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January 2012 www.sname.org/sname/mt Welcome aboard the Ocean Star for a rst- hand adventure aboard an offshore drilling rig. Whether charting a course for entertainment or education, visitors will nd her ready to take them on an industrial-strength voyage of discovery within a comfortable, modern museum setting. e only known facility of its type, Ocean Star is a jack-up drilling rig oering the opportunity to physically enter the world of the oshore petrochemical industry. is leviathan of the deep?that is, deep water drilling?is a marvel in technology, and although Ocean Star is now Entrance to the Oshore World Experiencing a drilling rig rsthand BY Sþÿ aANþÿ d r aDRA MOUþÿ r tRTON(focus on education) retired from active duty and permanently berthed at pier 19 in Galveston, Texas, she still has many lessons to teach. Built in 1969 by the Bethlehem Steel Yard in Beaumont, Texas, Ocean Star served o the Louisiana coast before being retired in 1984. Acquired in 1995 by the Oshore Energy Center (OEC), Ocean Star was refurbished, rebuilt, and relocated to Galveston, and reopened as a museum in 1997. Within the renovated three-story interior, com- plete with elevators, exhibits illustrate the evolution of drilling and the petroleum industry from 2,000 B.C. to modern times. Technological advances in the exploration for, capture and transport of, oil and gas are clearly illustrated in multi-media presentations, and, through interactive exhibits, visitors can expe- rience what it is like to operate a cyberbase driller?s chair or mount a ?Billy Pugh? personnel basket, the main method of transporting people from ships onto the rig itself. Visitors also will see a display of ?pigs,? which are pipeline cleaning devices, and learn why these units squeal. The þÿ OOcean Star museum is located at pier 19 in þÿ GGalveston, Texas. 54_C3_BDept_SNAME_Jan12_P4.indd 5712/22/11 3:45 PM