Christa McAuliffe Space Center facts for kids

Logo for the Christa McAuliffe Space Center

The Christa McAuliffe Space Center (also called the McAuliffe Space Center or CMSC) is in Pleasant Grove, Utah. It teaches kids about space and is visited by students from all over the world. The center has many cool space flight simulators.

The center is named after Christa McAuliffe, a teacher who was part of the Challenger space shuttle mission. Victor Williamson, a teacher from Central Elementary School, started the center in 1990. It is a 4,000 square foot (370 m²) building connected to Central Elementary. The goal is to teach astronomy and social studies using space simulators. The first simulator, Voyager, was very popular. A new planetarium was also built in 2020. Over the years, more and more students wanted to visit, so new ships were added.

In October 2012, the space center at Central Elementary closed for a short time. It reopened in the spring of 2013 after some updates and repairs. The original simulators and the school building were taken down on May 5, 2020. This made room for a brand new space center built right behind the old one. The new center includes the second largest planetarium in Utah. It started showing programs in November 2020. In 2018, the center changed its name from "Christa McAuliffe Space Education Center" to "Christa McAuliffe Space Center". It also got a new, modern logo.

Explore Space with Simulators

The Christa McAuliffe Space Center uses amazing simulators to teach about space. Here are some of the ships you can explore:

• The USS Voyager (Original 1990, New 2018): The Voyager looks like the USS Enterprise-D from Star Trek. It used to hold nine to eleven people. The new Voyager is now at Renaissance Academy in Utah. This is a different space center from the Christa McAuliffe Space Center.
• The USS Odyssey (Original 1995, New 2013, Cutter: 2021): The Odyssey was designed by a sci-fi artist named Paul S. Cargile. It looks like a Banzai-class fighter ship. It can hold six to eight people.
• The Galileo (Original Mark-5: 1998, New Mark-6: 2009, Experimental Stealth Craft 2021): The Galileo is a smaller shuttle craft. It often goes on secret or "off the books" missions. It can hold five to six people.
• The USS Magellan (Original Space Station: 1998, Renovated: 2006, Starship: 2012, Carrier: 2021): The Magellan first looked like Deep Space 9. In 2012, it became a starship that looked like a Daedalus-class ship from Stargate. When the new building opened in 2021, the Magellan was changed again. It is now an Atlas Class Carrier with its own unique design. It also has a Slipstream Drive, which lets it travel huge distances in space very quickly. The bridge crew can be ten to twelve people.
• The USS Phoenix (Original 2005, Destroyer: 2021): The Phoenix used to be a Defiant-class escort, like the USS Defiant from Deep Space 9. It is the space center's only battleship. It could hold five to six people. With the new building, it was updated to an Astrea Class Destroyer. It can now hold six to seven people.
• The IMS Falcon (Cargo Ship: 2021): The Falcon is the only ship in the fleet that is not part of the United Federation of Planets. It holds six to eight crew members.
• The USS Cassini (Explorer: 2021): The Cassini is a ship designed for exploring deep space. It holds nine to eleven crew members.

Some simulators have special plaques. These plaques show the ship's name and other interesting facts about that simulator.

Most missions use ideas from the Star Trek universe. However, the center also has its own unique alien species and groups. These include groups like the Lisko Authority, Nox'Hun Imperium, Peylin, and Merchant's Guild.

The center and its founder were honored in a special ceremony when the center turned 15 years old. Many important people attended, including Gary Herbert, who was the Lieutenant Governor of Utah at the time. Back then, with its five spaceship simulators, the center was teaching 16,000 students every year.

How the Space Center Teaches

The space center uses its simulators to create exciting, interactive stories. These stories often connect to real historical events. Since November 2020, they also use the new planetarium built during the 2020 renovation.

Students learn and use different parts of astronomy and science during their missions. They get to learn about black holes, nebulae, asteroids, planets, planetary systems, moons, and many other amazing things in space.

Students who visited the space center 15 years ago are now working in fields like science, technology, space exploration, programming, and electrical engineering. Students at the local Brigham Young University even help build equipment for the space center. They create gadgets like Tricorders, touch panels, fiber optics systems, and control interfaces. These help make the experience feel even more real.

The staff at the center hope that their visitors will become the scientists of tomorrow.

Technology Behind the Simulators

The space center uses cool technology to make its simulations feel real.

Sound Systems

Each ship has a powerful sound system. This includes strong bass to make you feel the ship's reactor core. The sound system connects to a mixing board. This board combines sounds from different places, like sound effects, music, microphones, and voice changers.

