Space Remembrance Day at the National Space Society

By Bixyl Shuftan

Monday January 29 was Space Remembrance Day for the National Space Society in Second Life. The day is one to remember those who gave their lives in Mankind's quest to explore space, notably the Apollo 1 and Shuttle Challenger and Shuttle Columbia disasters. The date was different from NASA's event on January 25 as they didn't announce it until January 23 two days earlier, which was too late for the NSS chapter in virtual reality, "As usual, NASA gave little to know advance warning of their observance, which was last Thursday." So they made plans for their own date. The 29th was chosen as it was the last Monday of the month, they hold regular meetings every Monday, and there was the opinion that future space settlers might make the day a holiday.

The event took place at 4PM, following the NSS's regular weekly meeting, at a location in the NSS sim where several memorials have been placed, large and small at National Space Society (103/124/3005). Some of the conversation was in voice, but Archivist Llewellyn sent the Newser a transcript of the text. Besides the somber remembrance, it was also brought up that this May marks the 60th anniversary of America's first satellite (https://explorer1.jpl.nasa.gov/), "Explorer I ... That was the first successful US satellite launch, and it discovered the Van Allen Radiation Belts around the Earth. It had a highly-elliptical orbit that took it much farther out than the first artificial satellite, Sputnik, launched by the Soviet Union." The music stream had a "special memorial playlist" playing to February 2.

Besides the fallen astronauts, people notable to space whom had passed away in the past year were also mentioned, "We're also looking to include those dreamers, artists, and writers who inspire us. One of them who passed in the last year was Jerry Pournelle. ... Pournelle not only wrote science fiction, but he was one of the responsible parties to bring space defense to the table in the Reagan years, with the 'Citizen's Space Initiative." That had major effects, may have helped lead to the collapse of the former Soviet Union even." "We lost Ian M. Banks sometime ago. he inspired Elon Musk enough that he named his first stage recovery drones after a couple ships from Bank's Culture series." Another mentioned was "Jordin T. Kare (October 24, 1956 – July 19, 2017) was a physicist and aerospace engineer known for his research on laser propulsion. In particular, he was responsible for Mockingbird, a conceptual design for an extremely small (75 kg dry mass) reusable launch vehicle, and was involved in the Clementine lunar mapping mission. Kare was also known as developer of the Sailbeam interstellar propulsion concept and, in the science fiction fan community, as a composer, performer and recording artist of filk music."

There were five former astronauts whom died in the past year mentioned, "We are coming to an era where we can't keep track of the passing of every former astronaut, but this year we did lose four of particular note. Eugene Cernan (March 14, 1934 – January 16, 2017), the last human on the Moon, Paul Weitz (July 25, 1932 – October 22, 2017), Skylab 2 astronaut and Space Shuttle Commander for STS-6, Richard Gordon Jr. (October 5, 1929 – November 6, 2017) Gemini 11 Pilot and Apollo 12 Command Module Pilot, and John Young (September 24, 1930 – January 5, 2018) Most prolific astronaut: longest career, first to fly six missions, only person to fly four classes of spacecraft, and more. Now that we've lost 'the astronaut's astronaut,' it truly is the end of an era." "I think it was said that John Young smuggled in a sandwich to Gus Grissom for the suborbital flight." Also mentioned was "Bruce McCandless II (June 8, 1937 – December 21, 2017). He did a lot of things, but he's probably most recognizable as the first American to leave a spacecraft un-tethered, in the then-new Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU). The photo of him floating, relaxed, alone in space over Earth, is a classic."

Of America's three space disasters, the Challenger was the one that hit hardest as it was televised live, "I was shaken to my being at the loss of our hopes and dreams down here in the bottom of the gravity well." Of the Apollo 1, someone mentioned, "No one understands the flaw in Apollo One is in everyone's new auto." There was also a quote about the Challenger disaster attributed to me when talking about the 2014 NSS Remembrance Day, "One friend of mine described the Challenger accident as a turning point in his young adulthood, his confidence in the Space Program, in which he saw the future of humanity, had been dealt a blow to the point he would not see it quite the same way again. This is one event serious space fans, and former space fans, in Second Life, might want to check out."

