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The Christa McAuliffe Space Center (known … The Christa McAuliffe Space Center (known as the McAuliffe Space Center or CMSC), in Pleasant Grove, Utah, teaches school children about space and is visited by students from around the world. It has a number of space flight simulators. The center, named for educator Christa McAuliffe, who was killed in the Challenger disaster, was started in 1990 by Victor Williamson, an educator at Central Elementary School. It is a 4,000-square-foot (370 m2) building added onto Central Elementary. It aims to teach astronomy and social studies through the use of simulators; the first, Voyager, proved itself popular, and a new planetarium built in 2020. As the years passed, the demand for flights expanded and new ships were commissioned. In October 2012, the space center was temporarily closed at Central Elementary, but re-opened following several district-mandated upgrades, closures, and maintenance procedures in Spring 2013. The original simulators, along with the school that housed them, was demolished on May 5, 2020 to make way for a new space center built behind the original property. The new Space Center was built housing the 2nd largest planetarium in the State of Utah that started running shows in November of 2020. The Christa McAuliffe Space Education Center switched its name and took out the word Education from the title in 2018. In 2018, they also updated their logo to a new stylized version of the original. (New version not shown) The simulators employed by the center have included the following (in order of original construction):
* The USS Voyager (Original 1990) (Decommissioned 2012/2013, New 2018) The Voyager appears as the USS Enterprise-D. It held from nine to eleven people. The new Voyager is now located at Renaissance Academy in Utah, a separate Space Center than the Christa McAuliffe Space Center.
* The USS Odyssey (Original 1995, New 2013, Current 2021) The Odyssey's appearance was created by Paul S. Cargile, an independent sci-fi artist. It takes on the appearance of the Banzai-class fighter. It holds six to eight people.
* The USS Galileo (Original Mark-5: 1998, New Mark-6: 2009, Current 2021) The Galileo is a shuttle craft. It usually goes on stealth missions. It can hold five to six people. The original simulator could be physically seen from the outside.
* The USS Magellan (Original Space Station: 1998, Renovated: 2006, Starship: 2012, Current 2021) – The Magellan had the appearance of Deep Space 9. The Magellan has been transformed into a starship with the appearance of a Daedalus-class starship from Stargate. The bridge crew can be anywhere from ten to twelve people.
* The Falcon (Original 2000) (Decommissioned) – The Falcon showed students what space travel might be like in the future.
* The USS Phoenix (Original 2005, Current 2021) – The Phoenix is a Defiant-class escort, like DS9's USS Defiant. It is the Space Center's only battleship. It could hold five to six people. It has been updated to an Astrea Class Destroyer, which can now hold six to seven people.
* The IMS Falcon (New 2021) – The Falcon Is the only ship in the fleet that does not belong to the United Federation of Planets. It holds six to eight crew members.
* The USS Cassini (New 2021) – The Cassini is a deep space exploration vessel. It holds nine to elevens crew members. Each simulator has its own plaque. The plaque displays the ship's names and other things about that specific simulator. Some are inside the simulator, and some of them are hidden out of plain sight. Most missions are based on, or at least contain aspects similar to the Star Trek universe. The Simulators themselves are replicas of Star Trek ships and various races (like the Romulans) are often involved in missions. The center, and its founder were honored in a ceremony in its 15th year by many individuals, including Gary Herbert, the Lieutenant Governor of Utah. At that time, with its five spaceship simulators, it was educating 16,000 students a year. The center's mission statement is A Utah Arts, Sciences, Technology Education Initiative. We Practice the Discipline of Wonder.ive. We Practice the Discipline of Wonder.
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