Space Frontier Saturn V Moon Rocket Ride

By Bixyl Shuftan

It was about forty years ago last week that Apollo 11 went to the moon, mankind landing on an alien surface for the first time in history. Many of us in Second Life know of space areas, such as the International Space Museum, but can one find a place where the moon landing is re-enacted?

The answer: Yes, but it’s not quite finished.

In the Space Frontier Workspace (formerly known as the Space Frontier Sandbox) near the Sci-Lands, there is a Saturn V rocket on a launch tower. Built to scale (two avatars at it’s base in the picture can just barely be seen), the rocket stands high in the air, connected to the red launch tower. The rocket is very realistically detailed, and includes a “sound HUD” for audio from the Apollo 11 mission (does not always work) which one gets by clicking an old-fashioned computer on the launchpad’s corner. This grand build was made by Wicked Quasimodo.

One enters the rocket by clicking on the command module, almost at the top of the Saturn V. The huge vehicle launches at 32 minutes past the hour, every hour, with the tower’s gantry retracting just a few minutes before. If you’re outside, it’s a spectacular sight as the great behemoth launches into the air. If you’re inside the rocket, you’re in for quite a ride.

I had the fortune of speaking to one of the people responsible for the sim, Rocket Sellers. “I was just mitigating some space debris here,” he told me, “impromptu erotic photo studio in the sky. ... I’m the owner of record here, and there’s a crew with cleaning powers. I try to clean politely so they do not reincarnate as pesky griefers.”

Asking about the Moon rocket, “It’s still a work in progress. This is Version Two. Wicked Quasimodo had an earlier build, but Havoc 4 broke it. This one is lower prim, and the lunar module is sculpty. It really should be on NASA property, but there’s no NASA region that will adopt it. He first tried on the NASA CoLab Testbed, but the sim was just too lagy, and there was just too much junk in the sky. So he began working on it here, with the idea it would find a home at NASA for the Apollo 11 Anniversary. Instead, NASA put some posters around with landmarks to here.”

“The first iteration did the whole flight profile, including splashdown back on Earth. ... The last time I took the trip (on this rocket), we only got to lunar orbit. ... I don’t know if it lands yet or not.” Rocket Sellers then mentioned a famous name dropping in, “Last week, we had an avatar named ‘Buzz Aldrin’ visiting here. I asked him if he had taken the Saturn V Apollo 11 ride to the Moon yet. He answered, ‘Yes, 40 years ago.’ ... I don’t believe it’s really Buzz, although I can’t figure out how he got the name. ... I guess Linden Labs is not assiduous about protecting famous names.”

Rocket Sellers invited me to go along for a ride on the Saturn V, and so we and one other person got aboard the command module. And at 32 past the hour, the rocket roared and thundered up into the air. The ride is best seen with Environment set to Midnight, and being a Second Life spaceship, the stages shake a little as it travels upward. Eventually, the first stage falls away, and then the second. Soon, the ship comes to orbit a megaprim Earth, “It’s very beautiful from up here” “Approaching New Guinea.”

There is a black square under the Moon rocket at this stage. Rocket Sellers explained, “That’s the work platform, and also when you transfer to the Lunar Module, it keeps you from falling through space.” The Command Module does have windows that you can see your avatar from the outside. But looking inside through either mouselook or panning, the inside is quite detailed with numerous instruments and panels.

Eventually, the faring on the last rocket stage separated, and the Lunar Module, folded up, appeared. The Command/Service Module then rotated, and connected to it. Passengers could then right-click to board it. The connected ships then went into Lunar orbit. Unfortunately, the ride did not progress any further. It had yet to be finished.

Despite this and the tiny flaws, this reporter, can only consider it a great and memorable build, especially if one is a space fan, or otherwise nostalgic for these glory days of the manned space program.

The Space Frontier Saturn V Moon Rocket is at Space Frontier (154, 126, 137).

“It’s good when a rocket or space person finds the place.”

Bixyl Shuftan

Mars Landing Broadcasted in Imzadi Sim

The Mars Phoenix Lander, the latest of NASAs craft to explore the red planet, was confirmed to have made a successful landing on the northern ice cap at 4:54 SL time. Besides at the ISM sim, the landing was also broadcast at the Star Trek themed sim Imzadi.

At the Star Trek Museum Drydock at Imzadi (133, 125, 609), a screen broadcasted footage of NASA TV. Some computer images simulating the lander were shown, but most of the broadcasts were of the control room and it's personnel. At 4:46 PM, the craft began its entry into the Martian atmosphere, and the controllers (and the audience in Imzadi) anxiously waited, knowing that more than half of all landing attempts end in failure. Seven minutes later, the craft activated it's retrorockets, and touched down in a smooth landing, much to the relief of the controllers who burst into applause. So did the audience watching from the Trek sim.

Wabisabi Matahari, the Curator of the Star Trek Museum, as well as her real-life mother, were among the audience. So was Wabisabi's "helper" Edconnect Gulfer, who explained a few facts about the lander.

The Phoenix Lander is considered the best effort to find evidence of life on Mars, designed to examine the soil for life-supporting conditions. It traveled 422 miles over nine months to get to the planet. The craft cost 420 million dollars, not counting an additional 37 million spent by Canada. It was originally scheduled to launch several years ago, but was delayed by budget cuts. The landing site is at 68 degrees north latitude, 233 degrees east longitude in Vastitas Borealis, the Martian arctic. Temperatures will vary from -73 C to -33 C (-100 F to -28F) in the course of the 90 day primary mission.

Bixyl Shuftan

Space Shuttle Landing Viewed at ISM

While the Space Shuttle Endeavor landed at Cape Canaveral at 5:39 PM SL time, March  26, at the International Space Museum (ISM) the landing was seen by those watching the live NASA broadcast shown there.

Set up in the middle of the "Spaceport Alpha" sim, the stage has two viewscreens visible to those whose computers can use Quicktime. Space shuttles and landings are shown when they happen.

The landing had originally been scheduled at 4:05 PM SL time, but weather conditions briefly postponed it. This was probably the reason for the small attendance, "Let them know there were some space gurus here, and could always use others. They'd have a great time, great learning experience."

The Shuttle Endeavor STS-123 mission launched on March 11, at 11:28 AM SL time. Here at the ISM, people had been gathering over an hour before the launch, though the launch time was too late for some (including this reporter) to watch the actual takeoff.

Bixyl Shuftan