The International Space Museum Celabrates 15 Years

By Bixyl Shuftan

On Sunday September 6, the International Space Museum celebrated it's fifteenth anniversary. To those who don't know, the ISM as it's called for short is both a celebration of man's achievements in space and a place to learn about them as well as space. For more information check the 2019 article. And at 11 AM that Sunday, they threw a party to celebrate.

Aristippus, The Sexy DJ, opens up his vinyl vault to help celebrate the 15th Anniversary of the International Spaceflight Museum at 11 a.m. The dance floor is located in the middle of the museum's iconic Rocket Ring. Fireworks will follow. Dress: Space chic or casual.

Dropping by with an alt, there was a banner proudly proclaiming the anniversary. As the announcement stated, the party was on a blue dance platform in the middle of the museum, with the DJ in an astronaut's suit playing the tunes such as "Star Trekkin," "Break on Through (To the Other Side)," "Mr. Spaceman," "Space Girls," and "Rocket Man." There was a display of a space travel website and another showing how a probe to the nearby star of Alpha Centauri could be sent about 50 years from now. Another poster had an astronaut pointing at the reader "We Need YOU," clearly based on the old Uncle Sam "I want YOU" recruitment posters.

The people there chatted. There were some military stories, "I had a friend who got depressed and joined the Navy. When it came time for assignments, he requested Antarctica. The Navy assigned him to Hawaii. True story." "That is how it always is you ask for where you do not want to go and that is where they send you!" "A guy in my high school had a huge fight with his parents. next day I saw him on his porch packing up his stuff. 'What are you doing?' I asked. 'I joined the army!; he said. 'Why did you do that?' 'Because I'm sick and tired of being told what to do.'"

But of course many of the comments were about space, "The first Grubhub delivery in space by a kid in an old Subaruship will be the sign humanity has truly reached the stars." "Are you sure Amazon won't the first deliver service in space?" ".. Ultra hard material. Local sandstone is used for the foundation of the Eiffel Tower, and the local shale is used to make bricks that are the foundations of the Empire State Building, and blast furnaces and power station chimneys etc. Theoretically they could be used to line volcano throats and  diversion channels. Earth has a huge layer of energetic reaction mass. You want an important access point?. Drop the Kevlar cable from Earth Moon L! to the Lunar surface. That's where there's no atmosphere to help, or hinder. Firing rocks off the surface is only Mach 6." "Oooo what a ride, a zip line from the Moon to Earth." "There's that company in New Mexico that's building a Vacuum chamber centrifuge to throw rocks into Earth Orbit. On the moon, don't need the chamber, and a fraction the power. There's an interesting trick for launching from the moon. If you're only throwing basic material, instead of launching a mass in a pod on a tether, make the tether the payload, spin up the system, then cut the cable. Or given the speed of the propulsion. Theoretically its possible to use Bloodhound class tennis ball drive to keep firing the cable upwards, all the way to orbit." The NSS's Ariel Miranda replied, "That works! ... just make sure there is enough metal in a rock slug to use 'bare' in a magnetic rail gun." "Doesn't need to be magnetic. Just need to be conductive enough. And given BAE plasma Railgun, everything is conductive enough."

There was a little talk about the sim, "This is a cool sim." "Thanks, Mojo!  A lot of people have contributed to making it over the years. Not laggy despite the great builds." Of the music, some of the 50's songs got chuckles. When "Rocket Man" played, someone commented, "There's a slightly older song called 'Rocket Man' by Pearls Before Swine, a quite depressing song about a husband and father lost in space. Said to have inspired Elton and his partner Bernie Taupin to make this song."

In IM, I would talk to Kat Lemieux, the director of the ISM. "It's been a fun ride!" she told me, "I'd like to thank all the people who've contributed to making the museum what it is today. ... you ought to visit our Mars habitat in Kitely, too!  The world is called 'Universal Habitat.'" They had other places too there, "There's ISMUSEUM, ISM Sandbox as well as the Hab. SMUSEUM has a replica of this rocket ring, although it's not quite as extensive. The Habitat is quite well built out, though."

