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Star Trek display from the Rocket Center

Space to Input

Written by Ryan Faricelli on . Posted in Alumni, Mission Updates. No Comments on Space to Input

Husband and wife duo Michael and Denise Okuda have worked in science fiction television for more than three decades as graphic designers, artists and technical consultants. Together, they have worked on six Star Trek films, as well as Star Trek: The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, Enterprise, Picard, and even writing the Star Trek Encyclopedia.

Michael has also designed several NASA mission patches, including the STS-125 mission of Space Shuttle Atlantis, which repaired the Hubble Space Telescope. He and his wife are currently technical advisors for the Netflix series Space Force and the Apple TV series For All Mankind.

“We review scripts and rough cuts,” said Denise of their work on For All Mankind. “When needed we go into the studio to be there on set to help the actors push the right button in the LEM, and also be there for the director and the writers if there are any other questions.”

“A writer would say, ‘at this point, we want this to break,” explained Michael about the role of a technical consultant for Star Trek. “How can we do that so that it can’t be fixed until the fourth act? You work with the writers and try to help them tell the story in a way that’s as interesting as possible.”

Michael is perhaps most famous for a design that many television viewers may not realize is his work. Star Trek: The Next Generation features a bold, purple and orange graphic style on the spaceship computer displays and controls. These were designed by Michael.

“They’re what’s become known as the LCARS style,” Michael notes. “It became part of the look of the era, and I’m very proud of that.”

“We all took a lot of pride in doing the work as professionally as we could, but also enjoying it” added Denise about their television work. “Thinking about all those twelve-year-old kids out there and what the shows that we were working on would mean to them – as much as when Mike and I were kids and we were watching [Star Trek] the original series.

Learn more about the Okudas and other professionals, scientists, and engineers from  space and aeronautics history by subscribing to “Dare to Explore,” the official podcast of the U.S. Space & Rocket Center Foundation. “Dare to Explore” can be found on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and anywhere else you listen.

Margrit von Braun Margrit von Braun

An Animated Childhood

Written by Ryan Faricelli on . Posted in Alumni, Mission Updates. No Comments on An Animated Childhood

Margrit von Braun is an environmental engineer specializing in hazardous waste management and risk assessment. She was one of the first women to join the University of Idaho College of Engineering faculty in 1980,and served as their Dean of the College of Graduate Studies.

Margrit’s father was Dr. Wernher von Braun, the first director of the Marshall Space Flight Center who led the development of the Saturn V rocket that sent the Apollo astronauts to the moon. Dr. von Braun was also instrumental in the public relations efforts to convince the American people that efforts in space were possible and important. To do so, he partnered with Walt Disney and appeared on several episodes of The Wonderful World of Disney.

“My sister and I each got to meet Disney,” Margrit shared. “He was such a creative guy, and he was very interested in space and interested in helping my father figure out how to tell the story with animation and with models in ways that had not been done before. That was a great collaboration.”

Though the effects of Dr. von Braun’s celebrity status did impact Margrit’s life growing up, her parents always made sure their family life felt like any other family’s circumstances.

Margrit recalls learning to roller skate down the long, empty hallways at Marshall Space Flight Center on the weekends when her father had work to do there.

“I think I grew up pretty normally,” remembered Margrit. “I guess it wasn’t until much later that I realized that having astronauts at your dinner table wasn’t something everybody did. As a kid, I don’t think you really notice that, and we weren’t really encouraged to feel special.”

Learn more about Margrit von Braun and other professionals, scientists, and engineers from aeronautic and space history by subscribing to “Dare to Explore,” the official podcast of the U.S. Space & Rocket Center Foundation. “Dare to Explore” can be found on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and anywhere else you listen.

New Exhibit Open – Dare to Explore: Frontiers of Space

Written by Britain Meithe on . Posted in Mission Updates. No Comments on New Exhibit Open – Dare to Explore: Frontiers of Space

Dare to Explore: Frontiers of Space is a new and evolving exhibit showcasing current and future technologies of space exploration, such as a 1/10th scale model of ULA’s Vulcan rocket, Boeing’s Starliner Pressure Capsule test vessel, a 1/10th scale model of NASA’s SLS rocket, Blue Origin’s Mannequin Skywalker, and coming soon, Chris Sembroski’s Inspiration4 SpaceX launch and entry suit.

The Vulcan heavy-lift rocket is manufactured in nearby Decatur, and the pressure vessel is the skeleton of the reusable Crew Space Transportation Starliner module that will take crews to lower-Earth-orbit locations such as the International Space Station.

Artemis I launch viewing party

Written by Britain Meithe on . Posted in Alumni, Mission Updates. No Comments on Artemis I launch viewing party

NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket with the Orion spacecraft aboard is seen atop a mobile launcher as it rolls out of High Bay 3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building for the first time to Launch Complex 39B, Thursday, March 17, 2022, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

The US Space & Rocket Center is hosting a free public viewing party for the launch of Artemis I next week. This history-making launch is scheduled to happen the morning of Monday, Aug. 29, and everyone is invited to watch! Doors open at 5:30 a.m.

We’ll be showing the Artemis I launch on the giant video wall in the Davidson Center for Space Exploration. This means we’ll be celebrating the launch of NASA’s mission to return explorers to the moon while standing beneath a Saturn V rocket – the rocket that took the first astronauts to the moon in 1969!

Artemis I is being carried by the Space Launch System – NASA’s most powerful launch vehicle. The SLS was designed to bring astronauts, robots, and supplies to the moon for the first time in more than 50 years. This heavy-lift launch vehicle is reconfigurable so that in the future, it can enable NASA to take on missions to other destinations like Mars. The Orion crew capsule will ride atop this giant rocket, bringing its total height to 322 feet tall.

Artemis I is an uncrewed mission that will be traveling farther than any spacecraft built for humans has ever flown. After launch, Artemis I will orbit the Earth before spending two days traveling to the moon. Once there, it will enter a distant retrograde orbit that will take it 40,000 miles beyond the far side of the moon.

Over the course of 42 days, the Artemis I mission’s Orion crew capsule will travel 1.3 million miles before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego on October 10. The ship’s reentry will be faster and hotter than any spacecraft has ever experienced returning to Earth!

Though no humans will be on board this trip, the Orion Capsule will be carrying Commander Moonikin Campos, a mannequin wearing the Orion Crew Survival System suit. Moonikin is equipped with sensors collecting data on what future human crews might experience.

Artemis I will also be carrying several science experiments, Apollo artifacts, and a stuffed animal of Snoopy. Snoopy will serve as the mission’s zero gravity indicator and will float through the crew capsule once the spacecraft reaches the microgravity of space.

We invite everyone to join us at the US Space & Rocket Center on Aug. 29 to celebrate this momentous launch!

World Space Week Sponsors at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center

Written by Diana Hughes on . Posted in Alumni, Mission Updates. No Comments on World Space Week Sponsors at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center

Thank you to our partners that sponsored World Space Week activities:

 

 

The U.S. Space & Rocket Center celebrated World Space Week with a variety of activities throughout the museum during the week. We appreciate our sponsors for the week for helping to make an outstanding educational and entertaining experience for all!

Find out more information about our groundbreaking that took place during World Space Week on the all new Space Camp Operations Center here.