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July 7, 2010
Hi all,
Our July 24th luncheon at Fuddruckers is fast approaching and we
need to get an accurate head count of how many people believe
they will attend. Pam will be calling to reserve the room for
us, so having a number to work with will be most helpful. You
may reply to this email, or directly to myself at:
mach25@sbcglobal.net
If anyone needs directions or has other questions, please drop
me a note.
We will be meeting at 2:00 pm on Saturday July 24th at:
Fuddruckers
23621 El Toro Rd
Lake Forest 92630
949-830-7210
Even though in hiatus this year, OCSS has done some great work
at several events. I hope that we may have a good turnout at our
luncheon to reconnect with many of our members and friends, and
talk about what we have accomplished and where we will go in the
future.
Take care,
Michelle Evans
President, Orange County Space Society May 27, 2010 Hi all,
Usually around this time of year we are preparing for the OCSS
Summer Picnic. But with OCSS on hiatus it was not certain if we
would have an event like that this year or not. At the Long
Beach Science Fair on Saturday, it was suggested that instead of
doing all the logistics necessary for a picnic, that instead we
have an easier event by just all getting together at a local
restaurant.
Several suggestions have already been put forward, so I will put
my suggestion on this group to start the official discussion.
We usually have our picnic on a Saturday close to the
anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing (July 20). This year
that would put it either July 17 or July 24. I would propose
that we shoot for Saturday July 24, starting at 2:00 pm at the
Fuddruckers in Lake Forest. This is a fun restaurant with decent
prices and good food--and specifically this is where OCSS used
to meet many years ago so would be a nice place to reconnect.
Let myself and the group know your thoughts about this idea, and
if you have other suggestions for a location or date, put all
that in your note, too, so we can get a consensus of what
everyone would like to do.
The event will be open for anyone from OCSS, their family, and
any friends who would like to join us. In other words--everyone.
Looking forward to hearing from everyone and hopefully seeing
many of you in July.
Take care,
Michelle Evans
President, Orange County Space Society
April 24, 2010 Hi
all,
OCSS has been asked to participate with a display at a special
book signing event for Anoushe Ansari on Saturday, May 1 at 7:00
pm at Barnes & Noble, Metro Pointe (near South Coast Plaza).
We would need to be there about 5:30 for setup of a display to
help out with the event where she will be signing her book, "My
Dream of Stars." As you might recall, she and her family put up
the money to fund the X Prize that was won by the Scaled
Composites team in 2004 with SpaceShipOne. Anoushe later went on
to become a space tourist, flying to the International Space
Station.
Anyone interested in aiding in this event is asked to please
call or drop me an email at Mach25@sbcglobal.net, as I need to
confirm that we will be able to participate. This gives us a
very full May, as we also have the Riverside Space Day event on
May 14 and the Long Beach Science Fair on the 22nd. I hope I can
count on many of our members to come help out and to support her
book.
Take care,
Michelle Evans
President, Orange County Space Society
March 23, 2010 Hello everyone,
There are a few events coming up that I want to inform our
members about:
Sat. April 10--Yuri's Night in Oceanside. This event is being
run by our sister chapter, the San Diego Space Society, and it
will be held at one of our favorite places, Killer Pizza From
Mars. SDSS puts on a great event, and this years should really
be a big one, so I highly recommend attending if you can. There
will be music, talks, and door prizes. For more info, check out
their event page at:
http://sandiegospace.org/2010/03/12/yuris-night-san-diego-2/
Fri. May 14--Space Day, Riverside. This is an annual event that
OCSS has often participated in, going back many years. It will
take place at Longfellow Elementary and consists of numerous
stations in classrooms about the school dealing with a variety
of space exploration and science subjects. We already have three
OCSS members signed up to participate. I will be presenting my
program on space photography and art for the students. If anyone
else would like to join us, or to help out in general at this
event, please let me know as soon as you can. It is great fun,
and lunch and snacks are provided.
Sat. May 22--Long Beach Science Fair. This will be our 4th year
at the LB Science Fair, and we have many people looking forward
to this and have already signed up to help out with setup,
running the display and talking to the kids, and talking
everything out. If others would like to join us, please let me
know as your help is always greatly appreciated at this, and all
other events.
Take care,
Michelle Evans
President, Orange County Space Society
March 19, 2010 There is a really
spectacular motion picture coming to an IMAX theater near you
March 19. It is called "Hubble 3D" and is from the same people
who produced "Space Station 3D in 2002.
Several members of OCSS were able to attend an advance screening
of the movie at the California Science Center on March 11.
Following the movie we had a Q&A session with Hubble repair and
STS-125 astronaut Michael Massimino, and the writer/director of
the film Toni Myers. Also, the next morning I was able to do
exclusive interviews with them both concerning the filmmaking
process, the mission to Hubble and its science, and their
thoughts on the film.
I want to share my thoughts with everyone through a review of
the film that I wrote based on the film and those interviews,
and to highly recommend seeking out the movie when you can. My
article and photos can be found at:
http://www.mach25media.com/hubble2.html
I was also lucky enough to have the article picked up by Space
Daily, which goes out to over 7 million subscribers, so that was
especially cool. The link for that version is on my movie review
web page, if anyone is interested.
The movie opens this Friday, March 19, but only in selected IMAX
theaters around the country, so you'll have to check your local
listings. Here in Southern California, it will be at the
California Science Center in LA, as well as the Fleet Science
Center in San Diego. Unfortunately it is not currently scheduled
for OC at the Irvine Spectrum. The wider release is currently
scheduled for April 23rd, so we'll keep an eye out here locally.
I do have a listing of locations for March 19, so if anyone
wants to drop me a note at my personal email (mach25@sbcglobal.net)
I'll be glad to see if there is a location near you on the list.
Take care and enjoy the movie. Please send me feedback on the
article and the movie if you would. Those things are always
welcome.
Michelle Evans
President, Orange County Space Society March 8, 2010 Hi all,
We have done the Long Beach Science Fair for several years now
and have always been very welcome. Susan Garcia is a great fan
of OCSS, our display, our members, and all that we do for their
event each year.
I just got the notice from her for this year's 15th annual event
that will take place between 8:30 am and 12:30 pm on Saturday,
May 22, 2010.
We talked about this before going on hiatus, and the member
consensus was that we should continue to do this event. Before I
contact her back to say we will come, I need a commitment from
at least four (or preferably more) people who will guarantee
they will come and support this event for setup, tear down, and
crewing the OCSS exhibit. This is a huge event with several
thousand students and we need a minimum of this number to
properly cover ourselves.
So, anyone who wants to commit to helping out with this, please
let me know ASAP so I can let Susan know. If I do not get a
response, then I will assume that no one is actually interested
and I will tell her that instead. I hope we can get an active
group for this as it is usually a great deal of fun. Looking
forward to hearing back from our members.
Take care,
Michelle Evans
President, Orange County Space Society
February 25, 2010 Hi all,
Been a while since we've talked, but I wanted to pass along
information about an event coming up next month that I hope many
of our members may participate in. There will be a documentary
showing at the Art Theater of Long Beach at 11:30 am on Saturday
March 20. The showing costs $10 and the funds will help send
kids to Space Camp Turkey for their Summer program. Many of our
members have gone to SCT and know the value of what they do, so
I hope to see a lot of support. Also, it will be a great
get-together since we haven't had a chance to do so in several
months now.
The movie is not space-related, but that should not deter
anyone. It looks to be an excellent production and serves a
great cause.
The movie is entitled "Voices Unveiled, Turkish Women Who Dare."
Here is the IMDB link:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1486870/
The theater is located at: 2025 E. 4th Street, Long Beach 90814,
Phone 562-438-5435. It is just east of Cherry on 4th Street.
Take care and hope to see a lot of friends.
Michelle Evans
President, Orange County Space Society November 6, 2009 There are a couple
of events coming up in the near future that I want to pass along
to all of our members.
November 19 at 6:00 pm: The Tessmann Planetarium will be holding
a special event to celebrate the opening of their new
planetarium program, "America in Space." The event is called "An
Evening Under the Stars" and will feature an indoor and outdoor
star party, along with showings of the new program in the
planetarium. The evening runs from 6:00 pm to 8:30 pm. Tessmann
Planetarium is located at Santa Ana College, about two miles
west of the I-5 freeway on 17th Street (just past Bristol) in
Santa Ana. For more info, please call Tessmann at: 714-564-6356.
December 12 at 2:00 pm: The OCSS 2009 Holiday Party will take
place this year at North Woods Restaurant in La Mirada. We hope
to have a great big send off party for everyone as this is the
final officially-scheduled OCSS event before going into
hibernation in 2010. Please be sure to come join us and bring
all your family and friends to show your support for this great
organization. For those of you out of town and far away, this is
the perfect excuse to come join us in person and get to meet
your fellow members. North Woods is right at the I-5 freeway at
Valley View and a map is available at the OCSS web site at:
http://www.ocspace.org/maps.htm
For those of you who won't be able to join us for our Holiday
Party at North Woods, there is another great event happening at
roughly the same time in San Diego. OCSS member John Sisson will
be giving his wonderful "Disney in Space" presentation to the
San Diego Space Society, starting at 2:30 pm, Saturday, December
12. This will be at the Serra Mesa Branch Library in San Diego.
More information at:
http://www.sandiego.gov/public-library/locations/#serramesa
http://sandiegospace.org
I also want to let everyone know that the new Columbia Memorial
Space Science Learning Center is now open for business in Downey
at the former location of the Rockwell Space Division. This is
where many components from Apollo and the Space Shuttle were
originally built, and I definitely recommend stopping by to
check out the beautiful new facility. More info on their web
site at:
http://www.columbiaspacescience.org
In adddition, I want to encourage everyone to take a moment to
join up with the Friends of OCSS Yahoo group. After the first of
the year, most all information about events will be posted
through this group. You will also find it very convenient in
that you can also post and reply to everyone in the group
yourself. This means that getting information to everyone will
be fast and easy, and more people will be able to participate
directly by simply posting a message yourself to everyone about
any event.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/friendsofocss
Take care and hope to see many of you at these events and on the
Friends of OCSS group.
Michelle Evans
President, Orange County Space Society October 9, 2009 Hi all,
Our Orange County Space Society secretary, Debbi Bennett, has
set up a Yahoo group where OCSS members may all keep in touch
with each other and get notified of special events, things of
that nature. The group is called "Friends of OCSS" and it is
easy and free to join up to stay informed.
I'm sure that many of our members may already be signed up for
various Yahoo groups, and I hope that you might add Friends of
OCSS to your list. For anyone who has never joined one of these
groups, it is very easy to do so. Just go to this web link to
sign up:
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/friendsofocss/
I hope that many of you will take the opportunity to join in and
stay connected to OCSS during this period of hibernation.
Also, I would like to request if all members--if you have not
already done so--could take a moment and drop me a line
concerning your membership, so I know exactly what each of you
would like to do with that membership starting at the beginning
of 2010. Most members I have spoken with have opted to stay in
hiatus with the group, but you also have the option to receive a
refund of any membership dues outstanding, if that is your wish.
If anyone has any questions or comments about this arrangement,
please let me know, as well as what your wishes are concerning
your membership.
Take care,
Michelle Evans
President, Orange County Space Society
September 24, 2009 Hi everyone,
This is a very difficult message to write to our members, so I
hope you'll forgive me if I stray too far from the subject. It
may also be the most important email sent to our members, so
please take the time to read it in full and hopefully to take
the time to respond.
I have been with OCSS for 15 years and been president for 13 of
those years. It has been a very rewarding position and I have
always been very proud to be a part of such a great group. As
you are aware, this past year has been very difficult for me
with regard to my health after my accident in January. My
healing has not progressed nearly as far or as fast as had been
hoped. In addition, I am under contract to write a very
important book on an exciting aspect of our space program: the
X-15 research aircraft. In order to have the time to properly
give myself a chance to heal and also to give myself the time to
have a shot at finishing my book on schedule, I have had to come
to the extremely difficult and sad decision that as of the end
of 2009 I will have to tender my resignation as head of the
Orange County Space Society.
I have been in discussion for a couple weeks now with the
members of the Board of Directors, as well as other key figures
in OCSS critical to the running of our organization. In
addition, I took this decision to our September meeting to
present it to our members who could personally attend. The idea
has been to solicit ways about how to proceed with the future of
OCSS due to my heavy personal involvement in so many aspects of
the group. There were specific things decided upon during the
meeting that I will pass along below, but before anything is
officially implemented, I want to also solicit comments, ideas,
suggestions, whatever, from the entirety of our membership.
With that in mind, after reading what I have to say, and about
what we discussed at the meeting, I very much would like as much
feedback as any of you would like to share.
The problem, as I saw it before making this decision, is that
for many years I have been the primary person responsible for
many aspects of the running of OCSS. Most of what this entailed
was writing a great majority of the material for the newsletter,
running the meetings, setting up events for us to participate
in, etc. However, I do very much want to also acknowledge that
there have been several others who have also given a lot of
their time and efforts to get where we are. Primary in that
would be our OCSS Board: Marvin Blaski, Bob Kline, Pam Leestma,
and Ray Montgomery; and my fellow officers, Debbi Bennett, and
most of all our Treasurer and my dear wife and partner, Cherie
Rabideau. In addition, special thanks go to Greg Little, who has
taken over the thankless job as editor of O.C.Space, as well as
Jeff Howe for keeping our web site and email running smoothly.
I also want to put out a special thanks to John Sisson who did
such a wonderful program on "Disney in Space" this past Sunday.
His program was one of our best OCSS programs to date, and this
will always be remembered as such.
So, what it comes down to is that after much discussion, both
before and during the meeting, the consensus is that with my
leaving for at least the entire year of 2010, that OCSS should
be put into hibernation during that time, to then come back near
the end of next year and see where we stand, and if we would
like to reactivate the organization. Our publication, O.C.Space,
would also finish out the run of 2009 before joining the society
in hiatus.
What does this mean for the great majority of our members? What
would become of your membership dues? Those are the sort of
questions we have been embattled with. In short answer, I intend
to make sure that no member will ever be cheated out of a dime
of their membership dues, as long as we have the funds to cover
them. Our current financial situation is definitely sound, so I
do not believe that will be any sort of problem.
There may still be members who would like to step forward and
say that we can go on without going into hiatus. I would
absolutely support that decision. However, I need to be able, in
my own mind, to be satisfied that this would be an honest effort
and not a half-hearted one. From the comments from other members
at our September 20 meeting, I think I speak for our members
present in their agreement with that statement. So if you think
you have the wherewithall to come forward and offer to run OCSS,
this is the time to speak up.
Here is a minimum list of job requirements for President of OCSS
that you would have the responsibility to perform:
1. Preside over meetings, programs, and other functions of OCSS.
2. Write a monthly editorial for O.C.Space.
3. Oversee publication of O.C.Space.
4. Work with various organizations to create opportunities for
OCSS participation.
5. Write the National Space Society Annual Report for Chapters
and submit in January of each year.
6. Fill out and submit tax forms to the IRS each year for our
501(c)(3) group.
With that in mind, there are two options we decided upon to
offer our members:
--First, is that if you have memberships that expire in January
2010 or later, you will be offered a prorated refund of any
monies due.
--Second, is you may choose to remain where you are while OCSS
is in hibernation, and any memberships will be extended a like
amount once there is a reactivation, or again, a refund would
then be offered if for any reason we decided to terminate things
at that point. For example: If you are due in March of 2010 and
we reactivate in one year, your membership would then
automatically be changed to expire in March 2011.
I would again reiterate that I would like to hear from all of
you. In addition, I would also like to get direction from each
of you as far as your membership dues are concerned. Do you wish
to keep active via hibernation or receive the prorated refund?
If we do not hear from you, then you will automatically be
placed on the hibernation list and your funds will be secure
within the OCSS bank account. You may change your status at any
time with a request in writing. You may do so either via email
or snail mail (the OCSS address is below).
And one last thing I want to pass along is that our Secretary,
Debbi Bennett, will be setting up a Yahoo group where all
members and friends of OCSS may stay in contact, no matter how
all this turns out. I want to especially thank her for putting
this in place. we will have additional info on that as it
becomes available.
Take care,
Michelle Evans
President, Orange County Space Society
PO Box 53241
Irvine, CA 92619
September 21, 2009 To all, I am writing
this for members who attend the September meeting and,
afterwards, to the membership in general. I have several topics
to cover and several points to make.
I have been writing "To the Stars" for O.C.Space for 10 years.
It has been a monthly joy to me and I look forward to writing
about topics ranging from government to "The Jetsons." It's
something I have done with pride and taken seriously all of this
time. I continue that to this day.
Earlier this year, after learning of the health problems and
issues with Michelle, I stepped forward and volunteered to do
the monthly newsletter. I knew that someone had to step forward
or it would not go forward. This award-winning publication, from
what I can tell, is of the heart and soul of the Orange County
Space Society. I was very concerned that something would happen
and it would no longer exist, something I just could not see
happen.
Let me inject here a little about myself. For 30 years, I have
been in the journalism business. I began as a part-time sports
writer, moved on to reporter and then editor for many, many
years. Two years ago I became a publisher at the newspaper in
Gonzales, Texas. For those who know something of the newspaper
business, this is a job that almost everyone in the business
seeks to someday obtain. That was always my dream and it has
been fulfilled. But what comes with that job is a huge
responsibility. Not only are you responsible for what people
traditionally know as a newspaper -- ads, stories, photos,
classifieds, etc. -- you are responsible for every aspect of the
business. That includes such hidden things as making sure you
have enough mailing labels, making sure your delivery van has
good tires, dealing with endless personnel issues, making sure
you are making more money than you are spending and there is so
much more.
I say all of this because it means my time is very tight and I
simply don't have a lot of time to do extras. Additionally, many
of those "extras" I choose to do are related to my community. I
serve on boards and committees because, number one, it is
important to me and, number two, it helps my business in many
aspects. Between the business, the news stories and meetings,
and the extra duties serving my community, it leaves me very
little time for some semblance of a home life with my wife and
son.
Yet through all of that, I still see the need to make sure
O.C.Space is published in a timely manner, even though I live a
thousand miles away and have never met any of you personally.
That being said, I feel an important part of the OCSS family and
that we have all connected. One of the reasons for this letter
is obvious. When I learned recently that Michelle is stepping
down, it raised great concern for me. Even though I have taken
over the newsletter, it is Michelle who has done a lot of the
contributions. In the last edition, Michelle again wrote the
lead story and contributed a column and photographs.
To be blunt, in the prior months, others had stepped forward and
given me copy and photos to use in the newsletter. But that has
really dropped off and last month I seriously considered just
giving it up, along with my column, because I certainly have
enough to do.
I think one thing which gets lost in people, through absolutely
no fault of their own, is just how difficult it is to put
together a publication and get it out the door on time. I do
this twice a week with a skeleton crew at the newspaper. It is
not easy, but there are deadline days and times, and they must
be met -- even if it means extra work or putting in late nights.
There is no choice. Not to pick on any certain profession, but
in many occupations, if something doesn't get done one day, it
can usually be handled the next. Not in publishing. There is no
choice.
I realize this letter is getting lengthy, but I feel like this
is my last shot to get across a point which is so crucial. In a
volunteer organization like OCSS, it takes EVERYONE to
contribute to something like this newsletter. I believe you have
all been proud of the newsletter over the years, and you should
be. But for it to move forward, it is going to take some serious
scheduling and meeting of deadlines for it to continue. Serious.
For one, I am so far removed I just can't decide to write the
lead story when necessary. My opportunities to do that are
limited. And I can't always come up with something for Page 3.
This is where you all must come in and decide whether or not you
want this to continue.
It will take a total team effort -- I'm talking about every
member, not just those who are on the board or attend meetings
-- for this to work. Someone will have to take charge and make a
schedule with deadlines, etc., or this will not work. I refuse
to scramble around at the last minute in order to get this done.
In fact, it should seriously be considered that stories and
photos are done in the first week of the month and sent to me.
Doing the lead and page 3 are the keys. The columns are fine
coming after the meeting. However, others have to step up and
write columns. I don't necessarily want to write one every month
and would welcome others to step up. These columns could also be
sent in advance. I realize there are certain events which have
to wait because of timeliness, but I'd bet they are few and far
between.
It's also going to take someone to take charge of the calendar
and let me know what should be included for the next month. I
see no reason this couldn't be done well in advance, either. I
can find out about NASA-related events, but you all are the ones
who know of the events in your area and you must find a way to
provide that information. I guess what I'm saying here is
someone needs to be a newsletter coordinator and scheduler. I'm
more than happy to manipulate the pictures, write the headlines
and caption lines and build the pages, but I need the
information and it must be in a timely manner. The other
alternative is for one of you to simply take over the duties of
building the newsletter. Don't think you would hurt my feelings
because I have plenty to do. I don't mind doing it, but it has
to be made as easy as possible for me in order for it to get
done in a timely manner.
