove. As part of his teaching duties, Bradyn runs the school's Everest Starship simulator where he puts the school's students on InfiniD Learning's simulator modules. Let's hope baby Boston grows up and continues his parent's legacy as a Space Center volunteer and member of staff. Who knows, we may have a Sp...

  Saint Sheila Powell escorting a group of field trip students to the simulators from their restroom break.  Sheila and Lorraine Houston were the dream team of Space Center field trip instructors back in the day.  Sheila had recently retired as a sixth-grade teacher from the Jordan School District when I convinced her to come join our staff as a field trip teacher. Those years rest nicely on my memory.  Hello Space Center Family, Our dear, gifted, and beautiful friend and former Space Center educator Sheila Powell passed away on July 29th. Her many contributions as a teacher in Jordan District, the Utah Geography Alliance, and the Christa McAuliffe Space Center made a difference for good in the lives of thousands of children and her coworkers. She retired from the Space Center in 2011 to fight her final great battle against Parkinson's disease. Only something like that could force her to leave the Center. It was her home away from home. It gave her a chance to combi...