To this person, who wishes to remain anonymous for now, we offer the heartfelt thanks of the Board, all the volunteer staffers, and the 3000-4000 monthly visitors to the International Spaceflight Museum!  A rescuer of ISM, encouraging likewise efforts by others someday, and giving hope.

-Paradox Olbers,

ISM President & head of operations

The Board’s resolution: 

“Move the Board approve the sale of Bravo as quickly as possible in order to fund Alpha long enough to find a sponsoring organization and/or complete the 501c3 application process.”

Gus Plissken /SL name is handling the transaction, with an ISM BoDirectors  waiver: “Resolved, that Fred Fuchs and/or Firesabre Consulting be authorized to act as agent for the ISM Corporation in marketing and selling the sim, Spaceport Bravo, and should be indemnified against any claims of conflict of interest for the purposes of performing this service for the Board.”

-Paradox Olbers

ISM President

ISM Board of Directors

Here’s our true situation:  Most of our donations come from the volunteer staff, a few large contributions (U$10 to U$50) each month and we can’t keep it up since we have to cover at least half of Spaceport Alpha’s rent/tier too.  So I’ll match all public [not staff] contributions up to one month’s rent for Bravo – U$195 – made before Sept 20th.  I apologize for trying to drum up contributions by using this tactic and then redefining the offer.

I’ve changed my original offer that didn’t put a cap on the matching because we’ve just got some outstanding publicity in RL  and possibly a big staffer donation too, which could lead to public contributions that would exceed my ability to match.  The new publicity that gave me renewed hope for a large increase?

*On Thursday, Hamlet Au’s New World Notes, one of the largest five sources of SL news, gave us a great post asking people to help.  [Clarification - my original offer was to cover this month's rent/tier, NOT indefinitely until the 501c3 came through.]  http://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2009/08/save-spaceport-bravo.html 

*Earlier today (Friday), Rik Riel also gave us a supportive post as well at Betterverse.org.  http://www.betterverse.org/2009/08/the-second-life-spaceflight-museum-needs-help.html

Thanks to you both for getting our situation out to many avatars who have never heard of the International Spaceflight Museum before!

-Paradox Olbers, President of ISM and head of operations

Five exhibits are up for auction this month.

To submit a bid on eBay:
1. Go to http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZism_exhibits
   OR
   a. Go to www.eBay.com .
   b. Click on “Advanced Search” near the top.
   c. In the Search panel on the left, choose “Items by Seller”.
   d. In the “Enter seller’s User ID” field, type “ism_exhibits” and click Search.
2. Go to the exhibit you’d like to sponsor, enter a maximum bid amount and click Place Bid.

Auctions will end on February 27, 2008 around 8pm SLT.

Sponsorships will begin on March 1, 2009 and end on August 31, 2009.

Lunar Roving Vehicle (Item # 120381271015)
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Spaceport%20Bravo/39/96/23/
http://ism-exhibits.wikidot.com/ism-LunarRovingVehicle

Mars Pathfinder (Sagan Memorial Station) (Item # 120381271268)
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Spaceport%20Alpha/223/236/634/
http://ism-exhibits.wikidot.com/ism-MarsPathfinder

Pluto New Horizons (Item # 120381271488)
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Spaceport%20Alpha/184/216/751/
http://ism-exhibits.wikidot.com/ism-PlutoNewHorizons

Mercury 4 (Item # 120381271718)
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Spaceport%20Alpha/124/97/34/
http://ism-exhibits.wikidot.com/ism-Mercury4

Minuteman II (Item # 120381271862)
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Spaceport%20Alpha/153/101/34/
http://ism-exhibits.wikidot.com/ism-MinutemanII

[Opal Lei reports the latest auction series]  Six exhibits’ six-month sponsorship rights are up for auction this month.  There will be no auctions in January.  Minimum bids are U$5 (approx 3.58 Euros) to U$20 (approx 14.32 Euros)

Auctions will end on Saturday December 27, 2008 around 7pm SLT/PST.

Sponsorships will begin on January 1, 2009 and end on June 30, 2009.  Your personal or company name (up to 29 characters) will be put on the ISM exhibit plaque, and the ISM wiki entry for the rocket will include your SL slurl or internet url, if you choose (some winning bidders choose to remain “Anonymous”).  Show your potential clientele that your company has “the right stuff!”

N-1 (Item # 120351885237)  -  One of the ISM’s biggest rockets on exhibit, this was the Russians’ booster for their cancelled manned lunar flight program.  Minimum bid is U$20 (approx 14.32 Euros).
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Spaceport%20Alpha/43/171/24/
http://ism-exhibits.wikidot.com/ism-N1                                                     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N1_(rocket)

Gemini V Titan II (Item # 120351886208)  -  Yes, this is the one you ride to get to the Low Earth Orbit platform.  One of our most popular exhibits, located near Spaceport Alpha’s entry plaza. Minimum bid is U$20 (approx 14.32 Euros).
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Spaceport%20Alpha/30/114/22/
http://ism-exhibits.wikidot.com/ism-GeminiVTitanII

Magellan (Item # 120351886659) – orbited Venus for four years.  Minimum bid is U$10 (approx 7.16 Euros). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magellan_probe
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Spaceport%20Alpha/166/44/591/
http://ism-exhibits.wikidot.com/ism-Magellan

Jupiter-C / Juno I (Item # 120351887168)
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Spaceport%20Alpha/130/96/34/ 
http://ism-exhibits.wikidot.com/ism-JupiterC-JunoI

Jupiter / Juno II (Item # 120351887404)
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Spaceport%20Alpha/137/97/34/
http://ism-exhibits.wikidot.com/ism-Jupiter-JunoII

Jupiter AM-18 (Item # 120351887700)
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Spaceport%20Alpha/160/108/34/
http://ism-exhibits.wikidot.com/ism-JupiterAM18

To submit a bid on eBay:
1. Go to http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZism_exhibits
   OR
   a. Go to www.eBay.com .
   b. Click on “Advanced Search” near the top.
   c. In the Search panel on the left, choose “Items by Seller”.
   d. In the “Enter seller’s User ID” field, type “ism_exhibits” and click Search.
2. Go to the exhibit you’d like to sponsor, enter a maximum bid amount and click Place Bid.