In closing, I hope this does not sound bitter and harsh. It is
not intended in that matter. But it is intended to get across my
point and try to express as best as I can just how much work
goes into OC Space and what it's going to take for the
publication to continue. I certainly welcome a discussion about
this and any feedback you might have. I appreciate your time in
considering my thoughts.
Thank you,
Greg Little
Editor, O.C.Space
May 21, 2009 In just two months, we
will be celebrating the 40th anniversary of the First Lunar
Landing with Apollo 11. With that in mind, the suggestion has
been made that we do a special edition of our newsletter for
July which will be dedicated to this event. In order to do this,
the idea is to solicit a paragraph or two from many of our
members on their remembrances of what Apollo 11 means to them.
You can share your experience of what it was like to watch human
beings from Earth walk on another world, or for those too young
to have been there personally, why this event is meaningful and
important to you.
All of your thoughts should be sent directly to our newsletter
editor, Greg Little, at this email address:
nlittle@directv.net
This will be a very special issue of O.C.Space if our members
will share with everyone else. So please sit down soon and drop
Greg a note with your thoughts.
Take care,
Michelle Evans
President, Orange County Space Society April 22, 2009 Due to the fact that
I was in the hospital and nursing home for several months and
our monthly newsletter O.C.Space was unable to be published for
three issues, I am happy to inform all members that it was
decided at our Sunday meeting to extend all current memberships
by three months to make up for this deficit. If for any reason
you would prefer to keep your present renewal date, please let
me know, otherwise you will be automatically extended for three
months. Anyone who wishes to know their current or extended
renewal date may also drop me a note and I'll get that info out
to you.
I want to thank everyone for their patience with all that has
transpired since January. It has been a rough road, but things
are looking up.
With that in mind, I would like to officially announce that
starting with the May issue of O.C.Space, a new editor will be
at the controls. Please welcome Greg Little in this role and be
sure to give lots of feedback. Even better, please write
articles, essays, editorials, or anything else you would like to
see in your newsletter. We need our members to contribute
regularly to our efforts so that the problems we encountered
recently will not be repeated if anything else untoward happens.
We also have several upcoming events to tell everyone about. We
have some great programs slated for meetings throughout the rest
of this year. here is a rundown of what is coming up.
June 21: AstroJeopardy game.
July 18: OCSS Summer Picnic
August 16: Apollo 11--40 Years
September 20: Disney in Space
And then our big event will take place on October 18, and also
hopefully again on Halloween Day, Saturday October 31. The plan
is to do a recreation of the famous Orson Wells broadcast from
1938 or H.G.Wells' "War of the Worlds." This has the potential
to be one of the greatest events we have put together and I hope
we will have great participation and and a large audience, so be
sure to tell your family, friends, whomever, and mark your
calendars for those two dates.
There will be at least 22 speaking parts and various other
"voices", along with special visual and sound effects. We are
also hoping to have participation from sister organizations such
as the San Diego Space Society and Tessmann Planetarium. Anyone
who would like to participate in any way, or has any comments or
suggests to offer is encouraged to drop me a personal note at:
mach25@sbcglobal.net
So keep looking outward. OCSS has a great 2009 planned.
Michelle Evans
President, Orange County Space Society
April 16, 2009 Hello all,
Time to get things back up and running so our April meeting will
be one to discuss how things can be reorganized to move forward
with the best possible speed and materials for our members. Some
specific agenda items to be discussed include:
The San Diego Science Festival
Yuri's Night
The Space Show
Long Beach Science Fair
Space Day San Diego
The Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission
Plus our kick-off for the big OCSS October event! This was
discussed briefly at the March meeting, but now we have to get
into planning and make the official announcement to start
getting everyone lined up to help out with this extremely fun
project. Next week, follwoing the meeting, I will be putting out
a special email to our members to discuss the program in more
detail and how our members and friends can participate.
Take care and see you all this Sunday, April 19, starting at
3:00 pm at the Irvine Heritage Park Library. (http://www.ocspace.org/maps.htm)
Michelle Evans
President, Orange County Space Society
April 5, 2009 Hello,
There are several events coming soon that you should put on your
calendars.
First off, though, thanks very much to Ray Montgomery and Bob
Kline for their efforts this past Saturday to move forward with
our OCSS display at the San Diego Science Festival. I'm sure
they will have a great event to report on at our next meeting.
Friday, April 10 at 6:00 pm: Science Author and Illustrator
Michael Carroll
at the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center, Grayson Boehm Lecture
Hall. Join popular author and science illustrator Michael
Carroll on a journey to the most spectacular and terrifying
scenes in our solar system. His latest book Alien Volcanoes
reveals late-breaking discoveries throughout the planets with
the latest NASA photos and stunning paintings. Carroll's talk
surveys the complete spectrum of volcanoes, from Earthlike cones
with
molten rock to alien geysers of liquid nitrogen. A book
signing will follow the lecture. Alien Volanoes will be
available for purchase at the North Star Science Store. Tickets:
This program is free with $8.50 admission and includes the 7, 8
or 9 p.m. IMAX® film. For more info: http://www.rhfleet.org/
Saturday, April 11, 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm: Yuri's Night celebration
hosted by our sister chapter, the San Diego Space Society t
Killer Pizza from Mars, Oceanside. This is an annual event where
parties take place all over the world to celebrate the
achievement of sending the first human into space, Yuri Gagarin,
on April 12, 1961. The SDSS event is a fun way to get together
with fellow space enthusiasts and enjoy fantastic pizza at a
really cool space-themed restaurant. For more info, to RSVP, and
directions to KPFM: http://sandiegospace.org/?m=20090411&cat=3
Sunday, April 19 at 3:00 pm: OCSS April general membership
meeting at Irvine Heritage Park Library. We have lots of great
things to discuss at this meeting, including the completed San
Diego Science Festival, upcoming Space Day and Long Beach
Science Fair events, and the kick off of planning for our very
special program we will be doing for October. I hope that we get
a great turn out because this could be the most fun we've ever
had with OCSS! For more info: http://www.ocspace.org/
May 9, 10:00 am to 2:00 pm: Space Day at the San Diego Air &
Space Museum. We hope that OCSS will again be able to
participate in this years event. A decision will be made at the
April 19th OCSS meeting. But even if we do not attend
officially, this is something worth the trip south for, so be
sure and mark your calendar. For more info: http://www.aerospacemuseum.org/upcoming/spaceday09.html
Saturday, May 16, 8:00 am to noon: Long Beach Science Fair. This
will be our third year at the LBSF. It always is a lot of fun
for the OCSS volunteers. I hope that many of you will join us
that day to help out and have a great time with the students.
More info at the April 19 OCSS meeting.
Sunday, May 17 at 2:00 pm: OCSS May meeting and program. This is
the tentative date for our kickoff with the new AstroJeopardy
skill game. It's been years since we've done this event so
really looking forward to having a blast. Because of the close
proximity to two other major events, this program might be
pushed to the June meeting. stay tuned.
That's it for now. Lots of fun and exciting space events to take
advantage of and to help out with.
Take care,
Michelle Evans
President, Orange County Space Society
March 31, 2009
Hi all,
Just wanted to give everyone an update on what's been
transpiring recently with my health with regard to OCSS. As some
of you are aware, Ray was able to sneak me away from my medical
care on March 15th long enough to come by the OCSS monthly
meeting. Unfortunately, I was unable to get away early enough to
catch the presentation from John Sisson. I understand he gave a
wonderful and insightful presentation, so much so that the plan
is for him to do it again to a wider audience later this year,
possibly in September. I very much look forward to seeing it
then.
(And speaking of programs, I presented an idea at the meeting
for a really fun and exciting presentation for our October 18th
meeting. Watch emails and meetings for more details as this will
require a lot of support from our members to pull it off
properly.)
As for myself, it has now been over nine weeks since my accident
left me with two very mangled legs. Technically, they are both
now healed enough to actually start weight bearing and walking
(yeah!), which I have been working on now for a about ten days.
It is a great struggle to get vertical and walk again after so
much time off my feet as the muscle atrophy is pretty nasty. I
did very well at first, but then overdid it too much so that my
progress has slowed dramatically. Also, complications due to the
extensive blood clotting in my left leg and lungs are creating
even more long term difficulties that are detrimental to my
recovery.
The good news is that this past Friday evening I was finally
able to return to my home and my gorgeous and patiently
supportive wife, Cherie, as well as our beautiful kitty whom I
missed dearly, Fluffy. The bad news is that it did not happen
under proper medical conditions which has further put my full
recovery in danger of being much slower than was initially
hoped. It is my wish to stay away from any hospital for a good
long time, but that may not remain the case if things
deteriorate, thus my want to send everyone an update while I
knew I would have this window of opportunity.
I want to thank everyone in OCSS who has been very supportive
during these extremely trying times and I very much hope they
will soon be behind us and that OCSS may again take off at full
steam. I especially want to thank all who called or stopped by
in the hospital and nursing home throughout this ordeal. Your
friendly voices and faces helped me through some very trying
times. I also want to thank those in our sister chapter of OASIS
in Los Angeles for the wonderful get-well card I received at the
hospital a few days ago, and for the lovely basket of flowers
from our great friends at the Tessmann Planetarium at Santa Ana
College. These were wonderful gestures on their parts.
For now, if anyone is looking for me and has been unable to
contact me at the hospital, give me a call here at home as I
would love to catch up. 949-770-0702.
On a special space viewing note, I want to let people know that
there are several excellent evening passes of the International
Space Station coming up over the next week or so for the
Southern California area. This will be especially cool since the
station is nearly complete and all four Sun-reflecting solar
arrays are finally in place (only 25 years after first
envisioned by the Reagan administration!). Check out times and
locations for your vantage point at:
http://heavens-above.com
That's it for today. I hope we all get back on track soon and
that I'll be able to resume my official capacities as much as
possible starting with our April 19th membership meeting at the
Irvine Heritage Park Library. And before I leave, I want to
thank all those involved in getting our newsletter going again
as soon as possible, and those who will be spearheading our
April 4th participation in the San Diego Science Festival.
Take care and hope to see many of you again soon.
Michelle Evans
President
Orange County Space Society
March 11, 2009 The March meeting of
the Orange County Space Society will be this Sunday, March 15,
at the Irvine Heritage Park library. The meeting starts at 3,
with John Sisson's presentation on space literature for children
beginning at 2.
There are a lot of things that need to be discussed and plans
that need to be made with our president, Michelle Evans, still
recovering in the hospital. We could use all the support from
our members as possible.
Sincerely,
Jeff Howe
OCSS February 9, 2009
From Ray Montgomery to OCSS
regarding Michelle,
Michelle has been President of OCSS for 15 years now, and she
has given her heart and soul to this organisation. During this
time she has made OCSS what it is today, viz. a vibrant
organisation that reaches out to the community to educate people
on the importance of
space exploration, with many public displays, occasional
tours of space facilities for OCSS members, and most
importantly, our monthly newsletter, which is by far and away
the best newsletter of any space chapter in the US, and possibly
the entire world. Space is her passion, and we can be
rightfully proud of OCSS because of her commitment and devotion
of considerable time to this organisation.
But right now Michelle needs our help. As most of you know, she
is in a hospital which is quite some distance from Cherie, and
with Cherie’s disabilities it is too far for her to travel to
see Michelle without considerable risk to herself. While Cherie
is willing to attempt the journey, Michelle is too worried that
something will happen to her along the way, and herein lies the
request to members of OCSS. While visits to see Michelle are
most welcome, what she would like is for people to pick Cherie
up in Lake Forest
and take her to visit Michelle in Orange. I realise that this
is a big commitment of our personal time, and that most of us
have work priorities and families of our own, but without Cherie
by her side, Michelle’s recovery is going to take much longer.
And I have personally seen the anguish and toll that it is
taking on both of them due to this separation by distance, not
only on an emotional level, but on a more practical level, such
as where documents mailed to their home require signatures by
Michelle, for instance.
So not only is this is a request from Michelle, but I feel it is
something that after all this time where we have benefited from
her commitment to OCSS and thus to us, that it is time for us to
give back to her. Please consider this request, and contact
Cherie to schedule your time and commitment. They both need us
right now.
Cherie can be contacted at
(949) 770-0702.
Thank you,
Ray Montgomery January 14, 2009 The January 2009
meeting of the Orange County Space Society will be held this
Sunday, Jan. 18 at the Heritage Park Library in Irvine.
This meeting will feature an amazing program by Dr. Luisa Rebull,
a research scientist at the Spitzer Science Center, titled,
"Star Formation from the Spitzer Space Telescope."
Dr. Rebull's program will start at 2 p.m., followed at 3 p.m. by
our general meeting.
If you have any questions or comments, please do not hesitate to
let me know.
Take care!
Jeff Howe
OCSS December 31, 2008
What a fantastic year for the Orange County Space Society. I was
doing our end-of-the-year report for the National Space Society,
and realized that this literally has been the busiest year we
have ever had for OCSS. Thank you all for making such a thing
possible. Now on to all the new things that will kick off 2009
for us in January.
Our first OCSS meeting of the year will take place on Sunday,
January 18 at 2:00 pm at the Irvine Heritage Park Library. This
meeting will have a very special program called: The Spitzer
Space telescope: AN Innovative Mission for Infrared Astronomy.
It will be presented by Dr. Luisa Rebull, research scientist at
the Spitzer Science Center, California Institute of Technology.
Dr. Rebull will be discussing results achieved by Spitzer in the
areas of infrared astronomy, young star formation, and the
discovery of extra-solar planets. remember we have to start
promptly at 2:00 pm so be sure to arrive early. Our general
membership meeting will follow directly after the presentation.
On Wednesday, January 14, there will be a presentation in
Pasadena to celebrate the 5 year anniversary of the Spirit and
Opportunity rovers on Mars with a presentation called "Mars in
3-D." To think they've lasted this long is unbelievable. I have
included the press release with all information on the event at
the bottom of this email following the 2008 Summary.
If you would like to see the Star Trek Exhibition at the San
Diego Air & Space Museum, be sure to make plans to head down
that way before the end of January as the exhibit is scheduled
to leave at that time. It is a really fun exhibit and gives you
a chance to really check out the Star Trek universe up close and
personal.
You should have received already, or will receive, your January
issue of O.C.Space. This issue features a story about the recent
Apollo 8 40th anniversary event at SDASM. I hope that you all
enjoy the article I've written to cover the event and always
look forward to getting feedback on this, or any other aspect of
the newsletter, or OCSS in general. One big thing I want to
point out is that this issue highlights our new relationship
with space artist David Robinson, including the new artwork he
has given us permission to use as our masthead. I know you'll
love his high-tech human exploration space art. Please check out
his other art at his web site:
http://www.bambam131.com/
And here is the 2008 Summary of Orange County Space Society 2008
activities:
19 Programs
15 Displays (457 – Total number of days OCSS had public
displays) *
12 Monthly Newsletters published
12 Miscellaneous Space Activities (space launches, etc.)
10 General Membership Meetings
9 Television appearances, newspaper articles, radio
interviews, etc.
3 OCSS members honored by various organizations
3 Conferences
3 Parties and Picnics
* Note that the number of display days exceeds 365 days because
OCSS runs multiple displays.
Take care and Happy new year 2009!
Michelle Evans
President, Orange County Space Society
Planetary Society event:
See MARS IN 3-D with Mars Scientist/Photographer Jim Bell and
Bill Nye the Science Guy!
Come celebrate the 5th anniversary of the
Mars Exploration Rovers on January 14 at the Boston Court
Performing Arts Center in Pasadena. Planetary
Society President Jim Bell, along with our Vice-President
Bill Nye the Science Guy, will present "Mars in 3-D."
Five years ago, the Spirit and Opportunity rovers landed on Mars
to begin a nominal 90-day mission on the Red Planet. A half
decade later, these two explorers continue to send back exciting
new images from an
alien
world.
Bell, author of "Postcards from Mars" and "Mars 3-D," is the
leader of the Panoramic Camera color imaging team for the Mars
Exploration Rovers. Bell has used his unique perspective to
select a visual feast of extraordinary views of Mars, from
craters to vast plains, and distant vistas to unusual rock
outcroppings. Seeing these images in 3-D on a big screen is the
next best thing to standing on the surface of Mars.
Nye will also discuss the past five years of Martian adventure,
including The Planetary Society's contribution of sundials to
the MER landers. Both Bell, Nye, and
Planetary Society Executive Director, Louis Friedman,
will be available for questions at a reception following the
presentation.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009 at 7:00 PM
Boston Court
Performing Arts Center
70 North Mentor Avenue
Pasadena, CA
Admission: $10.00. Tickets are available by phone order/credit
card purchase only. Please call 626-793-5100.
November 23, 2008 The end of the
year is almost here and it is time to once again sit back,
relax, and simply enjoy the company of your fellow OCSS members.
Our 2008 Holiday Party will take place at North Woods Inn in La
Mirada at 2:00 pm on Saturday, December 13.
All OCSS members, friends, and family are invited. Please RSVP
with the number in your party so we have a good count to give to
North Woods. The restaurant is located at the Valley View exit
from the I-5 (about 3 miles north of the 91 freeway
interchange).
The OCSS web site (www.ocspace.org)
has the map to North Woods now available. Go to the main web
page and click "Map to Meeting."
If anyone has any questions, please drop me a note. Hope to see
you there in a few weeks.
Michelle Evans
President, Orange County Space Society September 12, 2008 There is an
exciting month-long event coming up during October, and first
off I want to thank member John Sisson for bringing it to our
attention. Anyone who sees events coming up that have to do with
space and exploration are always very much welcome to pass them
on.
The October event will be held at the Fullerton Library and is
entitled "One Book/One Community" which will focus on Homer
Hickam's wonderful book "The Rocket Boys" and the inspiring
movie "October Sky."
Throughout the month there will be several events including
showings of the movie, discussions, and other special events.
Thanks to John Sisson, I have contacted the library and they are
also very excited about having OCSS come in and do a display to
go with this that will last the entire month. The most special
day will be on Saturday October 18 (the day prior to the OCSS
October meeting). Roy Lee Cooke, one of Homer Hickam's friends
and a fellow rocket boy of the Big Creek Missile Agency will be
giving a presentation.
So, I highly recommend this month-long event, including joining
in with the community and reading the book, and I hope that you
will mark your calendar for October 18th to join us for Roy Lee
Cooke. Also, if anyone is interested, we will be setting up our
OCSS display on Saturday, October 4, which coincidentally is the
41st anniversary of the first satellite launch, Sputnik 1, which
was the initial inspiration for Homer.
Please check out additional info for all the events throughout
October at the Fullerton Library at:
http://www.fullertonlibrary.org/onebook/
And as a very cool piece of trivia did you know that the movie's
name is an anagram of the book's name? :-)
Take care,
Michelle Evans
President, Orange County Space Society September 10, 2008 Hello all,
I wanted to take this opportunity to give everyone in OCSS an
update on our Lunar Module Restoration project. For those who
are not aware, several years ago OCSS acquired a 1/4-scale Lunar
Module model that was used in the production of the movie
"Apollo 13" and later on the HBO miniseries, "From the Earth to
the Moon." This is a very large and detailed model, and by the
time it came into our possession it was in fairly poor shape,
but certainly salvageable.
Once we took possession of the model, member Ray Montgomery
offered us the space to store the LM in his garage until such
time as we could get the manpower and money to do a proper
restoration. This now appears to be the case thanks to our
affiliation with the Aerospace Legacy Foundation and the
Columbia Science Center, soon to open in Downey.
This coming Saturday we are holding a meeting at Ray's home to
discuss the plan for this restoration to take place. Several
people are already scheduled to attend from OCSS, ALF and
another who may become the head of the restoration process. If
anyone else from OCSS would like to take this opportunity to
take a look at the Lunar Module in its current condition, please
let me know. Also, I have set up a special web page on my own
site to document the whole project. Anyone who would like to
view this page is definitely invited to do so. The address is:
http://www.mach25media.com/lm.html
I hope that we will be able to report and show progress on this
great project in the near future, so stay tuned.
Take care,
Michelle Evans
President, Orange County Space Society
July 21, 2008 Hello all,
I wanted to let everyone know that we had a wonderful OCSS
picnic celebration at Brookhurst Park on July 19. Thank you to
everyone who came and made it such a great day. This was by far
the coolest picnic (both in temperature and otherwise) picnic
we've had in the 14 or so years I've been with the society. It
was absolutely refreshing to have such perfect weather with mild
temperatures and a cool breeze.
Special thanks to everyone who did special things to help out.
Individual kudos to:
--To Debbi Bennett for getting there especially early to make
sure we got the best and shadiest spot in the park.