They weren't neglecting the ISM in Second Life, though, "Here in SL we have a new solar system tour, featuring a SpaceX Crew Dragon. So, right up to date." I then asked with Dragon starting it's manned launches, were they anticipating having launch and landing events at the museum every year like they had with the space shuttle in earlier years? Kat wasn't sure, "If people want to do that we could, if the streaming works. NASA TV quit working, which is why we haven't done them recently." To her, that was a bummer, "Those launch parties were fun."

Several years ago, the ISM was in trouble due to financial difficulties. How were things now? Kat answered they were, "We're doing ok now, thanks to some generous long-term contributors. We're contemplating some novel fund-raising things in the near future." She mentioned they were going to be using "Non-Fungible Tokens" or NFTs, "They're based on blockchain/crypto technology. ... It's possible to do collectibles that can have their ownership history recorded on the blockchain. We'll have an announcement once we're ready to launch them."

So what else had been going on with the ISM recently? She answered, "We've had exhibits in several expositions, like the SciFi Con and Expo, and SL birthdays. And World Space Week is coming up in October. We'll be joining National Space Society to celebrate that. We're also working on some more rockets, especially the Rocket Lab Electron. ... Rocket Lab recently announced plans for a Venus trip. We're really excited about the private space companies. Not just SpaceX.

Kat went on, "One of these days we'll have a good inventory of all our exhibits. We put in a lot of work a few years ago into developing a metadata schema for 3D objects, but haven't implemented it yet." I asked why not, and she answered, "The wiki got corrupted, and we got busy with other things. But recently I found a good copy, so we'll probably get back to it sometime. ... Working on the NFTs is pretty intensive, so that's probably our next big push."

That was pretty much everything on the ISM director's mind, "I can't think of anything, except to thank the community for all the support!"

To check out the International Space Museum for yourself, head to
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Spaceport%20Alpha/48/78/24

Bixyl Shuftan

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

Scenes From "Lovefest" At Inspire Space Park

Inspire Space Park, located high above the Shinda sim at (33/218/1560), is one of those "must see" places in Second Life that has been around for over a decade. Hardly a realistic depiction of space, it's more like a dream or fantasy brought to life, or rather virtual life, in the form of an asteroid field you can watch the planets, stars, and other cosmic objects float by, or perhaps float in space among them yourself.. The following description in the Destination Guide probably sums it up best.

Meditate in a cosmic sci-fi ambient natural space galaxy. Relax to psychedelic, inspiring chill tunes while you fly through the stars and hug the universe at Inspire Space Park. ISP was recently updated with new park areas, hidden caves to explore, an emporium with spacey themed merchandise and more!

While the place is always worth stopping by, on Thursday September 14 there was a reason that made it better. The park was having a twelve hour "Lovefest" with music and particle shows.

Inspire Space Park is one of SL's longest running hangouts and the centre for a great community of people. They are a having a fundraiser event Thursday Sept 14 from 11am to 10pm.

For me, it was a chance to head back to this classic location that I hadn't visited for a while.

 And the show I saw was spectacular.

Some people were dancing to the music that was being played. One had "Dreamer" over her head, which was the name of the group a few of the people had highlighted.

DJ Grafx provided the tunes for the event. I didn't see who was doing the light show.

Some there had dressed themselves fancy for the occasion.

The light show continued for a while, the crowd continuing to "Ooooooo" and "Ahhhhhhh,"

A view of high above the park.

 Now this part of the show fit the name.

Eventually, it was time for me to go. I enjoyed the show while I was able to be there.

When the next light show at Inspired Space Park will be remains to be known. But it's still a nice place to just drop by and visit when the place is it's usual space dream brought to life.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Shinda/33/218/1560/

Bixyl Shuftan

Tantari Kim And The Last Call For Lupus Prime

By Bixyl Shuftan

Monday September 5 was the last event at the Lupus Prime Space Station, a multi-story structure high above the Blues Beach sim that was apparently used as a roleplay area with one deck doubling for use in music events. Tantari Kim announced a "Going Away Party" for the station in her group.

