Space Exploration Celebration 2010

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The seventh annual Space Exploration Celebration (counting the first six Apollo / Saturn V Reunion events, before the renaming) was a great success this past Friday evening.

Thanks to recent events, the requisite “State of the Union” of NASA/MSFC was not as depressing as it could have been. Marshall Space Flight Center Director Robert Lightfoot gave an enthusiastic talk about where Marshall is headed, or could be, depending on how things shake out in Washington.

Robert Lightfoot Speaks at Space Exploration Celebration 2010

The focus at this year’s event was to celebrate the 92nd birthday of George Mueller! Normally, people would give him gifts on his birthday, but he brought one heck of a gift with him for the Space & Rocket Center to display. When he retired from the Marshall Space Flight Center, Dr. Wernher von Braun gave him a very beautiful wood carving, highlighting the dream that Dr. Mueller worked so hard to help realize.

Wood Carving - Gift from von Braun to George Mueller

The carving will be placed in glass on put on display at the Space Center.

Plaque on Wood Carving - Gift from von Braun to George Mueller

Dr. Jan Davis was also on hand to present a replica of the Space Mirror Memorial.

Space Mirror Replica

And, of course, despite the name change, everyone was still there to celebrate the awesome accomplishments of those that worked so hard to get us to the Moon!

Apollo Program Workers Group Photo

I commented on this before in my Star Wars Exhibit review, but having seen the Davidson Center again after some number of months, it bears repeating: The Space & Rocket Center hasn’t looked as good as it does in years! They’ve really made some improvements to the place! New paint and pavement is everywhere, and exhibits are getting properly straightened out. Well done, indeed!

Nicer Exhibits at USSRC

Is That All There Is?

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Tonight I went cruising by Space Camp’s website, looking for a digital copy of the 2010 brochure, as I have yet to get hold of a hard copy for the year.

Boy was I disappointed to find this sorry excuse of a program guide.

It’s a tri-fold brochure, effectively two page display, very light on information.

Granted, perhaps I just have too fond of memories of receiving the program guide in the mail, paging through it, dreaming of all of the things I’d get to do at Camp.

It’s certainly possible that this is just a reflection of the way business is done these days. It wouldn’t surprise me if I were to learn that the vast majority of new campers learn about camp now from the website as opposed to ordering the brochure in the mail.

If that’s the case, perhaps it’s not as important to put out a quality, informative brochure as it one was.

Nevertheless, it was quite a disappointment to see it.

Space Camp HoF, Class of 2010 Announced

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I’m definitely behind on this one, so you may know already, but Space Camp has officially released the names of each of the four who will be inducted into the Space Camp Hall of Fame.  A short bio has been given as well for each person and is reprinted here.

Space Camp Alumnus

Francis French – Director of Education at the San Diego Air & Space Museum; 1989 Graduate of the Space Academy Level II program; met his future wife at Space Academy Level II

Former Space Camp Staff Member

J. David Hnyda – U.S. Army Aviator; scheduled to attend the Navy Test Pilot School in Maryland over the next 12 months; Advanced Space Academy counselor 1997-1999

Dr. Andrea Hanson – Post-doctoral Research Scientist/Engineer at the University of Washington; currently the project coordinator to develop bone health monitoring hardware for use during future lunar mission; Advanced Space Academy Counselor 2000 & 2002

Friend of Space Camp

Danny Jaques – As a science teacher he has coordinated and brought school groups from southwest Colorado since 1994; graduate of the 2002 Space Academy for Educators program

The induction ceremony will be held on August 20, 2010 at the Davidson Center for Space Exploration at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center.

Space Exploration Celebration in Two Weeks

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The Space Exploration Celebration, formally known as the Apollo / Saturn V Reunion, will be held in two weeks on July 16, 2010!

Tickets are $25 and can be purchased online or at the Space & Rocket Center (or at the Marshall Exchange Shop if you have access to MSFC). Though the June 30th deadline to get tickets for $20 has passed, as of this writing, they’re still for sale on the website at $20.00 each. If you get your order in before it changes, I’m quite confident the price will be honored.

This year’s noted guest is Dr. George Mueller! That’s really quite a get for this event!Space Exploration Celebration 2010 Invitation

Star Wars lands at USSRC

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Star Wars Where Science Meets ImaginationAfter a year of hype, hoopla, pomp, and promotion, Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination has finally arrived at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center.

