Happy 33rd Birthday to the Christa McAuliffe Space Center! See the Original Starship Controls. Imaginarium Theater

On November 8, 1990, ago the Space Center opened its doors to the world with a massive open house and dedication program.  Hundreds of people attended. The lines to tour the Starship Voyager stretched all the way down the hallway of Central School.  We filled the school's gym for the program. Our guest speaker was Senator Jake Garn, Utah's Senator who went into space aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery in 1985.  

Fast forward thirty-three years to today.  Writing as the founder, I want to say thank you to the many hundreds of staff and volunteers who've worked hard over the decades to make the Space Center what it is today; and thank you to the hundreds of thousands of people who've attended a Space Center field trip, camp, private mission, class, etc. for your support.

My inspiration to build the first starship Voyager at Central School in 1989-1990 was rooted in the classroom starship I operated from 1983-1990. The classroom simulator was simple; student desks, poster board controls, a boom box cassette player, an overhead projector, overheads, and a good story. We did our classroom deep space explorations as part of my sixth grade curriculum. More elaborate simulations were used for my Young Astronaut Chapter meetings. Instead of using my classroom, we set up our desks and poster controls in the gym and used the entire school as our starship. 

The original paper helm station for the classroom starship Pegasus.

     I'm often asked, "How did this place [the Space Center] get started?" It's a story I've shared hundreds of times over the last thirty years. Many of you Troubadours know the story so I'll be brief.  
     Spring 1983. Because of a clerical mistake at BYU, my 3rd grade student teaching assignment in Springville was mistakenly given to another student. I was called into the education department office and asked if I'd be kind enough to take a 6th grade student teaching position at Central Elementary School in Pleasant Grove. Mr. Mike Thompson was to be my cooperating teacher. I didn't know where Pleasant Grove was but gladly took the assignment; I liked the 6th grade curriculum and the more mature students.

     

My 6th Grade Student Teaching Class. Mr. Thompson is on the left. Mr. Emal (principal) on the right.
This was their class picture taken in September 1982

     Mr. Thompson asked me to teach the space science unit.  Knowing this unit would make up a large part of my student teaching grade, I wanted to impress my professor with something out of the box and unusual.  I decided to copy Carl Sagan's Cosmos TV series and take the class out into space to witness first hand what I was teaching. Classroom computers were unheard of in the Spring of 1983 so I created poster board controls for the student's desks. I drew most of my visuals (tacticals) on overhead projector plastic 81/2 by 11 sheets and ran the simulations from behind my desk with an overhead projector. My cassette player boom box provided the music. My voice did the sound effects and different voices and accents for my main engineer, computer, and aliens.  

     That spring, the class and I took several voyages into space.  The professor was impressed and gave me an A.  Mr. Thompson enjoyed it and wrote me up a glowing recommendation.  My student teaching ended with a job offer. Mr. Frandsen, the other sixth grade teacher in room 20, announced his retirement and the job was offered.  The rest, as they say, is history.

The poster board weapons and engine controls. The wear and tear speaks of the many missions and hours of fun
this poster provided my students over those many years.

     The poster board controls for the USS Pegasus were easy to use. The student spoke the button's name while pushing the button.  From behind my desk, I'd year the student and make the appropriate sound whilst searching through my stack of overheads for the right visual effect.  

These young Starfleet officers are in their mid early 50's today

Here you go, the USS Pegasus sensors station.

The ship's transporter station. Yes, the dials actually spin

The navigation station. I used water based markers to hand draw a map of the sector on the plastic covered top section.
The students used rulers and protractors to plot and speak their courses.

  

One of the engineering posters for the USS Pegasus.

The communications poster controls.

The inspiration for my classroom simulations came from Carl Sagan's television series "Cosmos" which aired in 1980. I watched Cosmos while I was a student at BYU on a small 12 inch black and white TV.  In Cosmos, Carl Sagan ventured deep into space aboard his starship to inspire the American public to look up and realize where life originated and where it can go. Even today I'll rewatch the opening to Cosmos on YouTube and feel the same feelings I did then.

  

The Space Center's mission is the same as it was on our opening day in 1990, we work to create a space-faring civilization.

Carl Sagan said, "Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known".  Perhaps that something is ourselves, and the knowledge that we are all one, woven together into the eternal fabric of time and space.  

Ad Astra!

Victor  

A few of the Space Center Volunteers Created this Short Birthday Celebration Showing the Current Fleet of Six Starships: Cassini, Magellan, Phoenix, Odyssey, Galileo, and Falcon

Imaginarium Theater

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