Near the end, Archivist gave the White House's statement of the official NASA Day of Remembrance, "On this year’s Day of Remembrance, we honor the brave men and women of NASA who lost their lives in our Nation’s eternal quest to expand the boundaries of human potential. The dedication and sacrifice of the Apollo 1, Challenger, and Columbia crews, remind us of the true bravery and resiliency of the American spirit, and the challenges we boldly face to reach higher for all mankind. America’s leadership in space is not without cost, but we have met tragedy with perseverance and challenge with achievement. We will not forget the contributions of our great American heroes as we build on their legacy to reach vast and exciting frontiers."

The National Space Society holds meetings every Monday at 3PM SL time.

Transcript provided by Archivist Llewellyn
Pictures from Archivist Llewellyn and Banker Tomorrow

Bixyl Shuftan

Various Christmas Party Scenes

By Bixyl Shuftan

Besides the "Twisted Christmas" party at the Happy Vixen on Sunday December 17, there were a number of other Christmas parties. Furry Fashion had a Christmas Ball. Steelhead had an "Ugly Sweater" party. One event yours truly happened to catch was the "Winter Solstice" party by the National Space Society on Friday December 22. But I caught the tail end, so there were only a handful of people around.

 On Saturday December 23 was the Christmas party at Club Cutlass. During this time. Santa Claus paid a visit.

DJ Snowbuns played the music for the party, but she had left by the time this group picture was taken.

On Sunday December 24, Safra Nitely, a friend of the Newser, had her Christmas party at Devon Dream for her Second Life friends and family.

The night lighting made for some interesting visual effects.

Also on Christmas Eve, Nydia Tungsten had an encore for her "Twisted Christmas" event as not all of her friends could make it and/or wanted more. Once again, her mild to wild to "WHOAH!" Xmas parody songs played.

On December 25, Christmas Day, an impromptu party started at Club Cutlass. There was no contest, just people showing up for fun.

Shockwave Yareach was the DJ for the impromptu event, spinning a number of tunes, some of which I hadn't heard other DJs use.

Club United, a Christian Club, had it's Christmas party two days after the holiday, on December 27.

Christmas was celebrated in many different places with many different events. But everyone had a great time in doing so.

Merry Christmas everyone.

Bixyl Shuftan

Yuri's Night 2015

On Sunday April 12, the "Yuri's Night" celebration took place in the Sci-Lands in Second Life. To begin with, Yuri's Night is not an event specific to the Grid, but a worldwide event among space enthusiasts that began in 2001 as a celebration of manned space flight, held on both the anniversary of the first manned flight in space by Yuri Gagarin in 1961, and the date of the first flight of the space shuttle exactly 20 years later.

The event's website states, "Yuri’s Night is a global celebration of humanity’s past, present, and future in space. Yuri’s Night parties and events are held around the world every April ... Yuri’s Night events combine space-themed partying with education and outreach. These events can range from an all-night mix of techno and technology at a NASA Center, to a movie showing and stargazing at your local college, to a gathering of friends at a bar or barbecue." The 2011 celebrations were described as being attended by over 100,000 people in over 500 events, including the one then in Second Life then.

The event was sponsored by the National Space Society's Second Life chapter and the International Space Museum. From Noon SL time to about 4PM, the celebrations took place high above the Spaceport Bravo sim. Cypress Rosewood performed music from about 1 to 2 PM. After that, Emileigh Stanbrook DJed the music.

There was a variety of avatars, often with space themes such as spacesuits.

And of course, aliens.

At 4PM, the party moved to the Sagan Planetarium at Aspen (199, 140, 3721).

The place had a number of exhibits where one can fill up on space knowledge. But today, the action was in the star and planet display room.