--To Bob Kline and Rudy Ouzounian for working together at the
grill for those great hot dogs and burgers.
--To Pam Leestma, Bob Kline, Debbi Bennett, Jerry and Sandra
Floyd, Thom Montgomery, and Jim Busby for picking up supplies.
--To Mike Cutler for lending us the large awning to increase our
shade.
It was also a very great pleasure to have many new OCSS members
in attendance such as Terry Austin, John Sisson and his family,
and Gill and Donna Kanal. What a perfect way for everyone to get
to know the group.
If you couldn't make it this year, I hope you'll plan on joining
us next year, and at our great meetings and programs each month.
Our next meeting on Sunday, August 17, will feature the
award-winning film "Postcards from the Future," along with a
introduction and Q&A with producer Alan Chan.
And for all those members who continue to support us from afar,
we thank you profusely for your contributions to help keep our
space education work alive. We have many members who live way
too far away to participate except through our monthly
newsletter, and for them, I want to mention that we are
currently exploring several ideas on how to expand our coverage
and allow non-local members to see the programs and activities
we do here in OC. With that, there is a very good chance we will
soon be offering our programs for viewing through some avenue
such as a video feed on the OCSpace.org web site, or even
through YouTube.
Stay tuned for more info as we get things worked out.
Take care and have a cool summer.
Michelle Evans
President, Orange County Space Society July 10, 2008 I have been asked to
relay a message from OCSS Board member Jim Busby concerning the
arrival of the second Apollo Boilerplate spacecraft at the
Downey construction facility on Wednesday, July 16. The event is
during the week, but I hope that some of you will have the
opportunity to come out and see a bit of history in the making.
Below is the press release that explains more info on the day,
along with the address of the facility. Hope to see you there.
Michell Evans
President, Orange County Space Society
text of press release:
News from where Apollo was built!
The Aerospace Legacy Foundation: Downey, California
Smithsonian Apollo test article is coming home on July 16th.
The City of Downey and the Columbia Memorial Space Science
Learning Center will receive a second Apollo Command Module
Boilerplate on July 16 after 12 Noon at the Downey Studios. It
will, after restoration, be exhibited in the new Columbia
Science Center. This center, which will open late this year,
will tell the story of the history of the site while preparing
youth to take trips into space in the future. They will do this
utilizing the Challenger Learning Center inside the
facility. The Apollo boilerplate is on loan from the Smithsonian
National Air and Space Museum, and will be trucked via overland
motorcade from the Apollo County Parks in Lancaster, via the 14
fwy, the I-5, the I-405, then finally, the I-105.
The new Columbia Memorial Space Science Learning Center and
Aerospace Legacy Offices will have limited access for this
event. While we await the spaceship test article to be unloaded,
some veterans of the Apollo and Space Shuttle programs from the
former Rockwell site will be available for questions. Arrival
time is expected within a three hour window between 11:00 am and
2:00 pm.
The two Apollo Boilerplate test articles are from the earliest
periods of America’s Lunar exploration program. Apollo
Boilerplate #12, which is already on site, was flown and
recovered on the first Apollo test flight on May 13, 1964.
Thereafter it was used on for at least two impact tests at the
Downey plant prior to being given to the local union hall until
it was presented to the city last year. Apollo Boilerplate #19,
which will arrive on July 16th, was carried aloft as many as
nine times and used in parachute drop tests over El Centro Naval
Air Station before it was presented to the Smithsonian by NASA.
It has, for many years, been on display in Lancaster.
Contact:
James M. Busby
Aerospace Legacy Foundation
C/O Downey Studios
12214 Lakewood Blvd. #12
Downey, Ca 90744
562- 922 -8068 Office
310- 464 -7445 Cell July 9, 2008
Hi all,
The OCSS picnic is fast approaching next Saturday, the 19th,
starting at noon. The map to Brookhurst Park can be accessed on
our web site at http://www.ocspace.org and click on "Map to
Meeting."
We have a large group of people who have already RSVPed for the
picnic and I would like to request that anyone else who plans to
attend and has not sent an RSVP, to please do so, as we need an
accurate number to buy the proper amount of food for everyone.
Remember that the picnic is open to OCSS members, their family
and friends, so bring anyone you would like.
There are also several items on our grocery list that still need
to have volunteers to pick up, so if you would like to aid in
our picnic, that would be greatly appreciated. All expenses will
be reimbursed, just please provide a receipt.
We still need the following items:
--charcoal
--ice (lots!)
--tin foil
Thank you to everyone who has already volunteered to help out,
and for all who have sent their RSVP. This is always a really
fun event, so I'm looking forward to seeing many of a week from
Saturday.
Be sure to look for the giant OCSS banner. And one more huge
favor, if there is anyone who would like to be the volunteer to
arrive early at the park and reserve our space in our normal
shady area, please let me know.
Take care,
Michelle Evans
President, Orange County Space Society June 25, 2008 Just received word of
a whole week of great space exploration programming on the
Science Channel. Below is the schedule. all times listed are
Pacific and Eastern. Check with your cable or satellite provider
for which channel they carry the Science Channel on. In south OC
on Cox, it is channel 101. This sounds like a great series, and
my understanding is that it is produced by the same people who
produced the fantastic documentary, In the Shadow of the Moon
(which will also be shown as part of this week of space
programming).
Sunday 6th July 9pm - Moon Machines: The Saturn V Rocket
10pm - Moon Machines: The Command Module
Monday 7th July 9pm - Moon Machines: The Navigation Computer
Tuesday 8th July 9pm - Moon Machines: The Lunar Module
Wednesday 9th July 9pm - Moon Machines: The Space Suit
Thursday 10th July 9pm - Moon Machines: The Lunar Rover
Friday, 11th July at 9pm - In the Shadow of the Moon
For more info on these programs, check out their web site at:
http://science.discovery.com/tv/space-week/space-week.html
Also, still looking for RSVPs to the Jul 19 picnic, so if you
are planning to come, and especially if you can help by picking
up some of the needed materials, please be sure and drop me a
note. Go to our main web site at http://www.ocspace.org for more
info and a map to the park.
Take care,
Michelle Evans
President, Orange County Space Society June 19, 2008 Hello everyone,
I have several things to share with you today. First is an
advanced announcement of our OCSS Picnic, which will take place
on Saturday, July 19 at Brookhurst Park in Anaheim, just over
four weeks from now. Instead of a straight potluck, we furnish
all the basics for a nominal fee of $5.00 per person (see list
below). This seems to be what everyone enjoys, so we are
definitely going to keep that in place again for this year's
event. Anyone is invited: members, friends, family, whomever.
But we do need an accurate head count, so please RSVP with the
number in your party. You can pay through our OCSS web site
using PayPal or a credit card, by check, or just bring it with
you to the picnic.
One thing I do need to change is the way that the basics are
picked up for the picnic. I would like to spread the pain, so to
speak, and ask that people sign up to bring certain items,
similar to a pot luck. However, you will be fully reimbursed for
whatever you purchase.
When you RSVP, please let me know if you can also pick up any of
the following items:
--Hamburgers & Buns
--Hot Dogs & Buns
--Variety of Soft Drinks & Water
--Variety of Chips
--Ice
--Ice Chests
--Charcoal
--Cookies and other Deserts
Thanks in advance for anyone that can help out. It definitely
makes it more of a community effort instead of having to burden
just one or two people with all the grocery shopping.
Then there are also two major events coming up over the next
couple of weeks in San Diego that I wanted to let you know
about.
Opening Saturday, June 21, will be Star Trek: The Exhibition.
Unlike it's previous incarnation in Long Beach, the show is
expected to run longer than a month, but we do not yet know
exactly how long it will be, so if you plan to go, go early.
Also, the prices are much better than the first time around, and
there are group rates available, so that is a major plus.
For more info, go to:
http://www.aerospacemuseum.org/startrek/index.html
The following Friday, June 27, from 6:30 to 10:00 pm there will
be a special movie fundraiser to support San Diego Air & Space
Museum educational programs. They will be showing the Apollo
movie, "The Wonder of it All." As a fundraiser, the basic price
is $50. However, a special rate of just $15 is also available to
OCSS members and guests. To get the special rate, please email
Shalene Baxter at: sbaxter@sdasm.org.
For more info:
www.sandiegoairandspace.org/upcoming/movie_premier.html
That's the main points for now. We are also in works with our
new sister organization in San Diego, the San Diego Space
Society, for a tour of Griffith Observatory (possibly in August)
and also a tour of the Goldstone Tracking Station (most likely
for the November time frame). We very much welcome any events
where we can partner with other organizations. If anyone would
like to get on a list concerning going to either or both of
these events, please drop me a note. More info will be made
available as soon as it becomes available.
Take care and keep cool!
Michelle Evans
President, Orange County Space Society June
11, 2008 I hope to have a great turn out
for the OCSS meeting coming up this Sunday, starting at 2:00 pm.
This should be one of our greater programs with Dan Linehan,
authour of "SpaceShipOne, An Illustrated History." Dan will be
giving a presentation of the SS1 program, then will be signing
copies of his book. The large format book is superb and a
must-read for anyone interested in the first-ever private
spaceflights. It delves into the often secret world of Burt
Rutan's Scaled Composites group, with many behind-the-scenes
interviews and photographs. Also, discussed is the Ansari X
Prize, which started it all.
So be sure and join us to meet Dan, get a autographed copy of
his book, and just to have a great time, as we always do at our
meetings.
Our regular monthly membership meeting will be directly
following Dan's presentation. Major topic on our agenda will be
our upcoming July OCSS picnic, the STS-124 mission to deliver
the largest payload to the ISS, and how about learning how you
might be able to get a FREE flight into space on SpaceShipTwo!
For directions to the program and meeting, visit the OCSS web
site at:
http://www.ocspace.org/maps.htm
For additional info on Dan Linehan and his book, go to:
http://dslinehan.com/spaceshipone.html
See you all on Sunday afternoon.
Michelle Evans
President, Orange County Space Society May 20, 2008 Hello everyone,
We had a wonderful meeting May 18th. One of the largest crowds
we have yet had attend a meeting and program. It shows that our
new speaker series is really taking off! Thanks especially for
OCSS member and our Program Director Ray Montgomery for all the
work he has done on behalf of getting these programs together.
Get out your calendar and start marking these events so you
won't miss any. A lot of things to put on your calendar for
upcoming events.
1. May 25 at 4:53 pm Pacific Time is the scheduled touchdown
time for the Mars Phoenix lander. Several members of our
organization will be at both the Jet Propulsion Lab and
Planetfest in Pasadena to cover the event. For those who cannot
attend in person it will be broadcast live on NASA TV. And for
anyone who wants to get together and celebrate, our OCSS
Secretary Debbi Bennett has said she's organizing a party at her
place where she does have the live NASA feed on her satellite
TV. Anyone interested in joining her and other members and
friends should drop me a note and I'll make sure you all get put
in touch.
My personal email is:
Mach25@sbcglobal.net
2. As you might recall from our May newsletter, OCSS member Dr.
Bruce Cordell of Fullerton College gave a wonderful presentation
concerning the ideas on how technological cycles have occurred
in the past leading to some major breakthroughs in exploration.
Evidence shows that approximately every 56 years one of these
cycles opens and numerous opportunities for advancement appear,
if we are willing to take advantage of the circumstances.
With this in mind, Dr. Cordell and other friends have started a
web site that I highly recommend everyone in OCSS to bookmark.
It is called 21st Century Waves and can be found at this link:
http://21stcenturywaves.com/
On this site, trends will be tracked and discussions will be
held to see how things may shape up in the near future to take
advantage of the next cycle, which could open as early as 2013.
Visitors will have the ability to enter the discussion
themselves and to post responses to various blogs. I encourage
you to check it out and get involved.
3. On three Sundays in June (8, 15, and 22), the Discovery
channel will be airing a 6-part miniseries on the first 50 years
of NASA exploration. It has the cool title of "When We Left
Earth." Be sure to set your Tivo, DVRs, or even VCRs, as I'm
sure it will be a keeper.
4. On June 15, at our next OCSS meeting, we will have an extra
special guest, Dan Linehan, author of "SpaceShipOne, An
Illustrated History." Dan is coming down specifically to talk
with our OCSS members and guests, and he will be signing copies
of his book following his presentation. Because of the
popularity of his subject matter of private spaceflight, Dan
will be in the area for several days. Ray Montgomery started the
ball rolling for OCSS, and now other organizations such as the
AIAA and the SoCal Science Cafe, as well as others still in
works, will be hosting events hopefully from Palmdale to San
Diego.
Check out Dan's site at:
http://www.dslinehan.com/index.html
5. For any fan of the short-lived, but utterely fantastic TV
series Firefly, or the movie Serenity, there will be three SoCal
showings on the big screen of the Serenity. First will be on
Friday June 20 in Pasadena and San Diego, then on Saturday the
21st will be a showing in Orange County at the Starplex Cinemas
Woodbridge 5 in Irvine. Screenings will take place all over the
country and all proceeds will go to the charity Equality Now.
To get tickets for a showing, go to the below link. It has
listings for all the locations around the country. Check it out
if you've never been introduced to this universe before. You'll
love it.
http://www.cantstoptheserenity.com/
6. Saturday, July 19: OCSS Summer Picnic. Full details to come
in June.
7. August 18-20: 15th Anniversary reunion of the first DC-X
flight in Alamogordo, New Mexico.
8. And for last I wish to ask a question of our members. We have
the opportunity to set up a tour of the Goldstone facilities of
the NASA Deep Space Network. This is a fascinating place to
visit and it is rarely open for tours. I wish to get feedback
from anyone in OCSS who would like to participate in this tour.
It will most likely be sometime in the fall, say in October.
Please drop me a line and let me know your interest and I will
get more details as it all comes together.
Hope you didn't mind the long email. So much stuff happening and
I hope many of you will get to participate in one or more of
these events. Any questions or comments, drop me a line anytime.
Take care,
Michelle Evans
President, Orange County Space Society May 19, 2008 Hello everyone,
We had a wonderful meeting May 18th. One of the largest crowds
we have yet had attend a meeting and program. It shows that our
new speaker series is really taking off! Thanks especially for
OCSS member and our Program Director Ray Montgomery for all the
work he has done on behalf of getting these programs together.
Get out your calendar and start marking these events so you
won't miss any. A lot of things to put on your calendar for
upcoming events.
1. May 25 at 4:53 pm Pacific Time is the scheduled touchdown
time for the Mars Phoenix lander. Several members of our
organization will be at both the Jet Propulsion Lab and
Planetfest in Pasadena to cover the event. For those who cannot
attend in person it will be broadcast live on NASA TV. And for
anyone who wants to get together and celebrate, our OCSS
Secretary Debbi Bennett has said she's organizing a party at her
place where she does have the live NASA feed on her satellite
TV. Anyone interested in joining her and other members and
friends should drop me a note and I'll make sure you all get put
in touch.
My personal email is: Mach25@sbcglobal.net
2. As you might recall from our May newsletter, OCSS member Dr.
Bruce Cordell of Fullerton College gave a wonderful presentation
concerning the ideas on how technological cycles have occurred
in the past leading to some major breakthroughs in exploration.
Evidence shows that approximately every 56 years one of these
cycles opens and numerous opportunities for advancement appear,
if we are willing to take advantage of the circumstances.
With this in mind, Dr. Cordell and other friends have started a
web site that I highly recommend everyone in OCSS to bookmark.
It is called 21st Century Waves and can be found at this link:
http://21stcenturywaves.com/
On this site, trends will be tracked and discussions will be
held to see how things may shape up in the near future to take
advantage of the next cycle, which could open as early as 2013.
Visitors will have the ability to enter the discussion
themselves and to post responses to various blogs. I encourage
you to check it out and get involved.
3. On three Sundays in June (8, 15, and 22), the Discovery
channel will be airing a 6-part miniseries on the first 50 years
of NASA exploration. It has the cool title of "When We Left
Earth." Be sure to set your Tivo, DVRs, or even VCRs, as I'm
sure it will be a keeper.
4. On June 15, at our next OCSS meeting, we will have an extra
special guest, Dan Linehan, author of "SpaceShipOne, An
Illustrated History." Dan is coming down specifically to talk
with our OCSS members and guests, and he will be signing copies
of his book following his presentation. Because of the
popularity of his subject matter of private spaceflight, Dan
will be in the area for several days. Ray Montgomery started the
ball rolling for OCSS, and now other organizations such as the
AIAA and the SoCal Science Cafe, as well as others still in
works, will be hosting events hopefully from Palmdale to San
Diego.
Check out Dan's site at:
http://www.dslinehan.com/index.html
5. For any fan of the short-lived, but utterely fantastic TV
series Firefly, or the movie Serenity, there will be three SoCal
showings on the big screen of the Serenity. First will be on
Friday June 20 in Pasadena and San Diego, then on Saturday the
21st will be a showing in Orange County at the Starplex Cinemas
Woodbridge 5 in Irvine. Screenings will take place all over the
country and all proceeds will go to the charity Equality Now.
To get tickets for a showing, go to the below link. It has
listings for all the locations around the country. Check it out
if you've never been introduced to this universe before. You'll
love it.
http://www.cantstoptheserenity.com/
6. Saturday, July 19: OCSS Summer Picnic. Full details to come
in June.
7. August 18-20: 15th Anniversary reunion of the first DC-X
flight in Alamogordo, New Mexico.
8. And for last I wish to ask a question of our members. We have
the opportunity to set up a tour of the Goldstone facilities of
the NASA Deep Space Network. This is a fascinating place to
visit and it is rarely open for tours. I wish to get feedback
from anyone in OCSS who would like to participate in this tour.
It will most likely be sometime in the fall, say in October.
Please drop me a line and let me know your interest and I will
get more details as it all comes together.
Hope you didn't mind the long email. So much stuff happening and
I hope many of you will get to participate in one or more of
these events. Any questions or comments, drop me a line anytime.
Take care,
Michelle Evans
President, Orange County Space Society May
14, 2008 Hello everyone,
The May meeting of the Orange County Space Society will be this
Sunday, May 18 at the Heritage Park Library in Irvine. We will
start at 2 p.m. with a program "Phoenix Approaches Mars" by
Larry Bryant from JPL.
Take care,
Jeff Howe
OCSS May 7, 2008 A last minute addition
of astronaut Bill Shepherd to the San Diego Air & Space Museum
Space Day this Saturday definitely makes this a great event I
can highly recommend. It runs from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm with
Shepherd's talk starting at 1:00 pm. Shepherd has flown in space
several times during the Space Shuttle program and has the major
distinction of being the very first commander of the
International Space Station on Expedition One.
SDASM always does great events, so making the trek will be well
worthwhile. OCSS will also be there with a display, along with
our friends in the San Diego Mars Society and San Diego Space
Society. There are many other speakers and presentations, but I
wanted to be sure everyone knew of this high-profile addition to
the Saturday agenda.
For more info:
http://www.aerospacemuseum.org/upcoming/spaceday08.html
Hope to see lots of friends there. Be sure and stop by and say
hello.
Take care,
Michelle Evans
President, Orange County Space Society May 2, 2008 A couple of exciting
events are coming up very shortly and I wanted to let our
members know about them.
First up is Space Day at the San Diego Air & Space Museum. It
will occur on Saturday, May 10th from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm. there
will be many special activities including speakers from Virgin
Galactic, NASA, the Jet Propulsion Lab, the San Diego Mars
Society, and our newest sister chapter the San Diego Space
Society. This will be a great event, so if you have a free day,
be sure to take a drive to San Diego and check this out.
For more info, click this link:
http://www.aerospacemuseum.org/upcoming/spaceday08.html
Second is a special Behind-the Scenes look at the groundbreaking
movie, "2001: A Space Odyssey." This will happen at 7:00 pm on
Wednesday, May 21 in Hollywood. The Academy of Motion Picture
Arts and Sciences is hosting this event at the Samuel Goldwyn
theater. This is the private theater of the Academy and is where
the Oscars are presented each year.
The evening will be hosted by Tom Hanks and "2001" special
effects guru Douglas Trumball. They will present footage direct
from Stanley Kubrick's archives that has never been made public
before, so anyone with an interest in space exploration and this
seminal motion picture will want to put this on their calendar.
OCSS has also been asked to be present at this event and we will
have on display the 5.5 foot model of the Discovery that is
duplicated from the original filming miniatures. I hope many of
our members will be able to join us for this unusual and
exciting event.
And the amazing thing is that this presentation is only $5 per
ticket! Heck of a deal for such an evening.
For further info and tickets, go to this link:
http://www.oscars.org/events/2001aspaceodyssey/index2.html
Also, be sure to have your calendars marked for our May 18 OCSS
meeting where we will be featuring Larry Bryant of JPL giving us
a talk on the upcoming landing of Phoenix on Mars.
