Category: Away Missions

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Away Team Report: (2011.0804) Kennedy Space Center – Trek Exhibit

Broken shuttlecraft rides, fake Vulcans, and so much Trek memorabilia. 

While on shore leave in the Florida sector, I received word from Starfleet that the Kennedy Space Center had not one, but two Trek related points of interest. I immediately plotted an away mission. The Space Center had been running an educational live-action show, called ‘Mad Science presents Star Trek Live’, for some time. This performance, aimed at introducing young cadets to basic scientific principles, was also joined by the traveling museum of ‘Star Trek: The Exhibition’, which together made for the Kennedy Space Center’s ‘Sci-Fi Summer’.

Star Trek: The Exhibition seemed to focus most heavily on TNG memorabilia, which had it’s own, large area right at the entrance. TOS, on the other hand, was relegated to hiding in the IMAX theater. They had a Trek themed ride on site, but alas, it was broken. Since it was a motion simulator that traveled with the Exhibition and not a permanent installation, I can’t help but wonder what I missed.

While wandering the grounds of the Space Center, you could see some ‘Vulcans’ hanging out in their 21st century Earth street clothes, presumably waiting for own their scheduled performance of the Star Trek Live science show.

If either of these exhibits ever come (or in the case of Star Trek: The Exhibition; returns), a full scale USS Loma Prieta away mission is certainly in order.

~En. Nicole Lippman
Operations Officer
USS Loma Prieta
Starfleet, Region 4

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Away Team Report: (2011.0723) Apollo 11 Day – USS Hornet

Apollo 11 Day: Shelby Cobras, F-14 Tomcats, and Astronaut Ice Cream.

On Stardate 2011.0723, a small away team from the USS Loma Prieta ventured out to the USS Hornet memorial and Apollo 11 splashdown anniversary on Alameda Prime. The crew (Cmdr. Zach Perkins, Lt(jg) Tom Hesser, Lt(jg) Brian Schroeder and Yeoman Cindy Bee) boarded the Runabout Outback and headed toward the Alameda system by means of the Bay Bridge warp conduit.

While the crew fully expected to see an aircraft carrier, an Apollo command module, NASA-era space suits, and a wide variety of fighter jets and helicopters; they were surprised to be greeted on their arrival by a fleet of two dozen vintage Shelby Cobras. After spending several hours exploring the halls of the old ship, riding the ancient hydraulic aircraft lifts to the flight deck, sampling barbaric forms of cuisine (that offered no vegetarian options), the crew culminated their mission by riding in a pre-warp prototype of a shuttlecraft they Hornet docents called a “flight simulator”.

All in all, a highly successful away mission.  Perkins out.

~Cmdr. Zach Perkins
Commanding Officer
USS Loma Prieta
Starfleet, Region 4

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Away Team Report: (2011.07xx) Comic Con – San Diego

San Diego Comic Con 2011: Rule of Acquisition #3 Embodied

San Diego Comic Con is the vacation you need a vacation from, if you do it the way I do it. Which is to say: you have three entirely disparate crowds of friends who all gather there for a five-day span, and all want to hang out with you. The end result is that there’s a lot of drinking, and while you spend a lot of time on the con floor, you don’t really retain a lot of it.

I did see some Star Trek-related stuff, though: A buddy of mine and I have been looking for a classy model of the Enterprise-C or D for a while, and it’s becoming apparent to us that it’s not going to happen. You can find toy versions that make noises and light up, but what we want is a metal one suitable for display in, say, a shipboard conference room. There’s one company that appears to be prototyping just such a model, but it’s of the Enterprise from the JJ Abrams reboot, which is fine, but it’s no Ambassador or Galaxy-class. I talked to a guy at the booth who said they’d probably make one if the demand was there, though.

There was another booth whose name I forget [Anovos], that was responsible for quality replicas of TNG and reboot-era uniforms. They were, in fact, so high-quality that they completely priced themselves out of any of our range — $500 being the low starting point. Yeesh. Rule of Acquisition #3: Never pay more for an acquisition than you have to! This booth was also handing out Lance Armstrong-style rubber bracelets, but they were gold, blue, and red, with the mottos TO BOLDLY GO, LIVE LONG AND PROSPER, and EXPENDABLE on them, respectively. Three gold and one blue are in my possession, and will no doubt go to the worthy. I should’ve looked around for a booth that sold replica Klingon pain sticks; there’s always enough science fiction weaponry at SDCC to outfit an entire army.

Next time, I’ll have Star Trek-related stories from Comic Cons past to tell you!

~Lt(jg). Jon Sung
Helm Officer
USS Loma Prieta
Starfleet, Region 4