The place took advantage of what Second Life could offer, showing stars, constelations, and planets all around, not just the ceiling. And yes, there were moons, "We're getting mooned here."

There was a costume contest, with the first prize being a free Kerbal Space Program game from Steam. One guy showed up in a Kerbal astronaut avatar.

As time went on, more people showed up. People would chat about various things from the space program, to astronomy, to science fiction movies. And there were the jokes, "Robin are you dressed as an asteroid or is my client dying?"

Drinks were available, thanks to an astromech droid avatar.

 Spacesuits weren't just among those with two legs.

 As more people showed up, along with the music, the display provided visual as well as audio treats. Among the tunes were "Surprise," about the Sputnik launch, and "She Blinded Me With Science."

 With Uranus in view though, sometimes the jokes got a little cheeky. "Do you have Asteroids?" "No but my Dad does. Some days he can hardly sit down." Funny how the seventh planet used to be pronounced "yer-ay-nus," and after the Voyager probe flyby people began saying "yer-uh-nuhs."

Of the contest, the winner was ExpeditiousPony Resident , who won the Kerbal Space Program game and  664L of a 2000 Linden pot. Honorable mentions were JustinEvander Resident, BrinleyTaliesin Resident, and Gyro Muggins.

And so another Yuri's night came and went, as only Second Life's science fans could deliver.

Bixyl SHUftan

Space Week in Second Life

It's World Space Week, and there were some events this week on the Grid that made note of the occasion. The National Space Society's Second Life chapter in particular has held a number of events in it's honor. Among them was a music and dance party high above the sim of the group's name, music courtesy of DJ MeowMeow.

Party time redux!  Space-suitable attire suggested but not required (freebies available!) "Electro/wave, space house and intergalactic disco from the offworld colonies, mixed by neko replicant MeowMeow Ghost, and streaming live from Tranquility Base."

DJ MeowMeow played a number of tunes. One song was in tribute to the Sputnik launch, of which the anniversary was October 4, the start of Space Week.

Remember the fifties, those fat complacent days
when the future seemed a century away.
Then up went Sputnik, gave the world a butt-kick
and made it clear tomorrow starts today.

Beep beep beep beep "Hello there!" 
Sputnik sails giggling through the skies
Red flags, red faces, jump in the race
as the space age begins with a surprise.

There were a number of people there, many in space suits of some kind. Among them was Pathfinder Lester, the former Pathfinder Linden (2005-2010). Pathfinder described himself as, "still working with virtual world stuff. Doing a lot of work with Unity, exploring Opensim, and starting to work on some artificial life (plus) augmented reality stuff with a company called 'Wiggle Planet'." Of Wiggle Planet, "(The) founder of Wiggle Planet is Jeffrey Ventrella, who also used to work at Linden Lab back in the day. He's the guy who brought flexy prims to SL, among many other avatar improvements."

Pathfinder was exploring other virtual worlds, "I visit Kitely a lot, too. I run my own Opensim grid at home for fun, and then hypergrid-jump to other grids like Kitely to explore." But he was still on the Grid he knew for good, "I still hang out and explore Second Life too. Never going to leave here."

There would be a Lunar Eclipse that night, and there were viewings in both the Scilands as well as in the Steelhead community. Also that night was the Sunweaver club The Vinyl Museum's tribute to Space Week, with it's "Spaced Out" party.

The National Space Society has declared it Space Week. So tonight at the Vinyl, we're having our "Spaced Out" event. Get dressed up as an astronaut, a scientist, a Mission Control tech, or anyone else involved with the space program. Or you can just go as a little green man, or any other kimd of alien. So suit up for some high orbit fun. Hard vacuum may suck, but the party sure won't. 

DJ Perri played various tunes, from sci-fi show theme music to amusing songs such as "Star Trekkin," and many more. The crowd showed up in space suits, sci-fi battlesuits, and one hippie outfit, saying with a chuckle this was another way of getting "spaced out."

It was a fun tribute to the space program.

Bixyl Shuftan.