The International Space Museum

 

By Bixyl  Shuftan

 

With some big stories behind me, I thought it was important to take a look at a few must-see places that haven't been in the paper for a while. One that came to mind was the International Space Museum, in Spaceport Alpha.  

 

 The place has been in Second Life since it's early days, first going up in September 2005. So it will be 20 years old next month. While some of the builds are old by today's standards, it's very well done, and always informative. 

 

Near the middle of the Spaceport Alpha sim is a seating area. Some rocket launches, notably manned ones, are televised, and people come here to watch them, as well as discuss them. There's also occasional broadcasts from the International Space Station.  

 

At what used to be an official entrance is a circle of flags of all nations that have launched rockets into space. Some had less peaceful motivations than others. 

 

 While many of the exhibits are from around the museum's first years, there's an interactive one that isn't: the Space X Dragon capsule rocket ride. 

 

 To start, just get in the capsule, right-click and sit, and it will soon launch into the air ...

 

 And into space, the rocket soon falling away ...

 

 

And soon the Dragon capsule comes to dock at the International Space Station, humankind's current permanent manned location in space. 

 

There was a teleport to start a tour of the planets, starting with Mercury, the closest to the sun, which is basically a heat-blasted rock. 

 

The tour takes you to all eight major planets, Jupiter of course being the largest.

 

Uranus is the strangest, with it's rocky rings and tilted on the side. And of course the name that makes it the "butt" of jokes. 

 

 The tour also took you to stars and galaxies.

 

And after the tour, you can take the Dragon Capsule back down to Earth. 

 

 The last part of the rocket falls away as it heads back to Earth ...

 

 

 Entering the atmosphere, the friction gets so hot, the capsule would be burned up without the heat shield.

 

And eventually the parachutes open to slow your descent ...

 

 And a safe touchdown.

 

 There are numerous other exhibits, though the most visible is clearly the ring of rockets.

 

 So what did it take to get a two foot metal ball with instruments and antennae into space in the 1950s?

 

 This rocket in the middle, you can compare it to my avatar next to the green capsules to it's left.

 

About once a week, the National Space Society group in Second Life meets at the ring for it's "Tea and Rockets" chat.

 

There are many more, but to keep the article short, I'll have to leave them out.

 

On a final note, the museum is still in need of help.  It still needs people, whether builders, scriptors, educators, and others to help with new, and remodeling, exhibits. And donations are generously accepted.

 

WE NEED YOU! The International Spaceflight Museum (ISM) is always growing and needs volunteers of all types to help "make it so". Whether your strengths are in SL building or scripting, public relations, research, education, engineering, giving presentations, space art and design, administration and management, writing, imagining, or providing feedback, we'd like to work together to share the dream.

We need donors, too. ISM is a tax-exempt, non-profit organization dedicated to presenting information and experiences of past, present, and near future space hardware to the public. It has been a fixture in Second Life since 2005, built by a cadre of volunteers.

 

For more information, feel free to contact Kat Lemieux, the Director or Shanna Starship, the museum Officer. 

 

 http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Spaceport%20Alpha/128/128/22

 

 http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Spaceport%20Alpha/35/95/22 (teleport pad)

 

Bixyl Shuftan

 

Journeys Across the SL14B: Resident Exhibits at Electrify

There's much to see at the Second Life Fourteenth Birthday. Earlier, I mentioned the welcome area of Dragon Mountain and the stages. But "The Birthday" is more than that. There's also the resident-built exhibits. The Newser has it's own, built by Silvia Ametza in SL14B Electrify. But there's many many more.

In the middle of the sim was it's art exhibit, the Pinwheel, by Mac Kanashimi, "Sixteen pinwheels of 125 equally shaped triangles tile the 64 x 64 x 0.5 meter parcel, displaying a continuously changing color pattern of 4 pictures."

Just north of the Newser exhibit was the one from the Second Life Coast Guard.

 There was a merry-go-round with Coast Guard craft in miniture, instead of horses.

"Find your own rank" had people going up behind pictures of various uniforms, with a hole where the face would be, people inviting to stick their heard out. But sometimes the results were amusing, "you look good in a skirt."

You never knew who you might meet walking around, maybe a Linden, a unicorn, or both.

Nearby was the "Weltenville Alien Sideshow of Earth Oddities" by NorTonJohn Hellman.

This alien spacecraft was showing off items as aliens might see them, such as farm animals,
"Abducted 1950-2017. Traits: used mainly as food or transportation, smelly." Or various captive humans, such as a biker, "Abducted 2015 near Roswell NM. Traits: aggressive, travel in packs on loud craft."

 Also nearby was the Second Life Surfing Association's exhibit.

There were fun things to do there, such as rides and a dunk tank.

There was the "Rocket-Go-Round" by the National Space Society.

Further away, there was an exhibit that was a game that was running on automatic between AI, made by Alisha Ultsch, "This is a game called Romanov Go, loosely based on the Chinese game Go.  Eighteen potential debutantes to the court line up in full Russian Court gowns with long trains each supported by six maids.  Each girl in turn may make a move which can be either a walk 2 metres forward or a turn to face left or right.  However turning completely around 180 degrees is not permitted because of your heavy train holding you back.  The order in which the girls move is chosen at random at the start of the game and remains the same throughout.

"The idea of the game is to surround the other girls so that they cannot move on their turn.  If this happens they lose a pair of maids who kneel down where they are and block that square from then on.  Once a girl has no maids left she herself will next have to kneel down to add to the blockages forming all over the playing area."

There was the "Newspaoer Factory" by Jazsintha Resident.

Jazsintha was encouraging residents to make publications of their own communities. When I ran into her, she requested, and got, an SL Newser newspaper stand.

The tallest structure in the sim was the "Radio Waves" tower.

 One fun exhibit was Luna Bay Community's.

 There was a video arcade with games, though to play them you needed the latest version of Flash.

But the main attraction was their roller coaster ride.

RacerX Gullwing's exhibit for the Giant Snail Races.

This one by the Fun Amusement Group gives people a number of landmarks of fun-themed locations, the group is open to all to join, and had announcements for a number of places.

Water World had an above ground pier walkway.

And there was water one could go into, free diving suit provided.

There were many other exhibits at the sim, and of course there are the ones from the other sims. So stay tuned for more about the Second Life Fourteenth Birthday celebration.

Bixyl Shuftan