Thanks to one wonderful staffer at the Space & Rocket Center (you know who you are), I was able to go through the exhibit today during a special “Media Morning” event (hey, you’re reading this, aren’t you…fair play)!

Does the exhibit live up to the hype, or has the Space & Rocket Center sullied its name by bringing a commercial show to Huntsville?

Star Wars at USSRC

First, I must comment on the impressive assortment of costumes seen around the Space & Rocket Center. Storm Troopers abound, along with a Leia or two, a few Darth Vaders, and many other Rebel and Imperial forces were seen around the Space Center today! And all of the costumes were as impressive and detailed as what’s behind the glass cases in the exhibit!

Stormtroopers at USSRC

If there were any worries when the exhibit was announced a little over a year ago, it was that the Space Center might have gone for something a bit gimmicky and unrelated to the U.S. Space & Rocket Center’s core mission of using our space-faring history to educate the public.

And this is a legitimate concern. Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination certainly comprised of bit more imagination than Science, but that’s not to say it’s not a perfectly legitimate attraction to bring to The Space & Rocket Center.

It’s definitely about two parts imagination:

Star Wars - Two Parts Imagination

to one part Science:

Robotics Today Display

If nothing else, it’s bound to bring even more visitors to the Space Center than the NASCAR IMAX movie could.

Line of People Waiting for Star Wars Exhibit

If the line at 9am this morning, the first Saturday of the exhibit, is any indication, the Star Wars exhibit will do exactly that. People will make the drive to the Center, pay $30.00 to see the exhibit, and for that fee, get to see what the rest of the museum has to offer as well. It’s not a bad proposition.

And if you’re thinking of attending with children, there’s quite a few activities that will keep them busy, including this floating car lab where they can put together a car to levitate as well as move with magnets.

Floating Car Lab

Another activity includes programming a robot:

Build a Robot Display

and other activities will keep your kids (or yourself) occupied for some time.

Ultimately the decision to bring this exhibit and future exhibits (A Chronicles of Narnia traveling exhibit is next, with a CSI exhibit to follow) to the “old” museum building is probably correct. After the Davidson Center opened, they just never put a whole lot of artifacts back into the old place to fill the void (I remember a certain SkyLab trainer that used to fit quite nicely in that room), so it’s nice to see people filling the old museum once again.

And, ultimately, it’s a really nice attraction to have at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center. A great deal of work went on at the Center to get things ready for the exhibit and it really shows.

If you’re a Star Wars fan and haven’t seen the exhibit one of its previous destinations, you should visit all of the costumes and props from some of your favorite movies (and not so favorite movies) at least once.

And if you have kids, there will be quite a bit to keep them busy and entertained.

But be prepared to leave with some Star Wars merchandise:

Gift Shop Full of Star Wars Merchandise

Max-Q Confirmed for 2010 HoF Induction

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What unfortunately couldn’t be done last year has now been confirmed for this year!

Max-Q, the intrepid band of astronaut musicians, will perform at the 2010 Space Camp Hall of Fame Ceremony.

Though it is a shame that there will be no alumni camp this year to provide a great excuse to come visit, this is certainly another fantastic reason!

STS-131 crew member, Space Camp alumnus, and Hall of Fame member, Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger had been confirmed for the 2010 Hall of Fame event for some time. As the current front-woman for Max-Q, the idea to get the whole gang to Huntsville for this event was on the minds of many. And so shall it be!

It has long been my personal hope to have Max-Q perform at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center for some time. Their music really isn’t recorded anywhere and I think it would be a great idea to record their performance at the 2010 Hall of Fame to be made into a CD for fundraising purposes. It’s a good idea.

But one can never be sure if the powers-that-be will act upon a good idea. So if you want to hear the musical stylings of Max-Q, you better get yourself to the 2010 Space Camp Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony on August 20, 2010.

STS-131 Crew Visit

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Some very lucky Space Camp trainees were able to go to Marshall Space Flight Center today to sit in on the STS-131 crew visit!

Commander Alan Poindexter, Pilot James Dutton, Mission Specialist 1 Richard Mastracchio, and Mission Specialist 3 Stephanie Wilson were kind enough to spend some time with some of the trainees from Space Camp this week as well as some very enthusiastic NASA-folk!   Unfortunately, STS-131 crew member, Space Camp alumnus, and Hall of Fame member, Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger could not make the trip.

