The End of a Busy October at the Space Centers and Mission.io. Imaginarium Theater

The Christa McAuliffe Space Center

Just in time for Halloween came the Fright Flights and the planetarium Halloween laser show. They ran all weekend.  

The Space Place at Renaissance Academy

Flightmares on the Starship Voyager ran for the past two weekends.

October meant Flightmares at Renaissance Academy's The Space Place.  Bracken Funk, Megan Warner, and their crew of merry Renaissance Voyager Club members put together another one of Bracken's famous "Oops I've had an accident in my pants" missions for those who can't repeat "this is only a mission, this is only a mission," and believe it.  

Megan and some of The Space Place's Volunteers Prep for Saturday's Flightmares 

Our Friends at Mission.io

I did all day teacher trainings in Vegas. One school at a time. One faculty meeting at a time. Little by little we keep growing this thing. Most of the founding team is on the road this week promoting Mission.io in Florida, Nevada and Michigan. Next week is Wyoming for me. Give it five years and everyone in K12 education will know Mission.io.

Casey Voeks

The October Voyager Club Meeting

Hey, you old timers remember the early Saturday morning donut run for the overnight camps? Well, one Saturday per month the tradition continues, sort of. One Saturday every month I arrive at the Space Center early early on a Saturday morning with drink in hand and a wagon full of donuts and supplies for the monthly Voyager Club meeting. Our volunteers comprise the Voyager Club's membership.

I'm not the only one who shows up early on a Saturday when there is work to be done. Who do you think took this picture? Yep, James Porter, Space Center Director. Our motto, "There is too much to do and NO time to do it!"

The Imaginarium Theater

The Week's Best Videos From Around the World, Edited for a Gentler Audience

The Voyager Club's October Meeting at the Space Center. Nan Bryan Retires From the Space Center after Four Years of Dedicated Service. Imaginarium Theater

The Space Center's Voyager Club met for its monthly meeting on October 25, 2025 in the school's faculty room.  From 8:00 - 8:30 several games of Bingo were played with lots of prizes going out to the lucky winners.  Tyler Weight, the Voyager Club's Acting Department Head called a few games. That was a first for us. He did a great job with his commanding booming voice.   

The bingo game wrapped up at 8:30 A.M. for the meeting's official start.  Eavie and Alex, the club's president and vice president, opened the meeting and introduced new club members.

           New club member Brigham was introduced to the membership

After new members were introduced, the meeting continued with two workshops and a prize raffle.  Eavie taught a workshop on theatrical makeup. Tyler taught the second of two workshops on the proper way to be a great bridge doctor during missions.  Members who completed both doctoring workshops will have a personalized medical ID badge created for them to wear when they work in the simulators as the doctor character. 

Members who took the makeup workshop will have their rank/ID cards stamped. The stamp gives them exclusive access to the Space Center's makeup kit.    

Thank you Tyler, Eavie, and Alex for your presentations and thank you to all our Voyager Club members for attending.  The next meeting will be held the last Saturday of November.  

Nan Bryan Retires from the Space Center. She Walked Away from the Falcon with a Rousing Cheer From Her Last Crew.  

                       Nan with her last Staff and Volunteers.  October 24, 2025

Nan Bryan retired from active Space Service last Friday and will be heading planetside to live the life of a civilian. Her time at the Space Center was rewarding for her and an example of a postive, Can Do, attitude for all of us at the Space Center.  

She started as a volunteer in June 2021 and worked her way up through the ranks to supervisor and then flight director.  I had the privilege of working with her during my brief tenure as a Cassini flight director a few years ago.  She was great with the volunteers and staff, and superb with the crews.  She always had a smile and a "we will get through this" no matter what was happening in the ship.  

               Nan flying the Falcon for her last mission

Nan was holding down a few jobs over the last several months while trying to go to school. She discovered one important life lesson in juggling all of these commitments - you can't do everything. Sometimes you need to move on to accomplish life goals.  

                Nan, on the Falcon, for the Last Hurrah.