Take care,
Michelle Evans
President, Orange County Space Society
April 23, 2008 Long Beach Science Fair, Saturday,
April 26
This coming Saturday, OCSS will be participating for the second
year in the Long Beach Science Fair. Everyone who attended last
year said how much they enjoyed it, so if you have the
opportunity, please drop by and maybe lend a hand. The fair will
take place from 8:30 am to 12:30 pm. OCSS will be on site at
approximately 7:00 to 7:15 am to start setup of our display. I
know, a very early morning, but well worth it to see all the
great stuff going on that day. We expect to be packed up and
gone by 1:00 to 1:30 pm. If you can make it for even a small
amount of that time to help with either setup or tear down, or
just to talk with the kids during the open hours, your
assistance will be greatly appreciated.
The science fair is located at Cabrillo High School, 2001 Santa
Fe, Long Beach. To get there, go south on the 710 freeway to the
Pacific Coast Highway exit. Turn right at the end of the ramp
and go to Santa Fe (about four streets down). Right on Santa Fe
and then you will see the school on your left. I am not
absolutely positive of this, but I believe you would take a left
on Willard, at the north side of the school, to get to the
parking area. Hopefully there will be signs for parking once you
are in the area. The OCSS display area will be in the northeast
corner of the gym, just inside the doorway.
Jet Propulsion Lab Open House, Saturday and Sunday May 3 and 4
For anyone who has attended, you know this is a must-see event
each year. I have simply included the JPL press release at the
end of this email, as I can't explain it any better than they
can.
And one last item before further JPL info:
Phoenix Approaches Mars, Sunday May 18
A heads-up for everyone to save the date for our next OCSS
meeting where will be having a great program given by Larry
Bryant of JPL on the Phoenix Mars Polar Lander, that is
scheduled to touch down on Sunday, May 25. More detailed info
will follow later, but please mark your calendars to join us for
this talk at a special time of 2:00 pm at out Irvine Heritage
Park Library location.
Take care,
Michelle Evans
President, Orange County Space Society
JPL INVITES
PUBLIC TO OPEN HOUSE
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
Pasadena, Calif., will welcome
members of the public to its Open House on Saturday, May 3, and Sunday, May 4. Children will be able to participate in
many hands-on activities.
At this free, all-day event, visitors can watch 700-pound robots glide under artificial stars in JPL's Robodome, get
an up-close view of full-scale models of Mars rovers, and learn
how spacecraft are prepared for their journeys in special clean rooms.
They will see numerous solar system, robotics and Earth science
exhibits and learn about various space missions, including the
Mars
Phoenix Lander, scheduled to land on the Red Planet on May 25.
Visitors can also see how NASA instruments measure greenhouse gases,
which will help scientists better understand global climate change.
JPL's Open House begins at 9 a.m. and ends at 5 p.m. on both days.
JPL is located at 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, Calif. Parking is free.
Please note that all vehicles entering NASA/JPL property are subject
to inspection. Visitors should wear comfortable shoes -- no
buses will
be provided from JPL parking lots to the lab. JPL will provide vans for
mobility-challenged guests.
Please note that the following items are banned from entering NASA/JPL
property: weapons, explosives, incendiary devices, dangerous instruments,
alcohol, illegal drugs, pets, all types of skates including skateboards,
Segways and bicycles. No bags, backpacks or ice chests are allowed, except
small purses and diaper bags.
More information on JPL's Open House is online at
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/pso/oh.cfm. Directions to JPL are at
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/about_JPL/maps.cfm.
April 12, 2008
Hello everyone,
This note is a little early (since I am heading out of town for
a much-needed vacation) but I wanted to remind everyone of the
April meeting of the Orange County Space Society, to be held
Sunday, April 20 at 3 p.m. at the Heritage Park Library in
Irvine. A map is on our website, www.ocspace.org.
If anyone has any questions or needs any additional information
from now to the meeting date, you can E-mail Michelle Evans at
Mach25@sbcglobal.net.
Take care!
Jeff Howe
OCSS April 10, 2008
Next Tuesday, April 15, Fullerton College will present:
Extraterrestrials in Our Future by Professor Ben Zuckerman of
the the UCLA Department of Astronomy. He will be discussing the
possibilities of discovering extraterrestrial life on other
planets. With the discovery of hundreds of planets already
outside our own solar system, and the future launch of
spacecraft that will be able to image Earth-like planets around
other stars, it is time to start this realistic discussion on
what we may one day find. The discovery of alien life would be
one of the most profound events in all of human history, and it
is our generation that may be in a position to be the first to
answer this enduring riddle. Come join Professor Zuckerman for
this exciting program.
This event is the fourth in the "Space--The Final frontier"
series created by Dr. Bruce Cordell and hosted by Fullerton
College. It will take place in Room 224 at the college. The
building is located just east of the pedestrian bridge over
Chapman. The room is upstairs. OCSS is expected to have a
display to coincide with the event, so be sure to say hello when
you arrive.
Michelle Evans,
President, Orange County Space Society March 12, 2008 Hello all,
Coming up fast on our March meeting for OCSS. It will be an
exciting meeting, preceeded by a program--the first at our new
location at the Irvine Heritage Park Library.
At 2:00 pm we will have the presentation, "The First Space Race:
50 Years of Mystery" from OCSS Board Member and aerospace
historian James Busby. Jim will talk about the early space race
between the Soviets and Americans, and will provide many
tantalizing bits that have been hidden from public view for a
half century. This should be an excellent kick-off event for our
new lecture series. Our new program director, Ray Montgomery, is
working on several great follow-ups for the months ahead, so be
sure to come to the meeting, read your newsletter, and check
your OCSS emails for more details as they become available.
Anyone who has contacts or ideas for future programs, is
encouraged to write back and let us know.
At approximately 3:15, after a short break following Jim's talk,
we will then have our regular March OCSS general membership
meeting. A lot of ground to cover with agenda items such as our
upcoming events on March 28 ("Physics of Teleporters, Time
Travel and Black Holes" at the Aliso Viejo Barnes & Noble),
April 15 ("Extraterrestrials in Our Future" at Fullerton
College), April 20 (April OCSS Meeting), and April 26 (Long
Beach Science Fair).
We will also be discussing many other items of interest to our
members, so I hope you'll be able to join us. Bring your family
and friends. Check the OCSS web site at: http://www.ocspace.org
for a map to our meeting location.
Take care,
Michelle Evans
President, Orange County Space Society February 14, 2008 This coming
Sunday, February 17, OCSS will hold our first meeting at our new
location of the Irvine Heritage Park Regional Library. The
meeting starts at 3:00 pm and I hope we'll have a great turn out
to kick off this new location and time. If you need directions
to the library, please go to: http://www.ocspace.org and you'll
see a link to a map.
There are a lot of items on our agenda this month including a
recap of the Rusty Schweickart asteroid event on the 5th and the
upcoming, Colonizing the Moon and Mars by Dr. Bruce Cordell, on
February 26. Also on the agenda will be a discussion of the
current STS-122 mission, the upcoming Long Beach Science Fair,
and Spacefest 2009.
Remember that our meetings are always free and open to anyone
who wants to attend, whether OCSS member or not, so be sure to
bring a friend or two. I think everyone will enjoy our new
location as access is much easier and the noise factor will be
greatly lessened. Hope to see you there.
Take care,
Michelle Evans
President, Orange County Space Society February 1, 2008 OCSS is off to a
running start for 2008. We completed our first presentation of
the year at the Arc Light Theater in Hollywood on January 30th
by presenting a large display in conjunction with a special
American Film Institute Cinerama screening of the classic film
"2001: A Space Odyssey." The 850-seat theater was completely
sold out and we had people stopping by our display for several
hours before the showing even started, and for quite a while
following the movie, too. There will be a page 3 photo article
in the March issue of O.C.Space, so be sure and check it out.
Special thanks to Bob Kline and Dennis Gilliam, who both helped
to make the display a huge success.
On to the main topic: This is a reminder that next Tuesday
evening at 7:00 pm at Fullerton College will be a special
presentation from Apollo astronaut Rusty Schweickart entitled:
"Asteroid Impact: Protecting the Earth." With the recent close
flybys of both Mars and Earth of asteroids that could have
caused great harm to both planets, Rusty will be making a very
topical and important talk about what we need to do now in order
to protect ourselves and our civilization from possible
catastrophe in the event of a possible future asteroid impact.
The event will be held the Wilshire Auditorium at the college.
Be sure to arrive early for good seating. The college is located
a few blocks west of the 57 freeway at the northern Chapman exit
(north of the 91 freeway). The address is 321 East Chapman,
Fullerton.
For further information about this exciting event, please check
out these links:
http://fcfutures.fullcoll.edu/futures.events.s.08.htm
http://www.b612foundation.org/
Many thanks to OCSS member Dr. Bruce Cordell at Fullerton
College for setting up this event and keeping our membership in
the loop. Dr. Cordell will also be making a presentation at
Fullerton College on Tuesday, February 26, entitled: "Colonizing
the Moon and Mars," so don't miss either program.
And a few notes about other upcoming events to mark your
calendar for:
February 7: Space Shuttle Atlantis has been given the go-ahead
for launch next Thursday at 11:45 am PST. This will be the much
delayed launch of the European Space Agency's Columbus module to
the ISS.
February 9: OCSS Board member Jim Busby will be giving a talk on
"Explorer 1: T-Plus 50 Years and Counting." The talk is
sponsored by our sister chapter, OASIS, and will be at 3:00 pm
at the El Dorado Park Branch of the Long Beach Public Library,
2900 Studebaker Road, Long Beach (Near the Intersection of
Studebaker Rd & Spring St).
February 17: Our next OCSS general membership meeting at our new
location of the Irvine Heritage Park Regional Library. A map to
the library is now available on our web site at: http://www.ocspace.org
So, as you can see, lots of great events already on the schedule
for the year. I hope to see many of our members and friends at
the various programs.
Take care,
Michelle Evans
President, Orange County Space Society
January 30, 2008
VOTE For Questions for the Presidential
Debates
You may have noticed that space exploration is appearing in this
presidential campaign more than in recent memory (see links
below). We need your help to keep this momentum going!
Later this week, both the Democratic and the Republican
candidates for president will be participating in the
CNN/Politico/LA Times debates (the Republicans will debate on
January 30th and the Democrats will debate on January 31st). The
debate organizers will select the questions that recieve the
largest number of votes. We need to make sure that a "humans to
Mars" question is one of those questions. Please vote for a
space question <http://dyn.politico.com/debate/#%23>
now!
You can see which questions have the most votes this far by
clicking the "Most Popular" icon at the top of the Democratic
and Republican pages. Both have a number of space questions,
including one submitted by a Mars Society member that goes as
follows:
"NASA can and should send humans to Mars in the short term. Will
you support a manned mission to Mars, or will you keep NASA's
hands tied by not giving them this mission that is worthy of the
$16 billion they spend each year?"
You CAN have an impact. If thousands of members of The Mars
Society (and as many of their friends and family as possible)
vote for space questions, the debate organizers WILL notice.
Let's work together to force humans to Mars into the
presidential debates - again!
You should also send a fax to the candidates, letting them know
that voters care about Mars, through the Mars Society's
automated fax system <http://fax.marssociety.org/>.
This is particularly critical given Tuesday's upcoming Florida
primary, and next week's Super Tuesday primaries across the
nation, which may determine the nominees for both parties. The
candidates will be paying more attention to the voters this week
than nearly any other time during the campaign--so be sure to
make your voice heard!
1.Go to http://fax.marssociety.org
2.Fill in your name and address and then write your letter. The
fax generator will automatically send faxes to the candidates or
your United States Senators and Representative. It will also
provide the proper heading to the fax. You do not need to add a
heading.
3.If you have any problems getting the fax generator to work,
contact Alex Kirk at alex@marssociety.org.
Candidate Space Policy Statements
Hillary Clinton:
http://www.hillaryclinton.com/news/release/view/?id=3566
Barack Obama:
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=26647
Rudy Giuliani:
http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080126/COLUMNISTS0205/801260311/1138/OPINION
Mitt Romney:
http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_space_thewritestuff/2008/01/romney-articula.html
John McCain:
http://www.spacepolitics.com/2007/02/21/mccain-says-something-about-space/
Candidate positions (doesn't include recent statements):
http://www.space.com/news/071231-candidate-positions.html
January 14, 2008 This is going to
be an exciting week in space exploration. First up, on Monday
morning January 14 at 11:04 am PST, the Messenger spacecraft
will make it's first close approach to the planet Mercury. It
will pass within 200 miles of the surface, the first spacecraft
to visit the innermost planet in over 30 years! Please visit the
Messenger web site (http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/) to get the
latest updates and photos as there are released in the hours
following the flyby. Messenger is about half way through its
mission to eventually go into orbit around Mercury, but this
won't happen without some additional maneuvering, and about four
more years of flight through the inner solar system. Stay tuned
for some great photos!
Also, a quick note that this coming Sunday, January 20 at 4:00
pm will be our first OCSS meeting of 2008. We will be at our
regular Discovery Science Center location upstairs in the Board
Room. Please note that this is also the first day of a new
exhibit at DSC so there may be crowds and parking difficulties.
You may find that parking off site such as at the Main Place
Mall is a convenient alternative. Also, due to increasing
difficulties with using the Discovery Science Center as a venue
for OCSS, this may be the final meeting we hold here. This will
be a major topic on our agenda at the meeting.
We also have a lot of other great things to discuss, so this
should be an informative and lively meeting. This will also be
the first meeting where we have partnered with the SoCal Science
Cafe to get the word out, and many non-OCSS members may be
joining us for the first time. So, we are looking forward to a
great meeting in less than a week. Hope to see lots of familiar
and friendly faces. 2008 is already shaping up to be a busy one
for space and for OCSS.
Take care,
Michelle Evans
President
Orange County Space Society December 5, 2007
Hello everyone,
A few notes to pass along as the holiday season closes in all
around us.
Holiday Party Saturday:
We're only a few days away from the OCSS Holiday Party at North
Woods. If you haven't had a chance to RSVP, please let us know
if you'll be there and how many in your party, so we know how
big an area to ask for when we arrive. We're currently at 16, so
it should be a lot of fun with great friends (not to mention the
great food they serve). Remember we are meeting at 2:00 pm and
the map to get to the restaurant is available at: http://www.ocspace.org.
Human Spaceflight program:
We currently have a government stated goal of returning humans
to the Moon and ultimately going onward to Mars, hopefully
within our lifetimes. This goal is something I believe most
everyone in OCSS endorses. With that in mind, we are only 11
months away from electing new leadership in America, and this
could directly affect the goals we hope to achieve, so I believe
it is important for all of us to become aware of what the
candidates think, and to be proactive at letting those
candidates know our feelings if they want our vote. We discussed
this issue at the November meeting, and will continue to do so
throughout the coming election year.
With that in mind, there are currently only four candidates that
have stated any position on the human spaceflight program.
Without any prejudices for or against anyone, I am presenting
what is currently known below.
Democrats--
Hillary Clinton, is the only candidate from either party, so
far, to issue a firm space policy paper. This includes a major
endorsement of plans to send humans to the Moon and Mars,
basically continuing, and possibly even accelerating current
plans.
Barack Obama, has said specifically he wants to cut NASA funding
in order to fund his education initiative. This appears to be a
preliminary position and he has not released a policy paper.
Republicans--
Mike Huckabee, has stated public support for human spaceflight
in a recent debate, but has not given specifics about how far
reaching that support goes.
Tom Tancredo, has stated he is definitely not in favor of
expanded human spaceflight, such as going to Mars, and feels
much of NASA is a waste of taxpayer dollars.
A transcript of a recent debate that includes this info is
available at:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/11/28/debate.transcript.part2/index.html
No further info is currently available on any other candidates
from either major party. If any member gains info from any
candidate, they are encouraged to forward it to us for
dissemination.
We further encourage our members to contact the candidates in an
effort to get them to talk about our future in space and make it
a matter of national debate throughout the primaries and general
election in 2008.
Thanks to our friends in The Mars Society, and through OCSS
member Ray Montgomery, you can do just that by using a fax
generator set up by The Mars Society to send a message to all
presidential candidates at one time by simply filling out an
online form. To access fax the program:
1. Go to http://fax.marssociety.org
2. Fill in your name and address and then write your letter. The
fax generator will automatically send faxes to the candidates or
your United States Senators and Representative. It will also
provide the proper heading to the fax. You do not need to add a
heading.
3. If you have any problems getting the fax generator to work,
contact Alex Kirk at
alex@marssociety.org.
Personal Note:
I also want to thank the additional personal support that has
come in since my last email from many members and friends of
OCSS. As those of you who are already aware, this is a personal
situation with myself, but it does directly affect OCSS, so for
that reason I am working to bring this all out in the open with
as little disturbance as possible. I have received assurances
from many of the people we work with on a regular basis for
space education and outreach, that our standing will not change
in any way, and for that I am extremely thankful for their
support for what we do.
With that, I will leave you for now. I'm hoping to see many
friendly faces this Saturday at North Woods. It should be an
interesting afternoon!
Take care,
Larry Evans
President, Orange County Space Society
November 28, 2007 The holiday
season is upon is again, and that means it is time for OCSS to
take a break from all the work we do throughout the year to
celebrate with our annual Christmas/Holiday party. This year it
will be at our regular location of North Woods Restaurant in La
Mirada at 2:00 pm on Saturday, December 8. A map to the location
is available on the www.OCSpace.org web site. It is easy to get
to, just travel north on the I-5 freeway to a few miles past the
junction with the 91 freeway. Exit at Valley View. Hard to miss
the large log cabin-type building with snow on top!
Please drop us a note and RSVP if you'll be attending and how
many in your party. Remember that you can bring family and
friends. Everyone is always welcome at this and all OCSS
functions. It is very helpful to respond since it gives us an
idea of how many people to tell the restaurant to expect, so
your RSVP is appreciated.
I also want to take a moment to give our members a heads-up
about a change that is happening within OCSS, actually for me
personally, that affects OCSS. For everyone who has been able to
attend our last two meetings (October and November), you are
already aware of what is happening, but many of those who are
not in the local area have not yet been notified. I won't go
into too much detail at the moment as I am still working on
exactly what I would like to say, so please suffice it say at
this point that it will hopefully be something that the majority
of our members will be able to support.
The membership of OCSS is made up of a great variety of people,
but above all you are without question one of the most
wonderful groups of people on this planet. This has certainly
been highlighted recently as I began talking with our members
about what is happening with me. I have found full support so
far from all who were notified personally and at the meetings.
This is not to say I expect everyone will be supportive of what
I have to say, but so far, that has been the case within OCSS,
and all I can say is that it has been amazing!
I want all of you to know how much I appreciate that support
through this difficult time. For those of you that I have not
been able to talk with personally, I apologize for this due to
the large geographic area and membership rolls of the society.
Anyone who would like to talk with me personally about this
situation, or ask any questions whatsoever, is invited to drop
me an email or give me a call. I will be giving additional
details later in December and will have my editorial in the
January issue of OCSpace devoted to this situation. So please
bear with me and hopefully all will become clear soon.
Again, thank you to all who have supported me, and I look
forward to discussing this with the entire membership very soon.
Also, I hope to see many of you at the party on December 8.
Please don't forget to RSVP.
Take care and have a safe holiday season.
Larry Evans
President, Orange County Space Society
November 22, 2007 It is with great
sadness that I have to report the loss of one of our long time
OCSS members, Dee Bower. Anyone who got to know her always loved
being around her. She was tiny, but feisty, and she had a great
sense of humor and a wonderful love of space exploration. Dee
was with OCSS for nearly eight years, and passed away on
September 11.
In her youth Dee had great diversity in her life, including
performing as a wing-walker! Now that takes some guts, and she
definitely had that. She was a reporter and later started her
own public relations firm. Long before she came to OCSS she even
created and produced her own space display for the Dana Point
Yacht Club. Way back at the beginning of her career, one of the
first stories she ever wrote as a reporter was about the very
first flight of the X-15 rocket plane, that would eventually
take astronauts out of the atmosphere for controlled flight into
space. Her love of flight and space permeated her whole life.
While with OCSS she joined in at nearly every meeting and event
we presented. Dee was everywhere, and always as helpful as she
could be. At displays we produced, she would gladly talk with
guests about the wonders of spaceflight, and always had a
helping hand.
Our hearts go out to her family. Dee will be greatly missed.
Larry Evans
President, Orange County Space Society October 16, 2007 A busy
weekend is in store for our society. Our regular monthly
membership meeting is this Sunday at 4:00 pm at the Discovery
Science Center (followed by dinner at Polly's Pies!). We will
have a lot of interesting things to cover, including the
astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria event the previous day
(Saturday, October 20--see below). Another important bit of
business for this meeting will be nominations for 2008 OCSS
Officers and Board Members. If anyone has a desire to help your
society and wishes to place your name, or the name of a fellow
member, into nomination for any office or board slot, you may do
so at the meeting, or send an email reply to this message and
your wishes will be counted. Offices to be filled include
President, Secretary, Treasurer, and four Board of Director
positions.