STS-131 Crew at Marshal Space Flight Center
A few of the Space Camp for Educator counselors snuck over to MSFC as well, including Space Camp Hall of Fame member, Dan Oates.

The crew brought along a highlight reel of their mission and took questions and, after the show was over, they were kind enough to stick around and sign autographs!

STS-131 Crew Reel at MSFC

Also noteworthy was the Q&A session that was held, especially when the astronauts were asked about the impending retirement of the Space Shuttle fleet:

Space Camp Hall of Fame 2010

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Hall of Fame 2010 LogoAs the August 20, 2010 date for the 2010 Space Camp Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony continues to close in, it’s worth mentioning that nominations are currently being solicited.

The nominations are due in by May 6, 2010 so as to give Space Camp enough time to sort though all of the excellent candidates and choose those that will make it into the fourth class of Space Camp Hall of Fame inductees.

So if you know someone worthy of consideration, and they meet one of the three categories, be sure to get a nomination form in for them!

Another Day in Paradise

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It seems Dottie will be getting an extra day in orbit as STS-131 has had their mission extended a day to allow for extra time to inspect Discovery’s heat shield.

From SpaceFlightNow:
When the Ku-band system is working, they will actually do that late inspection after they have undocked and that will clear the thermal protection system for entry. Since we need to use the ISS Ku-band system to downlink all those files and the video, obviously we need to do that before they have undocked. So we needed to have the time to perform those inspections.

I guess she’ll just have to cope with the delay! Somehow, I think she and the rest of the crew will manage.

Politics and Social Media, Part Deux

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Al Whitaker, Media Relations Director at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center, saw my post from yesterday critiquing the Space Center for mixing politics into its social media efforts and has swiftly taken action to rectify the situation!

As requested, here is his response, reposted here in full:

Vince,

Touché! Your editorial, “Politics and Social Media”, was unfortunately right on the mark and deserving of an explanation.

We have, as of late, been making more of an effort to engage the social media channels as a means of communicating with our campers, customers and those like you and I, who love the space program. For me personally, Facebook has become something of a hobby as well as a means of connecting with old friends, some business associates and posting an occasional rant or news item about current events.

Some time before the Space Center officially embraced the idea, several of us, independently and on our own accord, started our own Space Camp or Space & Rocket Center page with the idea of promoting the Center and its programs. In addition to creating the U.S. Space & Rocket Center page on Facebook, I also had, at one time, a Space Camp page. However, I focused my efforts on my personal page and the other pages I created just basically sat there.

Several months ago, our Marketing Department began making an organized and concerted effort to create a presence on sites like Facebook and Twitter, and there are now several employees here who’s job it is to frequently check and update those sites as necessary. In fact, one of them used Twitter extensively from the Kennedy Space Center this week to update followers on the launch of STS-131 and our first Space Camp grad to fly in space. I was asked, and readily agreed several months ago to relinquish my Space Camp page to the Center in an effort to avoid confusion and have only one official Space Camp page on Facebook. Today, I’m proud to say, it’s thriving! Unfortunately, at that time no thought was given to my other page.

Late this week, one of our computer gurus sat down with me to help iron out a couple of Facebook issues and we found the U.S. Space & Rocket Center page I had created. Being reminded it was there is why only one update has been posted to the page since its creation, and that was the update on the moonbuggy races Friday.

So, as of yesterday, Andrew, the computer guru I mentioned, is one of the administrators of the U.S. Space & Rocket Center page on Facebook, and other employees will be added next week as this becomes one of our official pages. The favorite page you referenced has been removed because as you correctly pointed out, sitting all alone as it was it seemed inappropriate and quite one-sided. Fact is, that’s not the place for political statements or endorsements of any kind and none will follow.

Vince, I honestly appreciate you bringing this to our attention so the appropriate action could be taken. This page is in its infancy and it’s my hope we can further develop it into a tool that will promote interest in Space Camp, the Space Center, its programs and exhibits, and for that matter the manned space flight program in general. I hope you will continue to monitor our efforts and bring any other concerns to our attention. If I may ask, would you consider posting this to your website so that others who read your original post will have our explanation, also. Thank you.

Regards,

Al Whitaker