THE WRIGHT STUFF Vol XXVII No 4 The Official Newsletter of the U.S.S. Kitty Hawk NCC-1659 Jul/Aug 2016 C O N T E N T S THE CENTER SEAT ..................................................................................................... 3 John Troan COMPUTER OPERATIONS REPORT ........................................................................ 3 John Troan COMMUNICATIONS REPORT ................................................................................... 3 Elaine Pischke BECOME A CADET AT THE STARFLEET ACADEMY EXPERIENCE .................4 Keung Hui ENGINEERING REPORT ............................................................................................. 6 Brad McDonald ST:TOS – IN SERVICE OF THE QUEEN .................................................................... 7 Volume 27 - Number 4 Brad McDonald is a publication of the U.S.S. Kitty Hawk, the UPCOMING EVENTS ................................................................................................. 14 Raleigh, N.C., chapter of STARFLEET, an international STAR TREK fan organization. This publication is provided to all chapter members in good standing. Please address all correspondence to CATBIRD Publications, 5017 Glen Forest Dr., Raleigh, N.C. 27612. This publication is a non-profit enterprise and is not meant to infringe upon any copyright or trademark held by Paramount Pictures, Gulf & Western, or any other holder of STAR TREK copyrights or trademarks. Unless otherwise noted, ENTIRE CONTENTS ARE COPYRIGHT 2016 CATBIRD Publications, THE WRIGHT STUFF. Nothing in whole or in part may be used without the written permission of the publisher. THE WRIGHT STUFF assumes all material submitted for publication is gratis. The publisher and editors reserve the right to edit all submissions. Publisher ........................................ J.R. Fisher IMAGES - Title Banner Editors ..................................... Elaine Pischke Wright Flyer from NASA/Ames PAO photo archive; John Troan U.S.S. Kitty Hawk (USN CV-63) from navicp.navy.mil; Constitution class cruiser from gwu.edu/~rljones/khawk. IMAGE - Featured Front Page 50 years of Star Trek ! THE WRIGHT STUFF PAGE 2 Jul/Aug 2016 The Center Seat Comp Ops place astronauts step from in climbing into the capsule. by John Troan by John Troan Coming up in early September is the launch of OSIRIS-REx. This mission is planned to visit near-Earth My thanks to all who were able to The big news out of Comp Ops is asteroid Bennu, then take a sample of join us at Raleigh Grande for the that I’ve started editing the final act of up to seventy ounces for return to opening weekend of Star Trek our first podcast! As of this writing, Earth in 2023. Beyond. By the time we get this issue I’m about half done and I have a out, we’ll probably have also had our respectable chance of having it August shift at UNC-TV. A little complete before Labor Day weekend. Communications Report farther down the calendar, we have As I post this issue to our web Crystal Coast Con on October 22. site, I’ll also post the pics from our by Elaine Pischke More details on this will be announced Star Trek Beyond weekend and our soon. I expect there will be another August UNC-TV shift. If it’s done, I’ll UNC-TV mini-Festival sometime in post the pod cast at the same time. Breaking news! We are all getting December, too. If you ever wanted to fly the older. As that happens, some of us Looking at the biggest item of Enterprise, you can now do it. The begin to wonder what we will do if our STARFLEET news, the election cycle StarTrek.com store has just started memory should fail us. A group of has started for determining the next carrying a drone in the shape of the students from Cornell has developed Commander, STARFLEET (CS). U.S.S. Enterprise from the first six an app for smart phones that can help Nominations have already been Trek movies. people with Alzheimer's or dementia finalized and there is now a field of NASA has released a new game to retrieve memories. The phone is five candidates on the ballot. called Mars Rover to commemorate pre-loaded with photos and I have accepted an offer from Curiosity’s four (Earth) years on the information about people, events and Reed Bates to be the STARFLEET Martian surface. It’s available for places important to that person. When Chief of Communications if her team desktop (via a web browser), Android, someone in that person's life is wins the election. (I would still and iPhone/iPad. approaching, the phone brings up continue on as the Kitty Hawk CO and Also added on-line is a new NASA photos and information about that manning Comp Ops.) We’ve already Portal to access all NASA-funded person. The app, called "Remember talked about several things for research. Among all the links the Me!" can also remind someone to take Comms, including a strong desire to portal has is one to