Saturday, October 20: Astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria will be in
Mission Viejo to lead the annual Walk Against Drugs. The walk
takes place between 8:00 and 9:00 am, followed from 9:00 am to
noon by a community fair. OCSS has been asked to be a part of
the fair and we will have a booth set up, supposedly right next
to the astronaut booth.
This should be a really fun event, and a different sort of thing
for us to participate in. Michael Lopez-Alegria was born in
Spain, but raised in Mission Viejo, so he calls this town his
home. It is fantastic that OCSS can participate in this. It is
rare to have an event so close to home! He has flown four
spaceflights (STS-73, 92, 113, and Expedition 14) and holds the
current record for time spent doing spacewalks (67 hours and 40
minutes over 10 EVAs--five of those on his flight aboard the ISS).
On his most recent spaceflight, he served as commander of the
International Space Station for 215 days from September 2006
through April 2007.
We encourage members to join us at this unique event. Michael
will be headlining the walk, which starts at Mission Viejo High
School (25025 Chrisanta) and goes approximately two miles to the
Norman P. Murray Community & Senior Center (24932 Veterans
Way--just east of Margarite Parkway off La Paz Road). Our booth
will be set up at the Senior Center. We will be there for setup
of the OCSS booth at approximately 7:00 am on Saturday morning.
Anyone who will be able to assist with the setup, manning, and
tear down of the booth, is most welcome and should drop me a
note or give me a call (949-770-0702). Same if you have any
comments or questions.
Directions: Take the La Paz exit from the I-5 freeway and go
east approximately a mile or so to Margarite. Cross Margarite go
past the shopping centers on either side of the street, and you
will see the Oso Viejo park on your left side. Turn left and you
will see the senior center.
Hope to see a great turn out both Saturday and Sunday.
Take care,
Larry Evans
President
Orange County Space Society
September 12, 2007 First,
I wanted to mention that it appears we will be going to an early
afternoon showing of “In the Shadow of the Moon,” this Saturday,
Sept. 15. Actual theater location and movie time will be known
on Friday. Anyone wishing to participate in this is asked to
drop me a line or give me a call (949-770-0702).
This Sunday, Sept. 16th, will be the first official OCSS meeting
since June. The meeting starts at 4 p.m. at our regular
Discovery Science Center location. We have a lot to discuss
because of all the things that have happened since June,
including our picnic with international guests, the Spacefest
event in Arizona, a day with Moonwalkers in San Diego, and much
more. It should prove to be a lively meeting so I hope we'll
have a great turnout. We will also be discussing many upcoming
events surrounding the 50th anniversary of the first ever
spaceflight--Sputnik 1. Can anyone believe it is now half a
century into the Space Age?
With that in mind, I want to pass along a link to a whole series
of events happening at the San Diego Air & Space Museum during
October:
www.aerospacemuseum.org/upcoming/eventlisting.html
A brief rundown of the events (see the SDASM web link for
detailed info):
* Dawn of the Space Race: The Day the World Changed. Saturday,
Oct. 13, 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.
* Magnificent Desolation: Exploring the remotest regions of
Earth, and Life on other Worlds. Sunday, Oct. 21, 1 p.m. to 2
p.m.
* The Age of Personal Space Flight is Here! Saturday, Oct. 27,
1:30 p.m. to
2:30 p.m.
Each of these events sounds like it is worth the trip. Normally
these events would be free with regular admission to the Museum,
however, our good friend Francis French has offered that anyone
from OCSS who would like to attend any of these events may do so
completely free of charge. All you would need to do is drop me
an E-mail and let me know you would like to attend, how many in
your party, and which event you will go to. I will then pass
this list along to Francis. NOTE: To get the free offer, you
must let me know ahead of time. OCSS may also be participating
in some way with a display at one or more of these events, but
that is still to be worked out. Please note that the Oct. 21
event happens on our OCSS October meeting day.
So, that's it for now. Hope to see lots of friendly faces at the
Discovery Science Center this Sunday. Remember that if you need
directions or want to pass along the info to your friends, a map
is always available on our website at:
http://www.ocspace.org
I also want to add an important note to our members. There is
currently a version of the NASA FY 2008 budget being considered
that will include wording to prevent NASA from working on or
spending money on any program that is exclusive to sending
humans to Mars. This is a ridiculous and short-sighted attempt
to stall human space exploration. I encourage all our members to
write to Congress to eliminate this idiotic wording. The Mars
Society has a site set up where you can do this very simply. Go
to:
http://fax.marssociety.org
You can E-mail congress by filling in some basic info and then
writing a quick message to show your support for human
spaceflight and specifically a long range goal of landing on
Mars. Please take a moment to do this important thing for our
future.
Take care,
Larry Evans
President
Orange County Space Society September 1, 2007 Hi all,
Several things to report to keep everyone updated on happenings
in the space community. There are two events happening this
weekend I wanted to pass along. First is the Mars Society's 10th
annual conference. This starts Thursday and runs through Sunday
at the University of California at Los Angeles. I know several
OCSS members had planned to attend. For more info, go to the
Mars Society website at:
http://www.marssociety.org/portal
The second event this weekend is an unusual meteor shower: The
Aurigids. Thanks to one of our
members in the Phoenix, Arizona area, Rob Lanktree, for the info
on this display. These are unusual because they do not happen
each year as many showers do. The last time this one happened
with in 1986. also, when it does happen, it happens very quickly
and only lasts a couple of hours. It will occur around 4:30 am
PDT on September 1 and is well positioned for people in Southern
California to see. The Moon will be four days past full, which
may hamper viewing, but if you can find a dark area and keep the
Moon behind some obstruction, you should have a good view of
some very bright meteors. Check out this NASA site for further
info:
http://leonid.arc.nasa.gov/aurigids.html
Our September OCSS meeting will be on Sunday, September 16 at
our regular Discovery Science Center location at 4:00 pm. This
will be our first general business meeting since June because of
our
July picnic and August Spacefest event, so I hope we'll have a
great turnout to catch up with each
other on everything that's been happening. Also, our October 21
meeting may feature a special guest, but it is too early to make
any announcements concerning this yet. Watch your newsletter
and emails as we'll definitely be making announcements if this
goes through.
Take care,
Larry Evans
President
Orange County Space Society
August 22, 2007 Finally got
back from the Spacefest event in Mesa, Arizona and wanted to
pass along a few thoughts
to our members.
First, I want to thank everyone from OCSS who came to the event,
and especially to those who gave of their time to help out with
the setup and tear down of the OCSS display booth, and for being
at the booth to answer questions. Robert Lanktree, his wife
Lynn, and son Nathan, were all there to help out and were
instrumental in the setup and tear down process. (Extra thanks
go to Rob for grabbing those cookies for me when my blood sugar
went through the floor!) Special kudos to Bob Kline for
completing our two new display cases, along for the setup and
tear down help, as well as transporting those cases across state
lines for OCSS. We couldn't have done this booth without those
cases. His excellent craftsmanship is always amazing. Rudy
Ouzounian spent a lot of time at the booth throughout the three
days to talk with interested parties.
As for the event, it was really well received. The only real
problem being that it was just too darn hot! The Phoenix area is
about a day away at last count from setting a record for the
days over 110 degrees. I think it topped that number every day
we were in town.
The astronauts were all great. It was the first time I've seen
members of all six lunar landing missions in one room before.
That was worth the price of admission all by itself. Also,
getting to meet many others from space art, and the test flight
world, were also standouts.
If anyone who attended would like to send me comments about
their experiences at the event for possible inclusion in a
future article for O.C.Space, that would be greatly appreciated.
One of my favorite moments was getting to touch base with our
long-time OCSS member John Smith and his daughter Margie. He
continues his support of OCSS from Virginia, but we haven't seen
him or his family since 1999. Great to see you again John and
Margie. And congratulations to Margie on her son, Adian (hope I
spelled that right Margie). He's a year old now, but great to
meet him for
the first time, along with her hubby, Bob.
The event was well attended so I have a feeling it will be back
again next year. Just wish we could order cooler weather!
Take care,
Larry Evans
President
Orange County Space Society
July 31, 2007 Hi all,
We had a really fabulous picnic on Saturday at Brookhurst Park.
We had close to 50 people altogether who took part, so this sets
a record for a summer picnic. Thanks to everyone for
participating and special thanks go to Debbi Bennett and Jim
Busby for arriving extra early to hold our great spot in the
park, and for Arthur Kienle for the great job as our chef. When
it became obvious we needed more grilling power to handle the
large crowd, he ran home and brought his own gas grill back to
press into service.
The group of Chinese students from Shanghai had a wonderful time
and I appreciate the extra efforts by some many from OCSS to
make them feel welcome. Tim Cassidy-Curtis was excellent at
answering their questions when they first arrived and I saw many
others throughout the day spending time with the kids. Robert
Kline, our resident Rocket Scientist really capped off the day
for them with his rocket launches. He had three successful
launches to the amazement and amusement of everyone. The kids
literally had a blast!
Important Request:
I am going to be sending a CD with photos from the picnic to
Anna Wang, the contact person for the Chinese student group. It
would be appreciated if anyone at the picnic who has photos they
would like to share, could email them as jpeg files directly to
me at:
Mach25@sbcglobal.net
We have been exceptionally busy recently with two weekends in a
row of major events. San Diego Air and Space Museum last
Saturday and then our biggest picnic ever this weekend. It will
be nice to
take a short breather before our next big event, Spacefest, in
Mesa, Arizona August 17-19. Many OCSS members from around the
country will be gathering to take part, so I know I am really
looking forward to seeing many faces that I haven't had the
chance to see for a long time.
Remember that Spacefest will take the place of our August
meeting. Our next regular monthly business meeting will take
place on Sunday, September 16 at the Discovery Science Center.
Thanks again to all the people that have made the last two
weekends possible.
Take care and see some of you in a few weeks in Arizona.
Larry Evans
President, Orange County Space Society
July 26, 2007
Hi all,
Just a short reminder that our annual OCSS summer picnic is
just around the corner. The picnic will be this Saturday,
starting at noon at Brookhurst Park in Anaheim. A map and other
details is available on our web site at www.ocspace.org, the
click on the Map To Meeting link.
We are expecting about 50 people this year, including 20
students from China. Should be a fantastic day.
If you are planning to attend, but have not yet RSVPd, then
please be sure to drop us a note to let us know the number in
your party. With a group this size, we don't want to come up
short on food and drink!
Also, it will be a huge help for anyone who has extra ice chests
and chairs, to bring them along. It may be hot, so you can't
have too much ice. We have an awning that will also help with
the shade, but if anyone has something else along these lines, I
think it would be great if you could bring it.
If anyone has any comments or questions, feel free to drop me a
note. Looking forward to seeing a
lot of familiar faces on Saturday afternoon.
Take care,
Larry Evans
President, Orange County Space society
July 14, 2007
Hi all,
We have two major events coming up in the next couple of weeks
for Orange County Space Society members, family, and friends.
Saturday, July 21 at 10:30 am: Space Cowboys at the San Diego
Air & Space Museum. Meet and talk with astronauts from the early
era of space exploration: Scott Carpenter (Aurora 7) from the
Mercury program, Gene Cernan (Gemini 9, Apollo 10, and Apollo
17), and Thomas Stafford (Gemini 6 & 9, Apollo 10, and
Apollo-Soyuz). They will be presenting a talk, followed by a
question and answer session, and then a book signing. This is a
wonderful opportunity that should not be missed.
OCSS will be at the event with our new display cases from Bob
Kline, so come on down and have a great day with your fellow
members. And afterward, we'll be making a stop by the infamous
Killer Pizza From Mars for dinner on the way home. Be sure to
leave extra early that morning to make sure you arrive on time
in San Diego. We suggest people arrive no later than 10:00 am.
some of us will be there as early at 8:30 am to set up our
display, so you are always welcome to join us to help out. Our
friends at the San Diego chapter of The Mars Society will also
be joining us.
Saturday, July 28 at noon: OCSS Annual Picnic at Brookhurst Park
in Anaheim. The following Saturday after the San Diego event we
will be having our summer picnic with a lot of special guests.
Besides OCSS members we will have friends from the Aerospace
Legacy Foundation, and also a group of Chinese students. What a
fantastic day it should be.
The picnic costs only $5.00 for each person, which covers all
the basics of food, drinks, chips, utensils, and such things. It
is important that if you are planning to attend that you respond
to this email with the number of people in your party so that we
have enough food for everyone. You may pay in advance or at the
picnic, but we really need your RSVP. A map with directions and
further information is available on our OCSS web site at:
http://www.ocspace.org.
Looking forward to seeing lots of friendly faces at both of
these events. As is usually the case, I'm sure there will be
lots of surprises, along with a great time.
Take care,
Larry Evans
President, Orange County Space Society
June 20, 2007 We had a
great Father's Day meeting this past Sunday. Thanks to all who
came in on a holiday to join us. More info about the meeting
itself will be in our Secretary's column of the July O.C.Space,
that will be out before the first of the month.
There are several events coming up that I wanted to drop you a
note about.
First up, let me tell you that there are two excellent viewing
opportunities for our Southern California members for the
International Space Station this week. I have included the
specific info for South Orange County below, but please remember
that the times can shift slightly, and vary depending on your
exact location. Go to
http://heavens-above.com to verify info for your specific
site. Members elsewhere in the country and overseas are always
encouraged to keep up with this site for viewing opportunities
in your area.
Thursday, July 21:
Max Magnitude -0.8
Start--9:43:55 pm at 10 degrees up in the NW
Peak--9:46:45 pm at 65 degrees up in the NE
End--9:46:50 pm at 65 degrees up in the NE
Saturday, July 23:
Max Magnitude -0.5
Start--8:50:13 pm at 10 degrees up in the NW
Peak--8:53:01 pm at 55 degrees up in the NE
End--8:55:12 pm at 15 degrees up in the ESE
Note that both of these passes end as the station goes into
orbital sunset, so those are very cool to watch.
Saturday, July 21 at 10:30 am: The San Diego Aerospace Museum
will be hosting a Space Cowboy event with astronauts Tom
Stafford, Scott Carpenter, and Gene Cernan. The astronauts will
give a talk, answer questions, then have a book signing where
you'll have the opportunity to personally greet them. OCSS has
been asked to participate so we will have an official presence
there with a space display, along with the San Diego chapter of
the Mars Society. We've been doing several events with them
recently and we always have a great time together. This is an
early morning event, which will actually make travel to San
Diego from OC much easier. And, of course, on the way home,
we'll be making a traditional stop at Killer Pizza From Mars in
Oceanside.
Saturday, July 28 at noon: Our annual July picnic at Brookhurst
Park will take place one week later than normal in order to
accommodate the July 21 event in San Diego, as well as to allow
a group of 22 Chinese students who are interested in space and
science to come and join us. This should be a great, fun day at
the park, and a chance to meet and talk with these kids from
overseas who are visiting many space-related places as they tour
the country.
The cost is $5.00 per person to come to the picnic. For this we
will cover the basics such as hamburgers, hot dogs, chips,
drinks, plates and utensils, BBQ stuff, things of that nature.
Anyone who would like to bring something special is always
encouraged to do so. As always, this event is open to all
members, their family, and friends. Please RSVP so we know how
many to purchase for. As long as we know you're coming, you can
pay at the event, or else mail a check to our PO Box, or go to
our web site at
http://www.ocspace.org, and use a credit card or PayPal
account. Just note with your payment what it is for and how many
people in your party. We'll have the map to Brookhurst Park
available on our web site and I hope we'll have a great turnout,
as is usually the case.
August 17-19 (Friday thru Sunday): Spacefest in Mesa, Arizona.
OCSS wll be there with our new display cases. This will be a big
event with lots of astronauts and other space experts,
autographs, and programs, along with a banquet with your
favorite astronaut. Many OCSS members have already signed up at
http://www.spacefest.info. Looking forward to seeing some of
our out-of-state members who will be attending.
August OCSS meeting: It was decided at the June meeting, that
because of the Spacefest event, we will forego our regular
meeting at the Discovery Science Center for August, and
reconvene there on September 16. For those OCSS members who
attend Spacefest, we will put together a time for a meeting
while we are in Mesa.
I'm sure that other things will happen throughout the summer,
and I'll be sure to keep everyone informed. Anyone with info
about other events, TV programs of interest, astronaut
appearances, etc, is always encouraged to drop us a note and
we'll get the info out to everyone.
Take care,
Larry Evans
President, Orange County Space Society
May 10, 2007 Several
space events coming up next week that I wanted to info our
members about.
Tuesday, May 15: Star Party in Bellflower
Saturday and Sunday, May 19-20: Jet Propulsion Lab Open House
Sunday, May 20: OCSS Meeting and special book signing event
1. Star Party, Tue, May 15 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Pam Leestma has set up a star gazing event at her school for
next Tuesday evening. This will be for her entire school and
anyone from OCSS is welcome to come join us. Besides the star
party, there will be several presentations, including one from
yours truly. In the event of weather hampering telescope
viewing, the presentations will still take place. Other
participants include the Los Angeles Astronomical Society and
Griffith Observatory. There will be many telescopes set up. If
you own a telescope yourself, feel free to bring it. The first
hour meet in the school's multipurpose room for presentations
about telescopes, the Moon, and the May evening sky. Watch a
demonstration of how to make a comet. Enjoy displays and snack
on Moon Pies and Tang! The second hour will be outside star
gazing.
Address and Directions:
Valley Christian Elementary School
17408 Grand Ave.
Bellflower, CA 90706
(562) 920-9902
Directions from Orange County: Take 5 north to the 91 west. The
off ramp right past the 605 interchange is Studebaker. Turn left
on Studebaker. The first main light is Artesia Blvd. Turn right.
Go through a couple of stop lights and look for Grand Ave (on
the corner look for some apartments; this street does not have a
traffic light). Turn Right on Grand. You will see the school on
the right side.
2. JPL Open House, May 19-20, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days:
This event is always great to attend as the spaceflight facility
throws open nearly their entire facility. You'll be able to see
from where the Mars Rovers are controlled, as well as missions
under construction, historic exhibits, cool souvenirs, and
demonstrations. Get there early and remember that the OCSS
meeting is at 4 p.m. on Sunday, so come share your experiences.
Check the JPL website for further info and directions:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/pso/oh.cfm
3. OCSS Meeting, Sunday, May 20 at 4 p.m.
Our regular monthly meeting takes place on our regular third
Sunday time at the Discovery Science Center in Santa Ana. There
will be a special event at this month's meeting so be sure to
attend. Our good friend, Francis French, will be attending our
meeting and doing a short talk and then signing his new book
(co-authored with Colin Burgess), "Into That Silent Sea." This
is a fantastic book about the first pioneering flights from both
the Russian and American space programs, from 1961 through 1965.
I have read this book and can highly recommend it for all our
members for the look inside the lives of the astronauts and
cosmonauts that we have never seen before.
Francis is currently the Director of Education at the San Diego
Aerospace Museum and he will be bringing copies of the book that
you can purchase that afternoon. To see more info about the
book, go to amazon.com and type in the book title. OCSS wants to
congratulate Francis on his first book and I know that many
people will want to read what he and Colin have written.
Take care,
Larry Evans
President
Orange County Space Society May 6, 2007 Hello
everyone,
First, we would like to thank everyone who helped with our
long-running program to help the Joe Walker fund which has been
featured on our website, www.ocspace.org. That program has now
passed, but it has been replaced with another cause, this one
closer to home.
For quite some time, OCSS has had in its possession a scale
model of the Lunar Module, this one used for filming in the
movie "Apollo 13." Before it could be tossed into a scrap heap,
like so many other great pieces of film history, we were able to
rescue it with the hope of refurbishing it and giving it a great
home in a museum or science center.
We are looking not only for skilled model makers and those with
a handy side, but also for funds and materials so we can finally
get this project underway -- and out of member Ray Montgomery's
garage!
Please visit our website and click on the link on the front page
to see a little writeup and photos of our project.
Also, for those of you who have the Science Channel, they will
feature their Space Week this week. The following is the
schedule:
5/7 Monday at 9 p.m.: Base Camp Moon. In 2018 astronauts will
revisit the Moon. Get inside their mission to develop the
technologies for a mission to Mars and beyond.
5/8 Tuesday at 9 p.m.: Starship Orion, the Future of Space
Travel. Board the next generation of spacecraft that can fly on
its own and take humans further than ever.