The space station is being dismantled!  But before it comes crashing to Earth, let's give it a send-off to remember. Theme is Robots and Sci Fi outfits.  I'll be playing suitably robotic music. C'mon down!  Explore the station!  Rock out!

Tantari was happy to see yours truly at the location, "Heya Bixyl. Welcome to Lupus Prime! Tonight, I've taken it over!  Muhahahaaaa!" She told the others, "Bixyl is my favorite news fox. He does the SL Newser, SL's finest news source." One of the dancers there spoke of the place, "This is the best space stations I have ever seen." There were well over a dozen others dancing along with Tantari many dressed up in sci-fi looks, such as futuristic outfits, cybernetic parts, or both. At one point, a cyborg collapsed, the batteries for it's mechanical legs having run out of power. Fortunately, someone was willing to press the button for reserve power.

Tantari would announce the music titles, and spell out some of the lyrics of the songs. At one point, she did something a little different, "And a TMBG track.. here's hoping you don't Become a Robot! ... My daughter and I changed the lyrics of this song a little... Foxes are great!  Foxes are good!  Foxes are taking over in your neighborhood! Three cheers for our vulpine buddies, handsome, intelligent and strong!  You might as well prepare for assimilation by singing along!" One of her fans went along, cheering "Yaaay for vixen scouts!" referring to a group Tantari founded.

Other songs included anime tunes, music from Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Portal, and other computer and video games, Deadmau5, and other tunes. One Deadmau5 song was The Veldt, "Ray Bradbury wrote a story called 'The Veldt.' It's about a super robotic nanny that cares for the children.  But the parents think it's wrong, so they try to take the children away. The children flee into the machine. The parents go in after them and see a veldt, a grassland.  The machine made it for them. Lions set upon the parents and tear them to pieces, so the children can be happy forever and ever in the machine. If you listen closely, the lyrics follow the story. 'The world that the children made.... outside the lions roam, feeding on remains.  We'll never leave, so in love that we are.  In love with the world we made.' I thought this song was so lovely and peaceful until I researched it!"

One other song was named after supposed top-secret group of a conspiracy theory, "From Serial Experiments Lain, this very high tech song is MJ-XX, a play off of MJ-12 or the Majestic 12 classified project. In UFO conspiracy theories, Majestic 12 (or MJ-12) is the code name of an alleged secret committee of scientists, military leaders, and government officials, formed in 1947 by an executive order by U.S. President Harry S. Truman to facilitate recovery and investigation of alien spacecraft." One guy in a dark suit and glasses nearby whispered into his shirt collar "She knows..."

Tantari ended her set with the opening theme to the anime "Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex," "I am calling, calling, spirits rise and falling... To become myself once more." It wasn't lost among the lapine fans in the crowd one of the songs in the anime was "Rabbit Junk." After the song, she commented, "Looking over this station, I'm thinking of another brave space station that served proudly, and then was destroyed.... 'Humans and aliens wrapped in two million, five hundred thousand tons of spinning metal .. all alone in the night. It can be a dangerous place, but it's our last, best hope for peace. -- This is the story of the last of the Babylon stations. The year is 2258. The name of the place is Babylon 5.'

"If you're a Babylon 5 fan, I have a treat for you.  This song was written for an unreleased Sierra fight combat game that was never released.. but I got it! By Christopher Franke, the original composer of the series. This song is EPIC. Lupus Prime, we salute you!"

One of the crowd commented, "Watching everyone dance as I imagine the station crashing down onto Earth...." One red vixen stood and saluted as the song played.

Tantari was soon finished, "Thank you all for listening." The red vixen who saluted, presumably one of the crew, spoke, "For being here, Dankeschöön! " The stream was then set on automatic. People were invited to continue dancing, or look around the place. Many did, taking the elevator to various floors. There was a command deck, a docking airlock, a personel airlock, a shuttle bay, a reactor floor, and a deck with rooms that were presumably once crew quarters.

And so, baring a last minute save by someone willing to buy the place, Lupus Prime is set to fade away into the virtual nether. But it would not be forgotten.

Bixyl Shuftan