Video Systems

The video system is also very detailed. In the past, missions used a story DVD with video clips for scenes and effects. A video switcher made these videos play smoothly. Now, the space center uses software called "Thorium" to manage all the mission visuals. The center also creates its own tactical screens. These are like complex presentations that can show real-time information about the ship. This information might include ship systems or maps related to the story. Different programs have been used to create these screens, including HyperCard, Runtime Revolution, and Thorium.

Lighting Systems

Each simulator also has a lighting system. This allows different colored lights to be shown. For example, lights might turn red during alerts and blue during normal times. Each set of lights is connected to a dimmer in the control room. This lets staff manually change the lights during events, like a torpedo hit or a power failure.

Safety Cameras

To keep visitors safe, cameras are installed in key places on the set. Part of the bridge and connected areas of each simulator are always watched.

Computer Systems

The most complex part of each simulator is the computer systems. Each ship has several computers. The smallest set, the Galileo, has five computers. The largest set, the Magellan, has 13 computers. Most of these computers are connected to a network. This allows them to communicate with each other. Programs on the computers can also talk to each other. This lets the control room watch the simulation. It also allows computers on the bridge to get updates from the control room. The programs used to be made with HyperCard. Later, the space center switched to Revolution by Runtime Revolution. The next generation of programs were made using Cocoa, Apple Inc's programming language for their Macintosh computers. Since 2018, the space center has used Thorium. This is an open-source starship simulator platform created by a former volunteer.

Private donations paid for the simulators. The school district pays the salary of the center's director. 181 volunteers and part-time staff help run the simulators.

Who Works at the Space Center

The space center has one full-time employee, who is the director. Flight directors, set directors, and supervisors are part-time employees.

• Flight Directors (dark-blue shirts): Flight directors (FDs) "run" the missions. They give cues to actors and tell staff when to do things. They also assign roles to the crew. An FD is also the voice of the main computer and the main engineer. They give hints and tips to the crew during the mission.
• Set Directors (grey shirts): There are six set directors, one for each simulator. A set director makes important decisions for the simulator they direct. A set director is usually the main FD for that ship.
• Supervisors (bright-blue shirts): A supervisor helps the FD during a mission. They relay orders, help the story move forward, and coordinate volunteers. Supervisors are second in command. They are only used on missions in the Magellan and Cassini, and used to be in the Voyager. They work with the crews to answer any questions during a mission. Many FDs started as supervisors, and many FDs still supervise even after becoming flight directors.
• Navigators (maroon shirts): Navigators are staff members who operate the space center's planetarium.
• Volunteers (black shirts): Volunteers are the helpers for the flight directors. A volunteer might be assigned to be the ship's doctor, an alien actor, or help with sensor scans and messages. They can do almost anything the FD needs them to do.

Stageworks: Creating the Magic

Stageworks is the group at the space center that creates content. This is where the mission visuals and props for the space center are made. Volunteers and staff who are good at creative tasks can be chosen to create different things. They use programs like Blender, Affinity, Photoshop, and Premiere Pro.

Programs and Camps

The space center offers different programs with various mission lengths and experiences.

• Field Trip Programs: These are for school classes. They teach about science, space, teamwork, and leadership. These programs also include educational missions on the simulators.
• Private Missions: These are for the general public. You can reserve them for 2.5 hours or 5 hours. These times include briefing and training before the actual mission on the simulator.
• Summer Camps: These usually happen in one day. They include various activities like missions, classroom activities, and planetarium shows.
• Leadership Camp: This camp is for older teens, ages 15–17. It's different because the whole camp is one big story or "campaign." Every mission is part of a larger adventure. A Leadership Camp might not happen every summer because it takes a lot of planning and runs for multiple days.

The space center used to have overnight camps. Missions would pause for the night, campers slept at the center, and then missions continued in the morning. These overnight missions are no longer available. They also had Super Saturday camps, which were like overnight camps but happened during the day on Saturdays.

The Oven Ghost

There are some fun rumors about a "ghost" at the space center. In the old building, if strange problems happened, staff would jokingly pray to "The Victor, the Lorraine, and the Magellan Ghost."

When the new space center was being built, an old oven was found about 20 feet under the playground. After the new space center opened, strange things would sometimes happen. Lights might flicker, or doors would suddenly close. These happenings were playfully blamed on the "Oven Ghost."