The Space Center community thanks Nan for sharing her time and talents with us.  We wish her all the best for the wonderful things that she will do in the years to come.  And So Say We All!

The video below if the last few minutes of Nan's final mission on Friday evening, October 24, 2025. The video ends with a fantastic final CHEER from her crew. What a way to go out Nan!  And on a personal note to Nan, you always know where I am on a Saturday afternoon in my chair, working on my computer in the Staff Room at the Space Center. Come by for a catch up visit any time. 

Mr. Williamson 

Imaginairum Theater

The Week's Best Videos From Around the World Edited for a Gentler Audience

You Have Died! This Sums It Up Pretty Well. The Space Center's First Logo - What It All Meant. From the Archives: The Troubadour Before the Blog. Mr. Williamson Could Get "Focused" on the Summer Camps. The Volunteering Manual from 2017. The Imaginarium

 

You Have Died. RIP for this Young Astronaut Squadron on the Starship Voyager

     All Flight Directors, Supervisors, and Volunteers know what that means for a crew in one of our many simulators.  Bracken Funk, director of The Space Place at Renaissance Academy, snapped this photo capturing the death sign's reaction from a 3rd grade group of new Young Astronauts on the Starship Voyager.  Bless their hearts, they tried soooo hard and BANG, Bracken, Megan, and the staff and volunteers on the Voyager hit them with the consequences for their decisions and actions.  What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right?  These Young Astronauts licked their wounds, suffered through Bracken's hideous Death Time Music torture, and returned to fight on.  

     The Space Place is well into the school year's Voyager and Young Astronaut Clubs after school program for nearly 200 students at Renaissance Academy in grades 3 to 9.  Bracken's 2025-2026 team consists of myself, Megan, and Lindsey.  We are also privileged to work alongside  our outstanding Voyager volunteers and supervisors.  

From the Archives.  A Look at the Space Center's Glorious Past in Pictures

The Space Center's First Logo and Stationary.  Circa 1990

     I had a local artist design the logo.  It looks a bit "funky" right?  To understand the logo you must understand the original mission of the first starship Voyager.  The Voyager was to be a multi-universe simulator. My goal at opening was to use the Voyager for outer space, ocean, inner body, and atomic scale missions.  You can see those mission elements in the first logo. 

Star: For outer space missions

Waves: For ocean (submarine) missions.

Atom: for inner space missions (body and atomic scale)

Flame: Represents the light of education

     That was 35 years ago this November 8.  Much has changed since then, yet the spirit of that first Space Center lives on in everything we do today.  Our mission remains what it has always been - to inspire new generations of students to look up and wonder.

     Carl Sagan once said, "Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known."  That thought continues to motivate me. I think of it often as I walk into the Space Center and work alongside the Center's amazing staff and volunteers who carry that same sense of curiosity and purpose.  

Ad Astra!

Mr. Williamson

From the Archives. The Troubadour, Before the Blog 2007

     Before The Troubadour Blog, I put our regular newsletters to the staff and volunteers. Here is an example of one of those newsletters from July 2007 highlighting things from that summer's space camps.  Look at the missions we ran that summer 18 years ago.  You'll recognize some of them.  

Mr. Williamson Had Little Patience During Those Summer Camps As Seen In This Post.  Today's Space Center Directors Can Sympathize I'm Sure

     

     The second part of the newsletter has me unloading on the staff and volunteers about attitudes.  Looking back on what I wrote, I think I was a bit too rough but remember, I worked nearly 100 hours per week at the Space Center during those summer months.  I was always frazzled, and the staff did a good job cooperating - most of the time :)

From the Archives:  The Volunteer Manual from 2017

The Imaginarium

The Week's Best Videos From Around the World, Edited for a Gentler Audience

    

Download the New Space Center EdVenture App. Construction Update on Two New Starships and a Space Station at the Lions Gate Space Center. Fright Flights. Imaginairum Theater

The Christa McAuliffe Space Center's New EdVenture App and Other Things

By James Porter

Director

We are excited to announce our NEW free EdVenture App, NEW laser shows, and many memorable space camp opportunities available this school year.