5/9 Wednesday at 9 p.m.: Mars Underground. Go beyond theory and
into the reality of humans on Mars.
5/10 Thursday at 9 p.m.: Roving Mars, the film shown in IMAX
theaters about the mission of Spirit and Opportunity. This is a
world television premiere of this movie.
Note that all these programs will air several times on the dates
listed, so check your local listings.
Sincerely,
Jeff Howe
OCSS
May 3, 2007 For anyone
who is not aware, we have lost another of the original Mercury 7
astronauts, Wally Schirra. He passed away from a sudden heart
attack late Wednesday evening or early Thursday morning.
We have had the great pleasure to work with Wally on several
occasions and he was a true gentleman. As the only astronaut to
fly in the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs, he was unique.
The first thing that comes to mind with Wally was his sense of
humor. He enjoyed life and was infectious to everyone he came in
contact with. He will be greatly missed.
There are many other items of interest coming up for our
members, but I feel it more appropriate to send those later
under a different email.
Take care,
Larry Evans
President
Orange County Space Society
April 18, 2007
This week will feature two connected events concerning the
Apollo program that should be of interest to our members.
First, on Friday evening at 6:30 pm, April 20, at the Newport
Beach Film Festival will be a premiere showing of the
documentary "The Wonder of it All." The film features interviews
and film footage from the Moon landings and sounds like it will
be well worth checking out. Any time you get to see footage from
Apollo on a big screen instead of a television, it is always a
treat. The screening is scheduled to include live appearances by
three Moonwalkers: John Young, Alan Bean, and Buzz Aldrin, and
will take place at the Edwards Island Cinemas.
Second, on Saturday, April 21, at 10:00 am will be a talk by
Apollo Moonwalker and Space Shuttle Commander John Young.
This link will take you to the film's web site and there is a
link for the film festival to buy tickets and has additional
info on Young's talk:
http://thewonderofitallfilm.com/
OCSS will officially be participating in the Young talk on
Saturday with a display. Hope to see many of you there. Should
be an exciting weekend of space events.
OCSS members may call 310-396-0750 to reserve your tickets for
the John Young talk. Mention that you are with OCSS and you
will get your tickets for 50 percent off. Once the reservation
is made you don't need to pay for the tickets until arrival at
the Radison on Saturday morning.
Take care,
Larry Evans
President
Orange County Space Society
April 14, 2007
Hello everyone,
I know this is a tad later than normal, but don't forget about
our April meeting of the Orange County Space Society. It is this
Sunday, April 15 at 4 p.m. at the Discovery Science Center.
Don't let the day be too taxing -- come to the meeting! (Yes,
pun definitely intended!) We'll report on Yuri's Night, as well
as the upcoming shuttle mission.
Sincerely,
Jeff Howe
OCSS
April 7, 2007
This coming Thursday will be significant for several reasons. As
you've read previously, there will be the annual Yuri's Night
celebration held at Griffith Park and numerous other locations
throughout the world. For our local members, there will also be
a chance to literally get in on the ground floor of a new
space-related facility.
At 4:30 pm on April 12, at the former site of the Rockwell Space
Division in Downey, groundbreaking ceremonies will be held for
the new Columbia Memorial Space Science and Learning Center.
This is a free public event and I hope many members will make a
point to take off work a bit early and come join in this
historic occasion.
The address is 12214 Lakewood Blvd., Downey, outside the Downey
Landing Studios. Cross streets are Imperial and Lakewood. It is
a couple miles west of the 605 freeway at the Imperial exit.
More information is available at the Aerospace Legacy Foundation
website at:
http://www.aerospacelegacyfoundation.org
Follow the links to the Columbia learning center on the home
page.
This will be a homecoming of sorts for all of you who used to go
to the old Family Nights at Rockwell. Once again, once the new
facility is completed and opened in 2008, this site will become
a hub for aerospace activities in the Southern California area.
See you then,
Larry Evans
President
Orange County Space Society
April 4, 2007
Each year, a special celebration is held to commemorate the day
that humankind first ventured into space. On April 12, 1961
cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin orbited the Earth one time and we started
down the road to becoming a spacefaring civilization.
These parties and other events are being held all over the
world, so please check at:
http://www.yurisnight.net for the nearest event to where you
are.
For those in OCSS in the Los Angeles area, this year's event
will be held at the newly refurbished Griffith Observatory.
Included below is the communication and details I just received.
It should be an exciting event, and best of all, besides getting
to the observatory itself, it is all free to everyone. Enjoy!
Larry Evans
President
Orange County Space Society
APRIL 12 2007
YURI’S NIGHT LA @ GRIFFITH OBSERVATORY!
[FREE Community Event for Space]
Be a part of the global celebration of space exploration at
Griffith Observatory this April 12. Join us as we commemorate
the first human spaceflight by Yuri Gagarin in 1961 with a
special day of activities. Doors open to the public at noon.
Mingle with engineers, astronomers, and space enthusiasts
throughout the day. View the new exhibits at the renovated
observatory. Take in a planetarium show* (fees apply). Then join
us for our special evening event with George Takei and Ray
Bradbury in the brand new Leonard Nimoy Event Horizon Theater at
7 pm. Spend a spectacular evening under the stars at the crown
jewel of the Hollywood Hills.
The entire event is free. You must make bus reservations to
reach the Observatory (see details below). Seats for the evening
event are on a first-come, first-served basis. Note: This event
is free to the public. Griffith Observatory requests the use of
their parking & shuttle services. For transportation
arrangements, see www.griffithobservatory.org/vshuttle.html.
The special evening event with Ray Bradbury and George Takei is
open to the general public and seating is first come first
serve. Please arrive early.
YNLA Special Event Featuring Ray Bradbury
[With VIP MC's Rod Rodenberry and Loretta Hidalgo Whitesides ]
Ray Bradbury is one of those rare individuals whose writing has
changed the way people think. His more than five hundred
published works—short stories, novels, plays, screenplays,
television scripts, and verse—exemplify the American imagination
at its most creative.
Once read, his words are never forgotten. His best-known and
most beloved books—THE MARTIAN
CHRONICLES, THE ILLUSTRATED MAN, FAHRENHEIT 451 and SOMETHING
WICKED THIS WAY COMES—are masterworks that readers carry with
them over a lifetime. His timeless, constant appeal to audiences
young and old has proven him to be one of the truly classic
authors of the 20th Century and the 21st.
George Takei
George Takei, best known for his portrayal of Mr. Sulu in the
acclaimed television and film series Star Trek, has more than 30
feature films and hundreds of television guest-starring roles to
his credit.
Recognized worldwide as a member of the original Star Trek cast,
George received a star on Hollywood Boulevard's Walk of Fame in
1986 and he placed his signature and hand print in the forecourt
of the landmark Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood in 1991.
George is a recurring character on NBC-TV’s Heroes, playing
Kaito Nakamura, the father of time-traveler Hiro Nakamura
(Golden Globe nominee Masi Oka).
*******************************************
Noon-7 pm:
Space Exhibitors on the lawn, including local LA high school
FIRST Robotics teams, and the Traveling Space Museum
7-8 pm : Special Event Featuring Ray Bradbury + George Takei
*******************************************
Many thanks to our sponsors:
BOEING, NORTHROP GRUMMAN, AIAA, CELESTRON
March 28, 2007 Long Beach
Science Fair:
OCSS participated for the first time in the Long Beach Science
Fair over the weekend and I want to let everyone know that it
was really a great event. This is the first time we have done
this fair and no one quite knew what to expect. I believe it was
a lot bigger than any of us expected and would definitely be
considered a very successful event. I know this has to be a very
low estimate when I say that I think it was attended by about
2,000 people. Susan Garcia of the Long Beach School District was
extremely pleased with our display and definitely wants us back
next year, possibly with an even larger display than we had this
year.
I also want to make sure to thank everyone in OCSS who
volunteered and spent their day answering questions about space
and science from the students, and their parents and teachers. A
huge thanks goes to Jim Busby, Ray Montgomery, Pam Leestma, Geza
Binger, Ramona Montayne, Cherie Rabideau, and Cris Smith.
Space Day Riverside:
OCSS has again been asked to participate in this years Space Day
event at Longfellow Elementary School in Riverside. This event
has been a tradition for OCSS for a long time and I have already
heard from several members who would like to participate again
this year. The event is run by Lockheed Martin. Our contact
there is OCSS member Kay Armstrong. She does fantastic work at
putting this all together each year for the kids. Special notice
of course must also always go to Ivor Dawson and his Traveling
Space Museum who really pulls out all the stops for this event.
If you have never done this event, or have done it in the past
and want to do it again, please put the date on your calendar.
This year it will be on Monday, June 11th. Please drop an email
to Kay Armstrong to tell her you are interested and also check
out the Space Day website. We will be discussing the event
starting at our April 15th OCSS meeting.
web:
http://www.spaceday.org
email:
darrylkay@aol.com
I hope everyone is doing great and that you'll enjoy your April
newsletter that goes out in a few days. This month will feature
an article by Pam Leestma about the Educator's Conference at the
Johnson Space Center, with a page 3 photo article about the
ongoing science versus science fiction
show Star Wars--Where Science Meets Imagination. This runs
through April 29th at the California Science Center.
Take care,
Larry Evans
President
Orange County Space Society
March 20, 2007 We had a
great meeting on Sunday at the Discovery Science Center. One of
our larger groups attended and we got to talk about a lot of
interesting subjects for our organization and spaceflight in
general. We had three student guests from Beverly Hills High
School that joined us thanks to Buzz Aldrin. We are hoping to
work with them to produce some sort of student science/space
competition. More on that idea as it develops.
Most of our new OCSS shirts arrived and were handed out to
members. Several people have mail ordered shirts and those will
hopefully go out sometime in the next week. I have heard from
several people that said they would also like to place orders,
so I would ask that you get those into me as soon as you can.
Remember that we offer T-shirts, Long-sleeve T-shirts, Polo
shirts, Sweatshirts, and baseball caps. All are available in
embroidered or 3-color screen print. Feel free to drop me a line
for any additional info.
Next Saturday, is the Long Beach Science Fair. Anyone who is
planning to attend this event with us, is asked to be sure to
drop me a note for info and directions, if you were not able to
attend the meeting.
Also, on the horizon is the ground-breaking ceremonies for the
Aerospace Legacy Foundation's new facility in Downey, at the
former Rockwell Space Division, which is now scheduled for April
12. Not sure yet if this event will be open to the public, but I
will keep everyone informed.
Thanks for your time and continued support of OCSS.
Take care,
Larry Evans
President
Orange County Space Society Feb. 20,
2007 At our February meeting we were
able to show off our new embroidered and screen printed logo
shirts for OCSS. There was great interest in placing orders, so
I want to contact all of our membership to get this initial
order put together as quickly as possible. Anyone with shirts
they would like to order are asked to write back to me with the
information as to the type of shirt, quantity, size, color, and
if they need to be shipped or picked up at the March meeting.
Availability:
Embroidered shirts: The embroidery stitching is in either white
or black, depending on the color of the shirt. Most popular
colors for the shirts are the OCSS Royal Blue or Deep Space
Black, but additional colors are available upon request. The
logo is approximately 4 inches across and done on the front left
breast. We are also offering baseball caps for the first time.
Screen Print shirts: The logo is in 3 colors: red, white, and
blue, and includes the OCSS oval, name, and tag line. It is
about 4 inches across on the front left breast and about 12
inches across on the back shoulders of the shirt.
Shirt types: We can have any style shirt with embroidery or
screen print, including polo shirts, t-shirts, long-sleeve
t-shirts, and sweatshirts.
Sizes: Small through 4X-Large
Prices:
$20--Polo shirt
$15--T-shirt
$20--Long-sleeve T-shirt
$30--Sweatshirt
$15--Baseball Hat
The embroidery setup is complete and OCSS has covered all
charges for that service, so we are just paying for the
individual shirts. The screen print requires a minimum order, so
the setup is not complete on that until we meet that minimum
order, however OCSS will again cover all setup costs once that
is ready to go. Once completed, we will be able to have ongoing
orders, so if you want more later on, that will not be a
problem.
Remember to please get back with me as soon as you can so we can
get the initial order placed. The plan is to have the initial
order to hand out at the March 19 meeting. Prices include all
taxes. Shipping is extra. Contact me for pricing if you need to
have your order shipped. Feel free to drop me a line with any
comments or questions.
Thanks for your time and I hope everyone enjoys this new line of
apparel from OCSS.
Take care,
Larry Evans
President
Orange County Space Society Feb. 8,
2007 After a bit of a hiatus, we have
gotten back on track for our members to be able to order their
OCSS logo shirts. A sample of the new logo on a polo shirt will
be shown at the February 18 meeting and a photo will be
available on our web site at about the same time for those who
cannot attend that afternoon or do not live in the local area.
We are also working on expanding what we offer our members by
having a 3-color screen print type available with our full color
logo in red, white, and blue. Screen printing is a bit more
labor intensive than embroidery, so we have to set up an initial
order of a minimum of 15 shirts. Please get back with me to let
me know if you are interested in this screen print shirt, and
also if you are interested in our new embroidered shirt.
The embroidered logo will be a single color and can be placed on
various design shirts such as polo, t-shirt, long-sleeve t, and
sweatshirt. We can also put this onto baseball caps. Various
colors will be available and sizes go from S through 4XL.
The screen print shirt will have a large version of the OCSS
logo on the back and a small version over the front left breast.
Our initial thought is to offer the t-shirts in black, but if we
have enough interest in other colors that may be considered,
too. These should be available in standard or long-sleeve and
also in sizes S through 4XL. The full color logo can be seen on
the front page of our web site at: www.ocspace.org.
I do not have the final pricing but believe it will be close to
the following:
$15 for t-shirts
$20 for long-sleeve t-shirt
$20 for polo shirts
$30 for sweatshirts
$20 for hats
Embroidered and screen printed should be the same price.
Please drop me a note and let me know of any interest in these
items, so we can place our order soon. I am estimating our
initial order will be prepared soon after our February 18
meeting so they will be ready in time for the March 18 meeting.
Anyone who is not local or would like to mail order any item is
certainly encouraged to do so. If that is the case, be sure to
let me know and I will have to check on shipping charges.
Thanks to everyone for your patience. I think you will all be
extremely excited by these new items for OCSS.
Take care,
Larry Evans
President
Orange County Space Society
Feb. 1, 2007 Hi all,
We had a great preview screening last night for the new movie,
The Astronaut Farmer, starring Billy Bob Thornton, Virgina
Madsen, Bruce Dern, and Bruce Willis. Everyone in our group
really loved the movie and its message about never letting your
dreams die. A great combination of comedy and drama, with the
dream of spaceflight thrown in to boot!
We have a second preview screening coming up on Saturday,
February 10 at 10:00 am at the Regal Cinemas at The Irvine
Spectrum. Remember that this screening is completely free and I
have plenty of passes at this time. Anyone who is interested in
attending, please drop me a note and tell me how many are in
your party. Family and friends are welcome to join us. The movie
will be released nationwide on February 23.
Also of note, this Sunday, February 4, we will be running an
exhibit at the Sally Ride Science Festival at UC Irvine. We have
several people already signed up to help out. We'll be there
from about 9:00 am to 2:00 pm and you even get free lunch! If
anyone not already signed up would like to join us for this
really fun day, please drop me a note and I'll get you all the
details.
And a quick media alert. There are several excellent programs
now making the rounds on the Discovery Channel and Science
Channel. There is a three part series called 2057 that explorers
life 50 years from now, and then Voyage to the Planets and
Beyond, which is a fictional account of a future human
expedition to explore the outer planets, followed by Spacecraft
Trailblazers, about the early years of the space program. Check
you local listings for times.
Take care,
Larry Evans
President
Orange County Space Society
Jan. 23, 2007
First, I have just been in contact with Warner Brothers Pictures
about the release of their new film, The Astronaut Farmer,
starring Billy Bob Thornton as a farmer in Texas who decides to
build a rocket into space. I have seen reviews that look
excellent for this film and it is certainly timely with all the
activity in private spaceflight. Warner Brothers is sending OCSS
free tickets for advanced screenings of this film and I need to
know how many people might be interested in joining us.
There are two screenings planned:
1: Tuesday, January 30 at 7:30 pm at the AMC Theaters at the
Block in Orange
2. Saturday, February 10 at 10:00 am at the Irvine Spectrum
Regal Cinemas
Please send me a note if you would like to attend either
screening and the number in your party. As long as I have enough
tickets, please feel free to bring friends and family, too. The
tickets are being sent to me today, so I will have the exact
count as soon as they arrive and will fill them first come,
first served.
Also, at our meeting Sunday evening we have decided that we will
definitely be doing the February 4 Sally Ride Science Festival
at UCI. Anyone that can make this event to volunteer your time,
please send me a note to confirm.
We also decided that instead of the Sally Ride event at Cal Tech
on March 24, we will be participating in the Long Beach Science
Fair that day since we have never worked with this group before.
Again, if you can volunteer to help out at this event, please
let me know.
One last item I would like to pass along to everyone who was not
able to get to the January meeting: The OCSS Board took a vote
to honor one of our members and this presentation took place
that evening. For 11 years, Robert Kline has given more than any
other person to OCSS in the form of his talents and time. Bob
designed our OCSS logo and has provided us with exceptional
materials such as our display case. Bob often goes way beyond
the call of duty with the donation of the materials and does not
even ask OCSS to reimburse for his direct costs. When he does
take a check from us, I usually have to force him to do so!
With all this in mind, the Board voted unanimously to award
Robert Kline a Lifetime Membership in OCSS, and this was backed
up by every member present at the meeting. Bob received a
certificate conferring the award. For those of you who who have
not had the opportunity to meet Bob, he is one of the best
friends space advocacy can have, not to mention just being a
great friend to all of us in OCSS. Everyone in OCSS
congratulates Bob and we look forward to many more years of
working with him.
Take care,
Larry Evans
President
Orange County Space Society
Jan. 19, 2007
Time to start out 2007 for the Orange County Space Society with
our first meeting of the new year. It will take place this
Sunday, January 21, at 4:00 pm at our regular Discovery Science
Center location. A full agenda of events and space activities
will be discussed, and time permitting, we have some excellent
video of the last shuttle launch that will blow your socks off.
I hope to see many familiar faces and even some new ones on
Sunday. Be sure to come hungry and join us at Polly's after the
meeting (where all the real business takes place!).
Our website has a map to our meeting location if anyone requires
it, or they would like to pass it along to a friend. See you
then.
Larry Evans
President
Orange County Space Society
http://www.ocspace.org
Jan. 15, 2007
Welcome everyone to 2007. This is already shaping up to be a
busy one for the space community and OCSS. I want to touch base
and let you know of some upcoming events and to ask an important
question.
First off, we have again been asked by the Sally Ride Science
group to do their festival at UC Irvine. The problem is that we
have sort of short notice and before I commit to an OCSS
presence there, I would like to ask who would be able to attend
and volunteer their time that day? The event is on Sunday,
February 4. I believe this is Super Bowl Sunday so I know that
might put a crimp on people's plans, so please let me know as
soon as you can if the Sally Ride event is a possibility.
We have also been invited to participate in a second Sally Ride
Science festival coming up on Saturday, March 24 at Cal Tech in
Pasadena. This is the first Cal Tech event for Sally. We will
discuss both events further at our meeting this coming Sunday,
on the 21st.
Also at UCI, this coming Tuesday the 16th at 2:00 pm, astronaut
Piers Sellers will be giving a talk entitled, "What's it Like to
be in Space?" Sellers was aboard two space missions to the ISS,
including the Return to Flight mission of Discovery last July 4.
The talk is free and open to the public at the Howard
Schneiderman lecture hall at the UCI campus near University and
Campus Drive.
Our first OCSS meeting of the year will be next Sunday, January
21st, at our regular Discovery Science Center location at 4:00
pm, followed by dinner at Polly's.
We have an interesting agenda to start out the year and I hope
many of you will be able to join us. One major event that
several members have already signed up for is the Spacefest 2007
in Mesa, Arizona, in August. OCSS has been asked to participate,
so we will be there with a display and possibly do a talk or two
during the event. This is hosted by Kim Poor of Novaspace
Galleries and will feature a huge lineup of astronauts that you
won't want to miss.
Take care and Happy 2007. And congratulations to the team at JPL
for three years of operations with the Spirit and Opportunity
rovers. Three years isn't too bad when the warranty was only for
three months!
Take care,
Larry Evans
President
Orange County Space Society Dec. 6, 2006
Hello everyone,
Well, 2006 is finally winding down. It was another highly
successful year for your chapter and I want to take this
opportunity to thank each and every one of you for your support.
Whether near or far, everyone is important and nothing would be
accomplished without you. At the end of this E-mail is a list
that will be included with our National Space Society Annual
Report that summarizes what was accomplished by OCSS during
2006.
