Kyson with his volunteers after completing his last mission on the Phoenix
Kyson Miles Retires From the Space Center to go on an LDS Mission
Another one of the Space Center's great flight directors has returned to Earth after having served several hears in space service.
Kyson started as a young volunteer in June 2019 and after five years of dedicated work and commitment, achieved one of his Space Center goals - to become a Phoenix Flight Director. That promotion was given in December 2024.
Kyson, on his promotion to Phoenix Flight Director
I most often ran into Kyson on Saturdays when I'd arrive to do my Voyager Club business. He was a regular lobby desk person. I'd walk in and immediately hear, "Mr. Williamson, how are you doing?" Who could ever reply, "Rotten," to that kind of a friendly greeting :) Needless to say, his happy greeting was the proper way to start the day for the me, for the staff, for the volunteers, and our guests.
After his mission, Kyson plans to go to university to study aeronautical engineering. "I'm heading into space," he told me when I asked him about his future plans, so there is the chance Kyson may return to the flight director's chair upon his return to Utah.
All of us at the Space Center wish Kyson the very best and look forward to his return.
Alex Anderson, Creator of the Space Center's Thorium Software, Talks About Mission Writing at the Voyager Club's August Meeting
Alex, Making an Important Point, During the Voyager Club Meeting
Saturday, August 30, 2025
8:00 A.M.
The Voyager Club meeting started with Bingo! The big winner this month was Simon, one of the Space Center's newest members of the Voyager Club and a new volunteer. Simon kept winning and winning, much to the annoyance of those around him.
Bingo with Eavie and Alex
8:30 A.M.
The meeting was formally called to order by Eavie, president of the club. Her first item of business was to introduce the membership to the club new vice president, Alex Jensen.
Eavie Introducing Alex, the Voyager Club's New Vice President
There were lots of cheers and applause at the announcement. It appears Alex is a popular and well respected volunteer; someone the volunteers like to work with. Eavie made a good choice in selecting Alex as her VP.
The Voyager Club's Newest Members
The Voyager Club's newest members were brought up to the front and introduced to the membership. Six new members over the last month! We are pretty please about that - and they are all top notch young men who are excited to get started in the simulators. Could a future supervisor, flight director, or perhaps even a future Space Center Director be in this group? You never know......
Eavie turned the time over to me for announcements. I covered several topics with the limit of hours being number one on my list.
1. We need to limit the number of volunteering hours to two 2.5 hours or one 5 hour mission per month for September and October, or until the number of private missions increase.
2. The start of the Blender Animation classes coming soon.
3. The Stageworks Prop Building Electrical Engineering Workshop.
Alex Anderson did a discussion workshop on writing missions for a Space Center simulations. He discussed the do's and don'ts of successful simulator mission writing. He opened the discussion to the floor for member comments.
The topic of using AI as a flight director was introduced as Alex talked about his new software project called Thorium Nova. The question was, "Could AI be success as a flight director?" To demonstrate the concept, Alex used Intolerance as his guide. Could an AI play the part of the Pennou and do it successfully?
Alex brought up a member of the club who was familiar with the Intolerance mission and asked him to play the part of the Pennou captain. He stood with his back to the screen where the AI was working. Alex fed the AI all the mission parameters complete with character outlines and ultimate goals. The boy spoke and the AI responded as read by Alex. How did the AI do? I would give it a score of C- at best, but it was something Alex did on the spot in front of everyone. Could it have real potential? Yes, but I believe we are a few years away from having an AI smart enough to run a mission as long as a human FD were present to jump in as needed.
After the lesson we had our montly raffle drawing. Nearly $200 worth of prizes were given out. The next Voyager Club meeting will be the last Saturday in September. Jason Trump from Clark Planetarium will be the speaker.
StageWorks Electrical Engineering StageWorks Prop Building Class Has its First Meeting
Matt Long's Space Center Props Building Class held its first meeting on Saturday, August 30 at Noon. This is the second workshop. The first was held last school year. It covered prop design using 3D modeling.
This series of workshops will continue where the model building ended. Students will learn the basic of electricity and then use that knowledge to wire props with light and sound.
David Kyle Herring Reminisces About the Galileo II Starship From the Orginial Space Center
From his Facebook Page
Was about to power down for the night (guest room quarters tonight) when I stumbled across these old blueprints for the Galileo Mark VI shuttle.
Feels like a lifetime ago… back when I was a Fleet Admiral of Starfleet Engineering at the Christa McAuliffe Space Education Center.
I spent countless hours “constructing starships,” building bulkheads, wiring up control panels, and prepping crews for missions to boldly go where no seventh-grader had gone before.
Sometimes I joke that “in my other life, I used to build starships.” But looking at these plans tonight, I’m starting to think maybe that wasn’t a joke after all. Warp drive might’ve been simulated, but the memories? 100% real.
Victor, I’ll be back on the bridge someday, I just need a little more time in reality.
A Message and Update to the Space Center's Staff and Volunteers from Marissa Ohran
By Marissa Ohran
Flight Director and Supervisor (Retired)
I heard field trips started this week. I may have moved to the far away land of Georgia to do a post-bac program (it's like a miniature graduate program? a pre grad school program? The kind of program many people haven't even heard of. I basically get paid to do research for a short time, and I get to observe what grad school is like), but I am, at least for the time being, still somewhat aware of the happenings at my old stomping grounds. In the time leading up to my departure, I spent quite a bit of time reflecting on my time at the space center. From my very first space mission (almost 20 years ago!) to my very last. Some of those musings might find their way into another email if I happen to find the words, but in light of the new school year I wanted to share with you a particularly unique experience I had during this time last year (it's kind of long and rambly, sorry).