Performance by Kala Pixie at 6pm SLT [one auction item is a gift certificate for one free Kala Pixie performance for yourself and friends].

Fourteen avatars have donated one or more hours of their time giving personal tours of their SciLands science-themed islands and builds, or letting you pick their brains in their specialties of scripting, building, shopping, giving concerts, or show production.

Nov 11th – Latest auction item!  Earth Primbee – how to make machinama, filming and production.

Nov 10th - Hours donated by Prospero Frobozz – an astronomy talk, Pooky Amsterdam -shopping expertise or how to produce a show, Kat Lemieux – tour of International Spaceflight Museum, and Roger Amdahl – an hour on how to design science exhibits & a tour of his.
Nov 3rd – Curious George, Director of MICA [Meta Institute for Computational Astrophysics] offers an hour’s social on astronomy to you and your group, since MICA’s island is still in procurement and not yet tourable.  And ISM members builder Opal Lei and Becka Finesmith offer two one-hour dance sessions each as your partner – at times mutually convenient!
Nov 1st – Patio Plasma of Exploratorium & ‘Splo SciLands islands offers a tour, and Georgianna Blackburn offers a Sigma Aldrich tour.
Oct 31st – zazen Manbe of SciLands’ Science School offers a SciLands tour, Felixx Shepherd of Garden of DaVinci, Kalepa offers a tour and also a carbonite slab with a person embedded in it, an L$390 value, Hackshaven Harford offers a tour of NOAA’s SciLands meteorology islands, and Jimbo Perhaps offers a tour of his rocket builds.
Oct 21st – From Particulator Articulator Kala Pixie: “a certificate for one free show, with however many people they want to bring.”
Oct 20th – Hackshaven Harford of Maya Realities offers a *six month* subscription to their premium sim/island metrics services in SL, a U$300 value!
Oct 19th-SciLander Max Chatnoir of Genome offers a tour of her isle & visit to Gregor Mandel’s Abbey, where he puzzled out laws of inheritance in his plants. And yes, there is a Gene Pool on Genome as well. Max is Mary Ann Clark, Professor of Biology at Texas Wesleyan University.

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Spaceport%20Bravo/167/193/89

In the top picture from left to right, Planners Gamel Goodfellow, Becka Finesmith, Paradox Olbers, Kat Lemieux, Marcus Olbracht,  Arisia Vita, and Opal Lei look at the central area honoring Kirra Ball’s donation of the Spaceport Bravo sim to the ISM.

ISM Planners looking at this Opal Lei prototype

The Bravo! Donors Monument atop the VAB

 http://slurl.com/secondlife/Spaceport%20Bravo/167/193/89  is the permanent home of the Donors’ Monument now, down on the lower roof below and to the right of the American flag.  More iterations will produce the final design.

CyRos Captain Cypress Rosewood playing at the helm

Cypress demonstrates his musicianShip, dressed for the occasion.  His 3rd ISM concert is the first of a monthly series – practically speaking since Cypress does real life tours too, it will be 8 or so concerts a year.

 30 avatars enjoyed Cypress’s return to the ISS exhibit high above both the world and Spaceport Alpha.

Space shuttle Endevour linked to the ISS at ISM

The full set of concert snaps are at flickr.

Paradox wistfully gazing up at Luna & Moonbase One

As Kat Lemieux mentioned in her September news post, I’ve accepted the day-to-day job as head of ISM operations, the hard-working volunteer Planners staff. We’ve accomplished a lot in establishing the ISM as one of the premier spaceflight, science, museum, educational, and tourist locations to visit and learn from in all Second Life. As one of the charter members of the SciLands science, engineering & technology continent, we anticipate their growing synergy to help all of us accomplish more.

I arrived inworld November 4th, 2006, immediately pulling up my Map with a control-M [Windoze], and typing in “Spaceport Alpha.” I like to say “I never left.” I did, though, and found that over half of the two dozen sims on my to visit list that I’d made from reading months of items from New World Notes and Metaverse Messenger were gone! This was my first abrupt exposure to the volatility and impermanance of Second Life.

In contrast, ISM was formed in September 2005, opened Spaceport Alpha in July 2006, and Spaceport Bravo in 2007 – and is still here. We appreciate the support of all of our visitors, donors, builder/scripters, and staffers, past and present. There’s a lot more work to do to put ISM on a self-sustaining basis, beginning with replacing our generous donor Kirra Ball’s more than a year’s payments for Spaceport Bravo (plus buying it in the first place).  I’m confident that all of us and newcomers together can do this!

You can make a one-time Donation [we are looking into Paypal monthly subscriptions - 200 hundred humans (or others - ISM doesn't discriminate) paying less than one Euro or US dollar a month would pay Spaceport Bravo's way completely], buy a present for a loved one at our virtual and real giftshops, and/or help us get a sponsorship from your company.

Thank you.