But wait! First, there's more!
Thursday at 6:35 p.m. Pacific is the launch time currently
scheduled for STS-116. Any of our members on the east coast may
see the spectacular trail going up the seaboard as the shuttle
program carries out its first night launch since the Columbia
accident.
Also, we have one last official OCSS activity happening during
December, our annual holiday party at North Woods Restaurant.
Many people have already sent an RSVP for the event, but if you
plan to join us, please be sure to send an email with the number
of people who plan to attend. The party starts at 2:00 p.m. this
Saturday, and a map to North Woods is available on the front
page of our website at www.OCSpace.org. Hope to see lots of
familiar faces. We will gather just inside the restaurant,
probably on the left as you walk in the door. If our group has
already been seated when you arrive, just ask for the Orange
County Space Society party.
2006 Summary:
09 Public Education Programs
10 Television, newspaper (online and print), radio interviews,
and Editorials
12 Monthly Newsletters published
10 General Membership Meetings
07 Displays (406 – Total number of days OCSS had public
displays!)
10 Miscellaneous Space Activities (space launches, etc.)
04 Conferences
02 Parties and Picnics
And don't forget to mark your calendars for January 21st, our
first meeting of 2007 at the Discovery Science Center in Santa
Ana.
Take care and Happy Holidays.
Larry Evans
President
Orange County Space Society
Nov. 20, 2006
I would like to
thank everyone who participated in voting for your Orange County
Space Society 2007 Officers and Board of Directors. The vote
count and elections were held at our meeting on Sunday, November
19, at the Discovery Science Center. There were seven people
running for the BoD and it was probably the closest race yet
held for OCSS. A huge thanks goes to everyone who ran and
volunteered their time to be a part of this great organization.
Your OCSS representatives for 2007 are:
President: Larry Evans
Secretary: Debbi Bennett
Treasurer: Cherie Rabideau
Board of Directors:
Geza Binger
Robert Kline
Ramona Montayne
Rudy Ouzounian
I hope we will see many of you on Tuesday, November 28 at
Fullerton College for the talk by John Smart, and also on
Saturday, December 9 at North Woods for our annual Holiday
Party.
Take care and have a great Thanksgiving.
Larry Evans
President
Orange County Space Society
Nov. 4, 2006
Most of our
members are already familiar with Apogee Books. If you are not,
they produce a great series called the NASA Mission Reports and
many other titles concerning the exploration of space. With the
holidays just a bit over a month away, I thought you wouldn't
mind my passing along some info concerning some special offers
that Apogee is running. These sets are great resources and great
reads.
They currently have two specials on space books: 1) Their pocket
resource guides that include subjects like Apollo, Hubble, Mars,
and even Russian spacecraft, and 2) their new science fiction
series that includes titles like "Edison's Conquest of Mars,"
which is a sequel to H.G. Wells' "War of the Worlds," and also
"Project Mars," a sci-fi story by none other than rocket
scientist Wernher von Braun. Check them out at this web link:
http://www.apogeespacebooks.com/Books/Specials/Specials.html
Apogee has lots more titles you might like to browse so be sure
to check out the rest of their website, too.
I hope you find this information useful. I have read many of
these books myselfand know they are well worth picking up.
Take care,
Larry Evans
President
Orange County Space Society
Nov. 2, 2006
There are
currently two opportunities to get your name included on disks
that will be launched aboard NASA spacecraft. Act quickly to
avoid the deadlines. It is always fun to know that when a
spacecraft flies to another part of our solar system it carries
your name on board for now and future generations that might
find it.
First is the Dawn spacecraft that will head to the asteroid
belt. Deadline for entering your name is this coming Saturday,
November 4, so don't delay. Go to this web site and you will see
the link at the top of the page to enter your name.
http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/
Second is the Phoenix Mars Lander. You have a bit more time, but
no need to hesitate. Deadline for submission is February 1,
2007. Go to this web site through the Planetary Society to enter
your name.
http://www.planetary.org/programs/projects/messages/phoenix_dvd.html
Scroll down the page and you'll see the link on the right to
"Fly Your Name to Mars."
Have fun and enjoy watching these missions unfold over the next
several years knowing that you have a personal stake on the
success of the mission.
Take care,
Larry Evans
President
Orange County Space Society
Oct. 20, 2006
The Orange
County Space Society will be at the Fleet Science Center in San
Diego on Saturday to work with America's first woman in space,
Sally Ride. Sally will be giving a lecture followed by a
autograph session for her books purchased that day at Fleet.
OCSS will be there with a space exploration display and to
answer questions from the public during the event. We have
several great new display pieces to premiere on Saturday and
have also received a large selection of new handouts for
everyone. Other organizations, such as the San Diego chapter of
the Mars Society will also be with us. Should be a great event
and I hope that many of you may be able to come down to attend.
The event runs from 1:00 to 3:00 pm, Saturday, October 21. If
you are coming down from Orange County please be sure to allow
plenty of time as travel south on weekends can be very slow if
you leave too late. For more info about the event and to see a
selection of Sally's books, go to:
http://www.rhfleet.org/site/education/weekendtalk.html#sallyride
Take care,
Larry Evans
President
Orange County Space Society
Oct. 5, 2006
Lots of things to catch
up on, so I wanted to fill everyone in on what's happening with
OCSS.
Sunday, October 15, Monthly meeting at 4:00 pm at the Discovery
Science Center. Nominations for 2007 officers and board members
will be taken at this meeting. If you can not attend but would
like to run for any position, please be sure to let us know
before the meeting. Nominations will be accepted up until
midnight October 15.
Saturday, October 21, Sally Ride lecture and book signing event
at the Fleet Science Center in San Diego at 1:00 pm. (And, of
course, a stop at Killer Pizza From Mars on the way home that
evening!)
Several of our members will also be attending the X Prize Cup
events in Las Cruces, New Mexico, at the same time we will be in
San Diego. Should be an exciting time for everyone.
Saturday and Sunday, October 28-29, Edwards Air Force Base Air
Show. I have heard this may be the last air show for several
years because of work on building a new runway at Edwards, so if
you like a great air show, be sure to make plans to go this
year.
We are also working on a project with astronaut Buzz Aldrin that
could be quite exciting. Details are in works, but I want to
give you a heads up about what is happening. The idea is to
create a network of education specialists who would be able to
report to their local congress people on progress concerning our
future in human space exploration, and to brief these Congress
people on these ideas so that it keeps space in the forefront of
their thinking.
What may be involved is to get people across the country
involved. Since we have members all over the country in a wide
range of Congressional districts, I would like to request that
anyone who might be interested in joining this team should drop
me a note with your name, which district you reside in, along
with your congress person's name. This will get us started on
building a database of volunteers for this effort. As I say,
this is still in the very preliminary stage, but I want to gauge
people's reactions and see how much interest there is for taking
this idea further. OCSS is in a unique position to work on this,
so please be sure to drop me a line with your info and
questions.
That's it for right now. Keeping busy as always. Hope everyone
enjoyed their October issue of OCSpace. Our lead article on the
NASA exhibit was also picked up by Space.com and has been a
featured story there for several days. Anyone that would like to
check it out can go to:
http://www.space.com/adastra/adastra_road_vision_061001.html
or go to:
http://www.mach25media.com/spacenews1.html
and click on "NASA's Vision Takes to the Road"
Take care,
Larry Evans
President
Orange County Space Society
Sept. 1, 2006
Several things are
happening in spaceflight, and I thought our members might like
an update. As most of you are probably aware, the planned August
27 launch of Atlantis on mission STS-115 was delayed because of
Hurricane Ernesto. It was originally believed Ernesto would hit
the Kennedy Space Center with high winds and rain so Atlantis
was de-coupled from the launch pad and started its roll back to
a safe haven inside the Vehicle Assembly Building. In an
unprecedented move, halfway to the VAB, the weather report
downgraded Ernesto and it was decided to take Atlantis right
back to Pad 39-B. This has never happened before in the history
of human spaceflight.
Due to the truncated
turn around, NASA now believes it can go for a launch attempt
next week, so tune in and watch events unfold. Launch is now
scheduled for Wednesday, September 6 at 09:29 am PDT.
This week also saw
the NASA announcement of a prime contractor for the newly named
Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle. This will be the primary
spacecraft that takes humans into space, to the Moon, and onto
Mars. (The lander portions of Project Constellation will be
named and contracted later.) The Orion winning contractor is the
team led by Lockheed Martin. Our congratulations go out to the
company and its employees. This will be an exciting program to
follow as it becomes reality over the next several years. First
flight is to take place no later than 2014 with humans setting
foot on the Moon no later than 2020.
In addition, I would
also like to let everyone know to always watch for passes of the
International Space Station as it orbits the Earth. These are
exciting things to watch. If the lighting and orbital conditions
are right, the Space Shuttle is also easily visible from the
ground during missions. Check the web site
http://www.heavens-above.com for details at your specific
location. For the Southern California area the following
excellent evening passes are coming up in the next week:
04 Sep Magnitude -0.1
Start: 8:20:56 pm
at 10 degrees in the NNW
High Point: 8:23:43
pm at 39 degrees in the NE
End: 8:24:14 pm at
35 degrees in the ENE
05 Sep Magnitude 0.1
Start: 8:44:04 pm
at 10 degrees in the WNW
High Point: 8:46:45
pm at 43 degrees in the SW
End: 8:46:45 pm at
43 degrees in the SW
06 Sep Magnitude -0.1
Start: 7:32:09 pm
at 10 degrees in the NNW
High Point: 7:35:00
pm at 39 degrees in the NE
End: 7:37:42 pm at
10 degrees in the ESE
I would also like to
take this opportunity to thank all the OCSS members who
volunteered at the recent NASA Vision for Space Exploration
event at the Discovery Science Center. Everyone involved had a
great time interacting with the public over the three day event.
My understanding is that we handled over 2,000 members of the
public during that time. Well done to all.
Clear skies and great
viewing.
Larry Evans
President
Orange County Space
Society
June 22, 2006
Hello everyone,
It is time for OCSS to take a small break with our summer picnic
coming up next month. I wanted to
get an early reminder out about the event which will take place
at our usual location of Brookhurst Park in Anaheim. Date:
Saturday, July 22 starting at noon.
There will be a map available at the www.OCSpace.org web site.
Cost will be $5.00 per person and will include the basics of hot
dogs, hamburgers, and necessary utensils and such. We encourage
you to bring a favorite dessert or other dish to add to the
festivities. Many people have already signed up for the picnic
at our meeting last Sunday. Please let us know if you plan to
attend. You don't have to pay until you arrive, but we do need
to know if you will be attending because we'll have to have a
fairly accurate count in order to purchase the necessary food. I
hope to see many familiar faces and even some new ones at the
park. Remember that you can bring friends and family. You do not
have to be an OCSS member to attend.
Also, below is an invite from the local AIAA chapter for an
exciting dinner event that will occur on June 29. If you might
be interested, I encourage you to check out further info.
Take care,
Larry Evans
President
Orange County Space Society
AIAA Los Angeles has an upcoming dinner and speaking event that
you and some local members might be interested in attending. The
event is open to the public, and everyone is welcome to RSVP and
attend.
June 29, 2006 Dinner Meeting
Women Air Force Service Pilots WASP & Flying with the Golden
Knights
Speaker: Violet "Vi" Cowden Pilot, Educator, Skydiver
Come join us and spend the evening with AIAA and SCAA as we have
the honor to host Violet Cowden as she shares with us her many
experiences in flight.
Vi was qualified in and flew over 19 different types of aircraft
from North American P-51 Mustangs to Douglas A-20 Havocs to
Douglas C-47 Skytrains, and many more. In one of her most recent
adventures, the 89-year-old went skydiving and jumped with the
U.S. Army Golden Knights, a team of precision parachutists. So
from flying all types of aircraft to taking her "12,000-foot
plunge," a feat that she was thrilled to do, and one that most
people have never even worked up the courage to attempt, it can
easily be said that Vi Cowden is one remarkable woman.
Vi Cowden was born and raised in a sod house in South Dakota in
1916. She attended Black Hill University in Spearfish, South
Dakota, and became a first grade school teacher. Her love of
flying justified a hectic schedule. She would ride her bicycle
to the airport early in the morning, take a flight lesson, ride
back six miles and teach during the day, and then take ground
school at night. After Pearl Harbor she volunteered to help with
the war effort and heard no reply from Washington for almost a
year. Finally, Vi received a letter inviting her to apply for
the Women's Flying Training Detachment training. Vi was accepted
into the program and in March 1943 began her training in
Sweetwater, Texas, for the Women Airforce Service Pilots, the
first women to fly military aircraft. Vi then went on to serve
her country.
Join us to meet this wonderful lady and hear her speak about her
amazing and truly exciting life.
Dinner: Thursday, June 29th, 6:30--9:00 p.m.
6:00 p.m. Reception with Cash Bar and Dinner Check-in
The Proud Bird Restaurant Doolittle Banquet Room
11022 Aviation Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90045
$35 Regular
$30 Educators/Teachers, Young Professionals, and Military
$20 Students
* Show your AIAA membership card for $5 discount
$5 Attendee Only No Meal
Register by 9 a.m. Monday, June 26th to ensure a meal
reservation:
online: http://www.aiaa-la.org/dinnermtgs.html
phone: 800-683-AIAA (2422)
email: susana@westcoastaiaa.org
June 3, 2006
Media alert for OCSS
members:
I apologize for the late notification, but I just returned from
a cross country trek and only now found the info to pass along.
On Sunday and Monday, June 4 and 5, the National geographic
Channel will be airing a special program called: Space Race--The
Untold Story. This is a two night event and each episode is 2
hours long. Don't worry if you get this message after the Sunday
event because part one will also air again on Monday before part
two. I also assume they will be rerunning this several times
later on.
Show info:
Sunday June 4 airing at 6:00 and 9:00 pm PDT
Space Race--The Untold Story, Part 1: Secret Weapons
Monday June 5 airing at 6:00 and 10:00 pm PDT
Space Race--The Untold Story, Part 2: Race for the Moon
Part 1 also repeats at 4:00 and 8:00 pm PDT
And if you are so inclined, there is another show on the same
channel called Conspiracy Moon Landing which will air before
Part 1 on Sunday at 5:00 and 8:00 pm PDT.
I believe I have seen this one previously and they do a pretty
good job at debunking the Lunar Landing hoax claims with god
scientific evidence, so might be good to check out, especially
for the educators in OCSS.
Lots of other exciting events happening in the near future. Have
to get back with you once I get my feet on the ground again from
this latest trek (7,157 miles of driving in the last three
weeks, but who's counting!).
Take care,
Larry Evans
President
Orange County Space Society
April 19, 2006
Hello everyone,
This is just a quick reminder that the April meeting of the
Orange County Space Society has been moved to this Sunday, April
23 at 4 p.m., and is at a new location for this month: Santa Ana
College's planetarium.
A map is available on the OCSS website: www.ocspace.org
Just click on "Map to Meeting" on the home page and you're ready
to go!
We've moved this meeting to the planetarium to highlight OCSS'
trip to Turkey for the total solar eclipse earlier this month.
Exciting images will be presented on the planetarium's dome,
making for one of the most interesting and engaging meetings we
have had in some time.
This is an excellent event, and if you make only one meeting a
year, this is certainly the one to attend!
Sincerely,
Jeff Howe
OCSS
April 18, 2006
Hello everyone,
I have just received word from Kay Armstrong that the annual
Space Day to be held at Longfellow School in Riverside has been
been changed from May 23rd to Tuesday, June 13. I know that
several members of OCSS have planned to participate this year
and want to make sure that everyone is aware of the date change
as soon as possible. I hope that everyone will still be able to
participate as planned.
Take care,
Larry Evans
President
Orange County Space Society
April 10, 2006
Hi all,
I still have a lot of work to get everything updated on my
website concerning the total solar eclipse tour recently
completed by OCSS. However, I have gotten a major portion of
what I want to accomplish on the site for everyone to check out.
Included are photos from throughout the eclipse day, as well as
the eclipse itself.
Please go to the following web address and then you can follow
the links on that page to see more:
http://www.mach25media.com/eclipse2.html
One thing you will find there is a graphic representing the
exclusive T-shirt designed for our tour group. I have been asked
by several people in OCSS if this shirt would be available for
ordering. This will be a limited edition shirt only available to
the tour participants and members of OCSS. If anyone is
interested, please drop me an email and I'll get you more info.
Pricing is as follows:
$17.95 for a black 100 percent pre-shrunk cotton T-shirt. The
design artwork will be on the front right breast and larger
across the back of the shirt. Polo shirts are also available
that will have the design limited to the front right breast area
(inquire for polo price).
XXL shirts will be $1.50 additional
XXXL shirts will be $2.50 additional
Shipping (if requested) will be $2.50
I hope to place the order in the next week so that the shirts
might be ready by our next meeting.
Speaking of our meeting, our April meeting date has fallen
directly on Easter Sunday. This is the first time I recall this
happening. With that in mind we have slipped the meeting by one
week until Sunday, April 23 at 4 p.m. In addition, because of
the special nature of the meeting, we have moved the location
from our normal Discovery Science Center room to the Tessmann
Planetarium at Santa Ana College. I will be making a special
presentation about the solar eclipse, and Don Prescott from
Tessmann will also be showing off the new planetarium equipment.
This will be an extra special meeting and program for everyone.
For those who have not been to Tessmann previously, it is only a
few miles from DSC. We will have a map on the OCSpace website
and will send out additional info prior to the meeting. Those of
you on the PDF newsletter distribution list will also receive an
E-mail with the directions attached. I hope we can count on a
large turnout for this special event.
Take care,
Larry Evans
President
Orange County Space Society
March 29, 2006
Larry Evans's firsthand account of the
total solar eclipse, seen from Turkey
What a fantastic day here in Manavgat,
Turkey! Several members of the Orange County Space Society are
here with our special tour group to witness an event that has to
be experienced to be believed. With an 11-hour time difference
from those of you back on the West coast, the eclipse started
here on the southern Turkish coast of the Mediterranean with the
first bite being taken out of the Sun at 12:38 p.m. Not much
difference in lighting conditions occurred until the sun was
about 70 percent blocked. Then, weird things start to happen,
with miniature suns being seen on the ground where shadows are
cast. The light is lessened, but extremely distinct due to
polarization. Then the last few percent of the sun starts to
disappear behind the moon and the rest starts to happen very
quickly.
In moments, even with the sun 55 degrees above the horizon at
1:55 p.m. it gets very dark and looks like a sunset all around
us. Everyone was staring upward and shouting as the sliver of
the sun left, replaced by the prominences and corona of
totality. People start to laugh and cry; the human psyche
doesn’t understand how it should react to such a spectacle.
There is a large hole in the sky where the sun was just moments
before. The rest of the sky is the deepest blue that cannot be
captured on film.
For us today, the skies were absolutely clear for the event.
Throughout our trip we had been threatened by rain that never
materialized. Each day of our trip has proven to be more
exciting than the last. One day we were in the 2,500-year-old
ruins of Ephesus and the next day playing on the simulators at
Space Camp Turkey. Now we have all had our lives changed by the
most beautiful natural event anyone could conceive. You can see
photos, watch a video, and nothing can even come close to
expressing and capturing the eclipse. Even with 99 percent of
the Sun covered, unless it completes that final 1 percent, it
will be impossible for anyone to understand unless they have
seen it for themselves.
Just a few short minutes after totality began (3 minutes 41
seconds from our location), the diamond ring effect was seen
again as the first pearls of sunlight poked through the
mountains on the moon’s limb. Many members of our 17-person
group have seen eclipses previously (when you’ve seen one total
eclipse you will be drawn to more), however there were many who
were here for their first sighting. After today, everyone in our
party, and the thousands more all along the eclipse path, have
seen something that many people go their entire lives without
experiencing. I will be posting photos and writing for OCSpace,
but trust me when I say that nothing I can do will ever do this
justice.
Just down the coast from where we saw the eclipse lies the
ancient site of the Temple of Apollo. The idea of being in a
country such as Turkey and being so close to these types of
places where civilization began makes what we have seen today
even more awe inspiring. We have spent a week in Turkey so far
and have four days to go before returning to California. In just
a few hours we will catch our flight to Istanbul. Along with our
OCSS members that made this trek are many new friends who all
signed on to be a part of the tour. It is unbelievable that we
have been able to accomplish such an extraordinary feat.
I hope you’ve enjoyed hearing a small slice of what we have done
here. There will be much more to come. I want to also be sure to
take a moment and send a special thank you to members Mary and
Kaya Tuncer, without whose support this trip would have never
been possible. I sincerely wish they could have been with us to
enjoy this experience of a lifetime.