NASA’s Data medication, or make a phone call. bring back the printed Communique’. Portal that contains the datasets, etc., For those not quite in need of At the just-held STARFLEET from NASA’s research. I wonder just “Remember Me!” yet, but who resort International Conference (IC), there how much space all that data is using to writing 'to do' lists or just trying to was a Q&A session with all the now – and how much more will be remember what needs to be done or candidates. It was recorded and is used as research continues. picked up at the store, but find that we available on-line at There are also weekly video 'keep forgetting' to pick up dog food.... https://soundcloud.com/user-80881 highlights being posted on-line, to several studies suggest that, instead 9441/ic-2016-meet-the-candidates- both the Johnson Space Center web of writing yourself a note, draw a panel . site and a JSC-specific area within picture. The process of drawing is All active STARFLEET members archive.org. more complex than simply writing the (as of Aug 1?) will receive a packet In late July, NASA ordered its words, so our brains are more likely to with a ballot and election materials promised second manned SpaceX store the information in memory. So... from all five candidates sometime in flight. This is in addition to the two September. A professional hired to flights ordered from Boeing. No dates conduct the election will receive all the have been announced for any of the My grocery list: ballots (by Nov 15) and the winning flights yet, but the orders let both team will be notified within a few days. companies put processes in motion The ‘FLEET-wide announcement is that take many months to complete – made in the year’s final Communique’ including building the capsules issue, but I think word will be sent out themselves. through the STARFLEET mailing lists, At Boeing’s pad at Kennedy too. Jan 1 is the first day of the next Space Center – Complex-41 – the CS term, lasting until the end of 2019. crew access arm has just been installed. This structure provides the Please be sure to cast your vote! “bridge” between the main launch tower and the eventual CST-100 Starliner. At the end of the arm is the standard White Room, which is the THE WRIGHT STUFF PAGE 3 July/Aug 2016 Become a Cadet at the Starfleet Academy Experience T. Keung Hui [Editor’s note: More pictures are The tent is posted on the Kitty Hawk’s web site.] organized into different Aspiring Starfleet officers can get stations. Each station a taste of what this imaginary future is includes information like at the Star Trek: The Starfleet about different Star Academy Experience in New York Trek technologies, City. including the "past" The Starfleet Academy state of that tech in the Experience is an immersive 12,000- 21st Century. You'll square-foot "Trek Tech" experience also find screens with being offered through Oct. 31 at the information on topics Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum. such as alien species The Intrepid, a World War II aircraft and a Hall of Fame for carrier, is the first venue in the United Star Trek characters. States to host the Starfleet Academy The information, Experience as part of Star Trek's 50th written in English and anniversary celebration. The program Spanish, is displayed encountered a species suffering a life- lets Starfleet Academy recruits on panels designed to mimic PADD threatening disease. participate in an interactive journey screens. Each station also contains Fans of Mr. Spock can play a with Leap Motion, projection mapping, an impressive array of props, science officer at the Science station. holograms and other Star Trek including costumes and equipment This was actually a bit of a letdown technologies. Cadets get special such as phasers, tricorders and since the interactive activity only had training in communications, medicine, medkits. Each station also has an you recommend which of three engineering, navigation, science, interactive component. At each planets to land on before your tactical and command before being station, you take a recruitment quiz damaged starship ran out of time. assigned a specialty. that helps determine your Anyone with basic science knowledge Here's a review of my recent visit recommended specialty. would know where to go, especially if to the Starfleet Academy Experience. I started off at the they know the planet classifications Communications station, where the used in Star Trek. Some of the on-screen Klingon 101 instructor multiple-choice questions were teaches cadets what are supposed to interesting, such as what you would be basic words. You then pronounce do if the botany sample you were the expressions into a microphone to studying doubled in size every hour. get graded. I didn't encounter a single The Engineering station was one person who repeated any of the of my favorites.