EdVenture App

You now have the ability to track which of our simulator missions you have completed aboard our starships.  Any officer logs and achievements from your explorations in space are also logged on our newly developed app.  This is the first stage in development as we work to enable crews to connect more fully with your experiences with us as well as other educational adventures.

Links to install the app and additional details can be found at https://spacecenter.alpineschools.org/edventure

John Williams: A Legacy in Laser

Our newest laser show opened this summer and we are excited to welcome more guests to enjoy music from some of your favorite movies. Star Wars, Harry Potter, Jaws, Indiana Jones, and Jurassic Park are a few of the titles we have chosen to match with the stunning effects of our laser light equipment.  Come see this family friendly experience and embrace the nostalgia as you share this unique experience together.

Tickets are $7 - https://spacecenter.alpineschools.org/laser

A special Halloween themed laser show is soon to be announced with limited showings at the end of the month.  Follow us on Facebook or Instagram for more details.

Space Camps

We are now offering limited Day Camps on several Saturdays throughout the school year.  These 9 hour long experiences can be signed up for as individuals or with friends.  Join us for challenges that will have participants ages 10-14 thinking critically, solving problems, and working together to face epic trials full of fun filled characters.

Register at https://spacecenter.alpineschools.org/camps/

October Fright Flights are also available as specialty camps where you can reserve one of our specific simulators and missions that have a scarier theme.

Thank you for your patronage

A question we often get asked is how our program has grown so much over the years.  We are able to do so because of patrons like you who continue to come and enjoy what we have to offer.  The revenue generated from birthday parties, camps, planetarium shows, and all the different activities we offer keep our program going. Those funds help support our field trips, volunteer activities, and content creation.

It takes a lot to create all of the different missions, software, and shows.  Your participation directly sustains the growth of our program and expands what we can offer.  Thank you, from all of us here at the Space Center, for your ongoing support.  The vast majority of our visitors come because someone else recommended our hidden space gem to them. 

www.instagram.com/asdspacecenter

www.facebook.com/asdspacecenter

Progress Continues on the Two New Starships and New Starbase at the Lion's Gate Space Center at Lakeview Academy at Saratoga Springs

By the Lion's Gate Staff

Progress is underway on the new ships! A lots happened in the past months. Too much to share in a single post, but I’ll try my best!

What once was a lawn is now flattened and filled with new structures! While construction on the ships themselves hasn’t started yet, the areas around them have. Walls are going up, and support beams for the expanded Lion’s Gate are starting to be placed! The most exciting update so far is the stairs visible in the last photo!

As you may know, the new station simulator will be on the second floor, and the newly installed stairs will lead to the new sim!

It’s amazing watching the future of the Lions Gate Space Center forming right before our eyes!

It is That Time of Year Again.......

Ensign Bradik sat alone by the ship’s engine core. The words of the ancient writer Arthur C. Clark echoed in her mind.

Two possibilities exist: Either we are alone in the universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.

Tightly Gripping the spanner, while hearing distant footfalls, she now knew the answer, too late for some of her crew.

Imaginarium Theater

The Week's Best Videos From Around the World Edited for a Gentler Audience

Mission.io Disrupts My Classroom: The Friday Showdown. Crumbl Cookes and the Balloon Sculptures at the Space Center. Lakeview Academy Starts the Inschool Field Trip Program at the Lion's Gate Space Center. Imaginarium Theater.

Mission.io vs. Math: The Friday Showdown

Friday is our short day at Renaissance Academy in Lehi. I teach four periods of math before school ends at 12:15 P.M. for early release. Friday’s lesson was on calculating percents — a topic that can challenge even the most determined sixth grader.

There I was, guiding my students through how to find the original price of a video game that’s on sale for $28.00 — a price representing a 35% discount. I was mid-demonstration, fully focused, when my concentration (and that of all 28 of my Period 1 students) was suddenly shattered by a chorus of screams, shouts, and cheers erupting from Mrs. Taylor’s science class next door.

I knew those sounds immediately. They were the same ones I’ve heard for the past 43 years from students running my simulated space missions in our starship simulators.

