South’s BEST 2005 Project Images

Fall 2005 South’s BEST: Mission to Hubble
Click on any of the thumbnails below to start the slideshow:

At 7pm, we begin the set.The curtain goes in first in order to clear the floor for the other teams.It takes the entire class to hoist the curtain into place.The Curtain sloooowly rises...One of three as-yet-uninflated curtains in place.Preparing to move the Earth into place.The Earth beginning to inflate.The Earth being cantankerous.The Earth back under control.The Earth installs, with quite a bit of work.In the beginning it seemed rather precarious, but once anchored firmly in place, the Earth proves to be very stable, much to the relief of all..Once the Earth is in place the planets and the floor begin installation.Jonathan inspects the tunel suports inside the Earth.Caitlyn makes a few field repairs to the Earth.The planets prove to be more work than expected: hoisting them high enough across the 230 foot span of the coliseum takes three pullers on each side.Once up the planets begin to inflate.While the planets are inflating, the tunnel team gets busy.It goes up very quickly, but as it turns out (due the use of high-volume leaf blowers instead of fans) it is very LOUD!At 6am (eleven hours after we begin the installation), everything is finally in place.Everybody makes one final check...We all leave for an hour to shower and change clothes, and show back up an hour later for breakfast and to complete any last technical glitches.When we arrive back in the coliseum, we cut the house lights...View from the center of the Earth.The Planets in the night sky.View from the center of the Earth.Throughout the day, the planets change colors.A view down the tunnel, back toward the Earth.From the tunnel, toward the playing fields.A view from the stands.Another view from the stands.The planets change colors again...A view of all the planets aligned.Contestants emerge from the center of the Earth.Contestants 'Blasting off' in the tunnel.Contestants emerge from the tunnel.Contestants on the field of play.The scoring judges deliberate.Professor Faust is pleased with what he sees!Some of the interstitial spaces are the most dramatic. This is a view inside the floor.A view inside the Earth, between the tunnel and the skin.An interior view of the Earth, looking 45' over head.One of the planets 'eclipses' the Earth.The Class, just before breakdown.Time to roll-up, and we fly!The curtain comes down as easy as it went up...All of the plastic is folded neatly for recycling.Quickly loading the truck...The door closes....And we are DONE. From fan turn-off to door-close on the truck takes 32 minutes and 25 seconds, a new BEST record.