It was the beginning of the fall semester, and field trip preparations were well underway. I was surprised when I received a message from Mr. Porter with a special request: a teacher had asked if it would be possible to fly a mission entirely in Spanish. The kids would all be put in the same ship, and an aid would be with them on the bridge to help translate. I had learned the language during an 18 month religious sabbatical away from the center, and I was fairly confident in my ability to fly the Galileo as I regularly did for field trips. Not being one to back down from a challenge, I said I would do it. The biggest challenge being that I needed to make sure I had the resources necessary to give the kids the best experience I could provide.
I had 3 or 4 days to prep. My priority was to make sure they understood how to do what they needed to do and what their goals were, and that I was well equipped to provide assistance. If I'm remembering correctly, they didn't select a mission until I think the day before. So I first prioritized things that were not mission specific. I was often summoned to the various simulators to do hand training in Spanish, and at the time was working on a project to translate trainings into Spanish for use during the days I wasn't around. So it wasn't too difficult to write up instructions for each station in the days beforehand and then place the printed documents at the computers to minimize the need for hand training. There were still a handful of questions (there always are), but both the aid and I were able to help clarify things and training went smoothly. For the main computer I wrote up common phrases and had translations readily available in addition to practicing with them. In tackling the mission specific briefing and speaking roles, I ended up writing down (or at least practicing mentally) translations for multiple missions. I did as much as I could to get my brain in gear, and finally the day arrived.
They had selected Midnight Rescue, and I found out that the aid had gone over the briefing with the kids beforehand, so I asked them some review questions and when I was satisfied they were ready, joined the teacher in the control room to get things started. I was both excited and nervous. In some ways it was just like other field trips I've flown in the Galileo. But it was also extremely different. In introducing the need to pay extra attention to language and vocabulary, I had to trust my flight director instincts to handle things I was pulling attention away from. I had to balance things a bit differently than I normally would, and I learned a few things about my capabilities. I had a translator pulled up in case I forgot or came across new vocabulary that needed translating (some of the vocabulary I used I had only learned that week), and I directed a large portion of my focus towards the storytelling. The aid was on the bridge and she translated things like sensors data or long range messages, anything that the timeline sent through that I didn't have time in the moment to write a translation for. (Now that I think of it I think I even translated a few damage reports beforehand)
The kids were great. They were focused, and engaged, they asked for help when they needed it. They argued with the Interior Minister. They convinced the Klingons to help them. They got the briefcase and made it to the end of a successful mission. I honestly had so much fun flying for them. The teacher near the end commented to me how grateful she was that I was willing to give them the opportunity to experience a space mission in much the same way their classmates experienced theirs. In a language that they understood well enough to feel comfortable interacting. When I was learning Spanish, I often said (and I still feel this way) that I'm glad English is my first language, and not the one I'm learning, because English is a bit of a rollercoaster, and I think I would struggle with it if I didn't already speak it. I have a lot of admiration for anyone who attempts it. I myself was extremely grateful for the opportunity to fly for them, for a few reasons. I'm always excited for an opportunity to practice my language skills, and flying an entire mission in Spanish is one of those extremely rare opportunities. But even more than that, it reminded me why I was working at the space center in the first place, forced me to really think about why I was there, and look at how I was approaching work in my day to day. It can be really easy to fall into a monotonous routine when you're doing the same thing every day.
The crews are different, but the timeline is the same, the flow and transitions are the same, the music might be the same if you're flying from a playlist. The script. The same. It gets easy to turn on autopilot and just go through the motions. Especially if you've been flying the same mission every day for a week. For this flight, there was only a little bit of room for autopilot, which was really more muscle memory and instinct of what to do next for the purposes of telling the story. The unique circumstances of this flight and the short amount of prep time forced me to look at and prioritize the most important things not just to make it happen, but to make it the best experience I was capable of providing. I became a space center volunteer because I wanted to create the magic I had experienced many times in elementary school and onward. Magic doesn't come from going through the motions. It comes from commitment to your craft, and giving your all. It comes from a conscious effort to do your very best, even if what you have to give changes from day to day.
Witnessing firsthand the joy and excitement of a crew that I spent hours preparing to fly for was an excellent reminder of that concept. The preparation and time spent was all worth it. I flew a mission in Spanish. It wasn't perfect, some elements definitely fell by the wayside while I tried to keep up, some stalling was necessary so I could look up vocabulary, but I gave it my all and the kids' reactions told me everything I needed to know. We had an excellent time flying Midnight Rescue that day, and the knowledge that a one of a kind experience has been given to and shared by a crew is one of those things that kept me coming back excited to do it all again. It's the light in their eyes, the grins on their faces, the excited whispering because they know they're not supposed to be talking but they simply cannot believe what just happened to them. That's the magic of the space center. It was an honor and a privilege to be both a supervisor and a (field trip) flight director for so many years. I've had many experiences there that I won't forget, but I wanted to share this one because of what it meant and what it taught me.
Maybe I'm just sentimental because I'm far away and going through withdrawals, I'm not normally much of a talker but here I've practically written a novel lol. The space center has touched a lot of lives, and I have many cherished memories from over the years that take place in that building (the old one and the new one). I guess what I'm trying to say, is thank you.
Until next time,
Marissa
Imaginarium Theater
The Week's Best Videos From Around the World Edited for a Gentler Audience