“What’s happening?” one of my students asked.

“They’re having fun,” another muttered as he slid dramatically down in his seat and slammed his pencil onto his worksheet — a gesture that, let’s be honest, was clearly directed at me.

“Curse you, Mission.io,” I mumbled under my breath.

Of course, I knew exactly what was going on. I had helped Mrs. Taylor set up the year’s first Mission.io simulation earlier that morning. I expected her students would enjoy it, but even I was caught off guard by their sheer excitement — and this is coming from students who attend a school that literally has the USS Voyager, the largest starship simulator in Utah County, parked right in the building.

At 10:00 A.M., I found myself outside with Mrs. Taylor during morning recess. I (very politely) informed her that her class was disrupting all four of my math periods. My complaint was entirely tongue-in-cheek, of course. Her apology, however, was not entirely sincere.

“These kids are loving these missions — and they’re actually learning,” she said with a grin. “We’re going to do two a month from now on.”

Fantastic. Now I’ll have to find a way to make calculating percents as exciting as saving the galaxy. Way to go, Mission.io — thanks for making my job harder.

So in closing, I’d like to thank Mission.io for filling our sixth-grade hallway with ear-drum-busting cheers all morning long, through every single one of my math classes.

Sincerely,
Victor Williamson

One of our school's Voyager Club Middle School Squadrons Doing a Mission.io mission.

The above story is completely true. Kids really do get "that" excited about the Mission.io program.  We are grateful for our partnership with Mission.io and the way the program enables teachers to bring immersive, experience based learning into the classroom.  Mission.io gives students a REASON to learn beside a letter grade and pat on the head and a gold star.  

If your school, or your children or grandchildren's schools are not onboard with mission.io, contact me and I'll get you in touch with Skyler, Casey, and Brooks.  In no time they will have you up and running. There is NOTHING to lose and everything to gain, include a happier class and teacher.  vwilliamson@renacademy.org. or VictorWilliamson@AlpineDistrict.org.  

Here is a message from Skyler about the start of this new school year....

Crumble Cookies and the Space Center

By James Porter,

Space Center Director

We had some fun art added to our lobby thanks to a donation from our friends Crumbl . We're glad to share in their future focused theme. Come see our balloon friends in person this Friday when you join us for one of our planetarium shows.

-Beyond our Night Sky

-Beginner's Guide to the Galaxy

-Laser Taylor Swift

spacecenter.alpineschools.org/planetarium

The Lions Gate Space Center at Lakeview Academy Starts the Inschool Field Trip Program for Lakeview Students

The First Inschool Field Trip, the Kindergartners

The Lions Gate Space Center at Lakeview Academy at Saratoga Springs opened for the Center's inschool field trip program with a class of kindergarteners on September 30.  Lakeview Academy is a public charter school for students in grades K - 9.  All Lakeview students do at least three simulated missions in the school's two starship simulators throughout the school year. In fact, Lakeview pioneered the inschool program for all grade levels using a starship simulator.  

Nathan and team at the Lions Gate Space Center are also preparing to open two new starships and a space station simulator sometime next year.  What a fantastic program for Lakeview students and others in the local community who participate in the Center's public missions.   

Imaginarium Theater

The Week's Best Videos From Around the World, Edited for a Gentler Audience

Become a Trillionaire, Mine an Asteroid - The Voyager Club's September Meeting. The Sandwich Club Returns. The Imaginairum

 

The Voyager Club's September Meeting: Cookies, Asteroids, and the Road to a Spacefaring Civilization

Saturday’s Voyager Club meeting was out of this world—literally and figuratively. If you’ve never been to a Voyager Club gathering, picture a room full of future starship captains, mad scientists, and cookie miners, all united under one bold mission: “Creating a Space Faring Civilization.” 

The Voyager Club, based at the Christa McAuliffe Space Center, welcomes students (grade 7 and up) and adults who want to boldly go where no volunteer has gone before. Members don’t just talk space—they live it. Club members volunteer in the Center’s six starship simulators, acting in high-stakes, Star Trek–style missions set 300 years in the future. Whether it’s a 2.5-hour mission or a 5-hour galactic marathon, Voyager members help create the magic that keeps crews of visitors coming back for more.

This month’s meeting featured Jason Trump, Director of Education at the Clark Planetarium and Voyager Club instructor as the presenter. Jason led a fascinating—and delicious—lesson on asteroid mining. Fun fact: a single small asteroid could contain enough precious metals to supply Earth for the next two centuries. (So yes, the next time you see a chunk of space rock, you might be looking at the universe’s bling.)

But here’s the twist: mining an asteroid is hard. To prove the point, Jason handed out chocolate chip cookies. The challenge? “Mine” the chocolate chips in two ways:

1. Earth mining: Cookie flat on a paper plate.

2. Space mining: Cookie held up with tongs (aka “zero-gravity” mode).

It turns out chocolate-chip mining in space is no easy task—cookies crumble, chips escape orbit, and gravity (or lack thereof) is not your friend. But the laughs were as plentiful as the crumbs, and everyone came away with a deeper appreciation for how tricky—and expensive—real asteroid mining will be.

As if cookies weren’t enough excitement, Dave Stevens did a presentation about a brand-new internship program the club will offer to its high school members. Members are invited to learn basic animation in Unity and help create interactive experiences for the Space Center’s Starbase Williamson set. Translation: you get to design awesome digital magic that visitors will actually use in the Starbase. How’s that for a résumé booster?

Into addition to the two presentations, club members started the meeting with the traditional game of high stakes bingo and ended the meeting with a raffle for some nice prizes:  gift cards, a Utah Gold Buck, t-shirts, a phone stand, planetarium tickets, and a high class selfie stick / tripod. 

New club members were introduced by club president Eavie and vice president Alex.  

The Voyager Club continues to prove that learning about space can be thrilling, hands-on, and yes—downright tasty. If you’re in grade 7 or older and dream of helping humanity reach the stars (or just want an excuse to eat cookies in the name of science), the Voyager Club is your launchpad.

Next stop: the future. 🚀

Alex and Crystal Anderson Host the Return of The Order of the Sandwich (Sandwich Club). It Has Been A Long Time in Coming! 

The last official meeting of the Sandwich Club was way back in April 2016 at Renaissance Academy, home of The Space Place. Ever since that fateful day, I’ve intended to host another gathering. The spirit was willing—but the energy? Not so much. Year after year, I kept putting it off, despite repeated bouts of pouting and pleading from current and former Space Center staff members. For a while, it looked like the Club was destined to become nothing more than a quirky footnote in Space Center history. Then, something wonderful happened. Alex Anderson stepped forward to “prime the pump” and bring the tradition back to life. 

On Saturday, September 27, Alex convened the Order of the Sandwich at his home in Orem, officially calling the Club back into session at 11:00 A.M. Over the next three hours, current and former Space Center crew members arrived in waves, filling Alex’s living room with laughter, stories, and the unmistakable "Jimmy John's Free Smells". Alex and Crystal went all out with Jimmy John’s sandwiches. (In the past, Sandwich Club meetings were fueled by Walmart subs, so clearly Alex was raising the stakes to attract a more refined crowd. Well played, sir.)

I, of course, managed to arrive fashionably late—thanks to my own lack of attention to detail. I thought the event was happening Saturday evening instead of morning. Thankfully, Alex saved the day with a text that read something like, “Get on the ball and get here!” Crisis averted.

The goal of the day was simple: have fun, reconnect, and rekindle old friendships. “Don’t worry about getting wild,” Alex assured us. “I’ve already warned the neighbors about potential disturbances in the fabric of space and time when this many Space Center alumni gather in one place.”

On behalf of everyone who attended—and those who couldn’t make it—a huge thank you to Alex and Crystal for hosting the triumphant return of the Sandwich Club. Alex got the ball rolling, so the only question now is: Who’s catching the pass to host the next gathering?

 the pass and host the next gathering? 

Imaginairum Theater

The Week's Best Videos From Around the World Edited for a Gentler Audience