Take care,
Larry Evans
President
Orange County Space Society
March 16, 2006
Hello everyone,
This is just another quick reminder about the March meeting of
the Orange County Space Society, which will be this Sunday,
March 19, at 4 p.m. at the normal Discovery Science Center
location.
There are some very exciting topics to go over, not the least of
which is the chapter's Total Eclipse Tour! Several members will
be leaving for Turkey just a few days after the meeting, so
there will definitely be a lot of excitement at the meeting as
the participants in attendance will discuss all the adventures
they are bound to have.
Also on the agenda is the International Space Development
Conference, Space Day, and additions to the OCSS website. In
fact, several of the new additions to the site can be seen right
now, with others on the way.
This will be a very festive, exciting meeting!
Sincerely,
Jeff Howe
OCSS
March 13, 2006
The International Space Development
Conference (ISDC) is coming up in about seven weeks. ISDC will
be held at the Sheraton-Gateway hotel just outside Los Angeles
International Airport on May 4-7.
The kickoff event on May 4 will be the Space Tourism Society's
(STS) Orbit Awards with keynote speaker Dennis Tito, the first
private space tourist. The awards were created by OCSS member
and founder of the STS John Spencer.
Throughout the conference there will be many great opportunities
to listen to and interact with many notables in the field of
public and private space exploration. Speaker highlights include
Burt Rutan, Buzz Aldrin, Peter Diamandis, Bill Nye, Elon Musk,
Charles Elachi, and many more.
Early bird registration is coming to an end on March 15, so get
signed up now if you plan to attend. For full information go to
the following websites:
http://www.isdc.nss.org/2006/
http://www.isdc.nss.org/2006/register.html
REMEMBER! Be sure to join us at our regular OCSS meeting this
coming Sunday at 4:00 pm at the Discovery Science Center.
Our tour to view the total solar eclipse along the Mediterranean
coast of Turkey launches on March 22. The eclipse will happen in
the early morning hours of March 29 for those in the Pacific
Time Zone, so set your VCRs to check out news coverage from
across the world. Our team will experience totality from 01:53
to 01:57 local time and 12:53 to 12:57 in Manavagat, Turkey.
ISDC will be upon us just four weeks after our return from the
other side of the world and then this will be followed on May 23
by Space Day at Longfellow Elementary in Riverside, hosted by
Lockheed Martin and Ivor Dawson's Traveling Space Museum. For
more information, contact Kay Armstrong at:
info@ocspace.org
or visit their website at:
http://www.spaceday.org
For our Southern California members, take note that there are
several good sightings of the International Space Station coming
up over the next several days. For anyone interested in seeing
the ISS or other spacecraft sail overhead from your own hometown
anywhere in the world, or to get more detailed info concerning
these sightings over Orange County, go to:
http://heavens-above.com
Mar 13 starting at 6:14:24 pm, rising to 15 degrees in the NNE
Mar 13 starting at 7:48:50 pm, rising to 25 degrees in the W
Mar 14 starting at 6:37:59 pm, rising to 48 degrees in the NE
Mar 15 starting at 7:02:27 pm, rising to 33 degrees in the SW
Mar 17 starting at 6:15:57 pm, rising to 32 degrees in the SW
That's it for this update on upcoming events for OCSS. as you
can see, our extremely busy year is continuing apace. I hope to
see many familiar faces at these and other events as 2006 winds
into
high gear!
Sincerely,
Larry Evans
President
Orange County Space Society
February 14, 2006
If you've been following your emails and
newsletter this year, you'll see how busy the Orange County
Space Society has been. This past Sunday we participated in our
second Sally Ride Science Festival event at UC San Diego. We
partnered again with our good friends at Global Friendship
Through Space Education (GFTSE) on what turned out to be the
largest Sally Ride event ever to take place (over 1,300
attendees!). I want to thank everyone who helped out to make
this such a success, especially Scott Hollister who we literally
could not have done the event without.
This next weekend has two OCSS events: Ontario Mills on Saturday
and our membership meeting at the Discovery Science Center on
Sunday. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone who can attend
one or both events.
Saturday, February 18 at Ontario Mills: This huge shopping
center will be having a day devoted to summer camp programs.
OCSS has been invited to participate to help promote the Space
Camp Program, as well as to host a book signing with author Ed
Buckbee of "The Real Space Cowboys." The center is located at
the junction of Interstates 10 and 15. Our display area is
supposed to be near the JC Penneys store. We should be there
from 10:00 am to about 3:00 pm.
Sunday, February 19 at the Discovery Science Center: Our regular
monthly general membership meeting starts at 4:00 pm. This month
we are scheduled to meet in the DSC Board Room, upstairs between
the classroom and the planetary gravity pulleys. Look for the
OCSS sign outside the door to the room. With all the things
happening it should be a great meeting.
Also note: This weekend, DSC will be having its exhibit on dogs,
so they are expecting a massive crowd. We have been asked to
park at the Main Place Mall just around the corner. If you park
at the mall, you can cross the street and walk behind the Red
Roof Inn. There is a very nice path that winds behind the hotel
and empties at the DSC parking lot. It's not a difficult walk at
all.
TV Note: On Thursday evening, February 16, the Discovery Channel
will be having several space-related programs, including a
reshowing of "Black Sky: Winning the X Prize," followed directly
by a show detailing the status of the Space Shuttle as it nears
its next Return to Flight launch window in May.
And we are just over a month away from leaving on the most
fantastic event ever co-sponsored by OCSS and GFTSE: The "Total
Solar Eclipse Tour 2006!" We leave on March 22 for 10 days in
Turkey to see the historic sights, spend a day riding simulators
at Space Camp Turkey, and view a four-minute-long total solar
eclipse at a beautiful resort on the Mediterranean coast. We
still have some slots available for the tour if anyone would
like to join us. Call Troy Tours at 1-800-748-6878 or go to the
OCSS website at www.ocspace.org for more details, or feel free
to drop me a line anytime.
Be sure to make plans to attend the International Space
Development Conference May 4-7 at the Sheraton-Gateway Hotel in
Los Angeles. Many OCSS members are deeply involved in the
planning for this event which will include a kick-off on the
evening of May 4 with the Space Tourism Pioneer Awards show. Get
more info at www.nss.org.
Just another period of slow activity for OCSS! Take care and
hope to see many of you soon.
Larry Evans
President
Orange County Space Society
January 28, 2006
The Orange County Space Society is off and
running for a great 2006. We have several major events planned
for the near future and wanted to pass along the info to remind
everyone, and to give you an update on what we're up to for
those who weren't able to attend our membership meeting this
past Sunday.
Calendar--
Sunday, January 22: CNN Presents Christa McAuliffe. 5:00 pm and
8:00 pm PST. A special on the life of the teacher lost in the
Challenger tragedy in 1986.
Saturday, January 28: Remembering Challenger. Noon to 4:00 pm.
This event will be at the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center in San
Diego. OCSS has worked with Fleet to set up a panel discussion
and video presentation about the 20th anniversary of the
Challenger accident and where we are headed in the future. The
panel members will include myself and Jim Busby. In addition, we
now have a third panel member joining us, astronaut Gordon
Fullerton. Also included in the day will be a showing of the
IMAX film "The Dream is Alive". This should be an exciting
event. You can check out full details on the Fleet web site at:
http://www.rhfleet.org/site/education/weekendtalk.html
Sunday, February 12: Sally Ride Science Festival at UC San
Diego. This will be similar to the event we attended in November
at UC Irvine. We are looking forward to working with the Sally
Ride group again. Full coverage of the Irvine event will be in
the February issue of OCSpace, so be sure to check it out. We
encourage anyone who knows girls in the 5th through 8th grade to
sign them up for the activities that day and to join OCSS at our
tables. For additional info:
http://www.sallyridefestivals.com/06ucsd0212/index.shtml
Saturday, February 18: Ontario Mills Mall will have a special
event covering summer camp programs. OCSS is planning to be at
the event with a display as well as have a book signing with
author and Space Camp Founder, Ed Buckbee (The Real Space
Cowboys, OCSpace, January 2006). We may be working with a
display for summer camp programs directly from Space Camp
Huntsville and possibly with the Discovery Science Center.
Additional details and times for the event will come out closer
to the event, so mark your calendar.
Wednesday, March 22: The OCSS and GFTSE sponsored Total Solar
Eclipse Tour will take off for Turkey for the March 29th
eclipse. This spectacular tour will be an event of a lifetime.
Several OCSS members have signed on but there is still room for
any last-minute additions. Please contact me for additional
info, or for the complete itinerary and tour application go to:
http://www.mach25media.com/eclipse2.html
May 4-7: 25th Annual International Space Development Conference
at the Sheraton Gateway at Los Angeles International Airport.
This event is shaping up very well and we expect a huge
attendance. Please get additional info at:
http://isdc.nss.org/2006/
Take care,
Larry Evans
President
Orange County Space Society
Aug. 8, 2005
The opening weekend of "Darkside" went extremely
well with sold-out performances for all three shows. We hope
that this support continues throughout the rest of the run of
the play.
I want to personally thank all the OCSS members and friends who
showed up on opening night to celebrate my 50th birthday. Cherie
organized a fantastic surprise party with some members coming
from hundreds of miles away. She definitely pulled off a great
one.
The official reviews for the play should be coming out in the
newspapers during this week, so check your papers for what
others have to say about the play. Some people are already
talking about coming back to see it again. I hope that if you
didn't have a chance to come on opening weekend, you will be
able to join us during one of the remaining nine performances.
Please be sure to call the theater for reservations at (714)
547-4688.
(Note that the last issue of OCSpace has an incorrect phone
number printed. Please excuse the mistake.)
In addition, I want to invite our members to join us for two
special performances. This coming Saturday, Aug. 13, and again
after the final performance on Saturday, Aug. 27, we will have
what are called Talk Back sessions. This is where the cast will
come on stage following the performance and discuss the play and
answer questions from the audience. These should be a lot of fun
and I look forward to seeing many familiar faces during these
and other performances.
Performance Schedule:
Fri, Aug 12 @ 8:00 pm
Sat, Aug 13 @ 8:00 pm (Talk Back session)
Sun, Aug 14 @ 2:30 pm
Fri, Aug 19 @ 8:00 pm
Sat, Aug 20 @ 8:00 pm
Sun, Aug 21 @ 2:30 pm (OCSS Meeting at DSC following the play at
4:00 pm)
Thu, Aug 25 @ 8:00 pm
Fri, Aug 26 @ 8:00 pm
Sat, Aug 27 @ 8:00 pm (Talk Back session)
Take care,
Larry Evans
President
Orange County Space Society
Aug. 5, 2005
Hi everyone,
I don't normally send out messages to wish someone a happy
birthday, but today I felt was a bit special, so I hope you
don't mind the intrusion.
On Aug. 5, 1930, in Wapokenta, Ohio, Neil A. Armstrong was born.
Just a couple weeks shy of his 39th birthday, Neil became the
first human to step onto the lunar surface on July 20, 1969.
Today, Neil is 75 years old. Raise your glass in a toast to a
great American Space Pioneer on the occasion of his first
three-quarters of a century on planet Earth.
Tonight, we will be celebrating by having our opening night of
the play "Darkside" at the Empire Theater in Santa Ana. The
opening weekend is already sold out. I hope that many of you
will have a
chance to join us for the run of the play through Aug. 27. For
more info, check the OCSS website at www.OCSpace.org.
Take care,
Larry Evans
President
Orange County Space Society
July 16, 2005
The OCSS Summer Picnic is fast approaching.
Next Saturday, July 23rd, at noon at Brookhurst Park in Anaheim,
we will have our annual day of relaxation and fun. With all the
events we have been doing recently, we could definitely use a
day off!
First, let me please ask everyone that intends to come to the
picnic to be sure to contact Jeff Howe (at
ocspacesociety@hotmail.com)
or myself (at
Mach25@sbcglobal.net) and let us know you will be here and
how many in your party. We have to have a fairly accurate count
so we can get the proper amounts of burgers, hot dogs, etc. Like
last year, the price is only $5.00 per person to cover all the
basics. Anything special you want to bring is great, too. We
have a pretty good list already going.
One other important thing I need to mention is that we will not
be alone at our picnic this year. I have been in E-mail
discussion and had several phone conversations for the past
several weeks with a producer from the British Broadcasting
Company (BBC) and they will be in town to film interviews
primarily about space tourism during the week leading up to our
picnic. On the day of the picnic, they will be at our event to
talk with several of our members. She wanted very specific
people to be interviewed such as couples and families, so I have
been in contact with many people already to set up those who
will be asked to be on camera. They will also be filming general
scenes at the park, which as you know has a space theme. Each
couple or family being interviewed will be occupied for
approximately 90 minutes. There is a possibility that some
people not on the schedule may also be asked some questions, so
I want everyone to understand what will be happening that
afternoon.
There is also a possibility that some members of the Los Angeles
chapter of NSS, OASIS, may also come to the park to be
interviewed. I think it would be great if we can get some fellow
chapter members to come join us that day, but we'll have to wait
to see what materializes.
For everyone that is able to come to Brookhurst Park, we should
have a great time. I look forward to seeing lots of familiar
faces next Saturday. For anyone who needs it, a map is available
to be downloaded on the main page of the OCSS web site at
www.OCSpace.org.
Take care,
Larry Evans
President
Orange County Space Society
May 4, 2005
The largest construction project in OCSS
history is now complete. The Endeavour space shuttle simulator,
donated to the Discovery Science Center by OCSS members Kaya and
Mary Tuncer, has been completed. Thanks to the fantastic work of
our entire crew, but especially to Faruk and Tamer from Space
Camp Turkey, this project has added a new icon to DSC and Orange
County.
The official opening of the orbiter simulator will not happen
until the opening of the summer space program at DSC on June 17,
but anytime you drive by the center you can easily see Endeavour
directly underneath the signature Discovery Science Center Cube.
Be sure to come early to the May
15 OCSS meeting and maybe you'll have a chance to check it out
up close. There are also several
other simulators that have been fully checked out and will be available for the public to ride on starting next month,
including the Manned Maneuvering Unit, which rides on an air
cushion across
the floor under complete control of the operator. Very cool
stuff.
There is a photo of the shuttle under the Cube on the main page
at the OCSS website, www.ocspace.org.
And we are just a few days away from a very exciting event at
the Fleet Science Center in San Diego. Astronaut Wally Schirra
will be at Fleet from 1:00 to 3:00 pm giving a talk and signing
his book, "The Real Space Cowboys," with co-author Ed Buckbee.
OCSS will be there with a display and
we hope to see many of our members there for the event. See page
3 of your May newsletter for
additional info. Be sure to get there early and tell the people
at the front desk that you are with OCSS.
Eclipse Trip Update: I have just received confirmation from Troy
Tours that we have received the
down payments from the first passengers for our total solar
eclipse trip to Turkey next March. This is extremely exciting
news. I hope that more OCSS members will decide to join us for
this trip. There is a special discount for OCSS members.
Here is a list of upcoming events to plan your calendar:
May 7: Wally Schirra event at Fleet Science Center, San Diego
May 14: Jet Propulsion Lab Open House
May 15: OCSS Monthly Meeting
May 22: Nancy Conrad event at Fleet Science Center, San Diego
May 24: Video Conference at Ratheon between Pam Leestma's
students and Space Camp Turkey
June 17: Opening Day of Invasion Space at Discovery Science
Center (through mid-September)
June 19: June OCSS Meeting
July 12: Opening of launch window for Space Shuttle Discovery on
return to flight mission STS-114
Take care,
Larry Evans
President
Orange County Space Society
www.ocspace.org
April 4, 2005
OCSS Member Flies High!
I wanted to let all of you know about an
exciting event that one of our board members was able to
participate in a few days ago. Pam Leestma, a long-time OCSS
member, space exploration enthusiast,
and cousin of NASA Astronaut Dave Leestma, was invited to
participate in the X-Rocket Teacher-in-Space training program.
As part of this training, Pam was given a flight in a MiG-21 out
of Mojave Airport on March 30.
There is an article on Space.com about her flight at:
http://www.space.com/astronotes/astronotes.html
And below I have passed along some of the comments Pam had to
say after her flight. Congratulations Pam and I know I speak for
everyone when I say that we look forward to a first-hand report
at out next meeting, and hopefully a full article in a future
issue of O.C.Space.
Pam’s report:
Hi to All!
Thanks for your thoughts and prayers. Yes I had a BLAST and no,
I did NOT get sick! I had a great pilot and he took real good
care of me. I had a 50 minute ride and almost went supersonic.
We went around 17,800 ft. high! The FAA has regulations and we
were not at a military base or over the ocean to go Mach 1.
That was O.K. with me!
We did an aileron roll, some low level flying, an Air Force
style pitch up where I felt almost 4 G's, and the pilot
practiced a low approach landing without landing at that time.
This was a proficiency flight for pilot Bob Rey. He has flown in
the Navy and now flies for American Airlines. What a very nice
person he is! The founder of the company is Ed Wright and he is
very kind, too.
Yes, I really enjoyed feeling those G's and , my stomach toward
the end, decided that this would be enough for now. It was all
so perfect. The local CBS news was there and interviewed me
before I flew. Waiting at the airport to go home on the 5
o'clock news, Bob Rey and I watched the coverage on the news.
It was about a minute and 30 sec. segment. The local Reno paper
and radio station were out there, too. Then I had a phone
interview after the flight and the adrenaline was flowing. I am
sure I talked a mile a minute and you could have pealed me off
the ceiling.
Yes, it was a thrill of a lifetime and I am grateful to Ed
Wright and my good friend Jim Busby who
recommended me for this flight. Now this Saturday, I will be
attending a fund raiser at Dennis
Tito's home in Pacific Palisades. He is the one who flew in the
Space Station for $20 million. Who knows where this experience
will take me. I am sure down a wonderful path!
Still Flying High!
Pam
March 27, 2005
Yuri's Night
You are cordially invited to a special VIP
reception for Yuri's Night 2005.
The Yuri's Night VIP reception is a special event that brings
together the most exciting members of the space, entertainment,
and business communities. The perfect start to an evening of
space celebration, all proceeds benefit the Space Generation
Foundation and other space education charities.
Tuesday, April 12th
GMT Studios, Stage-6
5721 Buckingham Pkwy
Culver City, CA 90230
- VIP Reception: 7:30pm - 9:00pm (tickets $75, includes hors
d'oeuvres and admission to all of the night's festivities)
- Space Party: 9:00pm - 2:00am (tickets $15 presale, $20 at the
door)
For more info and to buy tickets online today visit:
la.yurisnight.net/vip (VIP reception)
la.yurisnight.net (World Space Party)
The 2005 Los Angeles VIP Reception will feature stars of
Disney's Aliens of the Deep IMAX film:
- Dijanna Figueroa, Ph.D Candidate at UCSB in Marine Biology,
was the youngest and the most experienced deep sea diver of the
"Aliens" crew. She also won the hearts of kids across the
country as the star of the film!
- Dr. Pamela Conrad is a Senior Astrobiologist at the Jet
Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. In the movie, James Cameron
describes Pam as "the kind of person who makes science fun."
- Bob Weiss, Vice Chairman of the X PRIZE Foundation and
Hollywood producer, has produced over 12 major motion pictures
including the "Naked Gun" trilogy and "Blues Brothers." He is a
long-time space enthusiast with an extensive space library, and
he has worked with many space companies and projects including
extensive involvement creating media for the X PRIZE
Foundation. Bob Weiss is a huge supporter of space and a
bridge between Hollywood and the space world.
The fifth annual Yuri's Night VIP event promises to be the best
yet! Join the movers and shakers of space, film, and music at
GMT Studios in Culver City for the most exciting night of space!
Contact: Joe Landon,
joe@yurisnight.net
* * * *
About Yuri's Night:
Yuri's Night is a world-wide celebration held on April 12th to
commemorate the first manned spaceflight, made by Yuri Gagarin
on April 12, 1961, and the first U.S. Shuttle Launch on April
12, 1981. Yuri's Night is organized by the non-profit (501c3)
Space Generation Foundation.
In 2004, people celebrated Yuri's Night in 34 countries
worldwide at over 75 individual events from Los Angeles, to
Stockholm, to Antarctica, to Tel Aviv, to Tokyo, and even on
board the International Space Station.
The Los Angeles Yuri's Night party is the world's flagship
event. The Yuri's Night 2004 LA VIP event was attended by over
100 prominent space leaders including author Ray Bradbury, space
tourist Dennis Tito, X-Prize founder Peter Diamandis, N*SYNC's
Lance Bass, Nichelle Nichols (Uhura from the original "Star
Trek" Series), and many more. The VIP event was followed by a
large party with two dance floors and world-class DJs.
The goal of Yuri's Night is to increase public interest in space
exploration and to inspire a new generation of explorers.
Driven by space-inspired artistic expression and culminating in
a worldwide network of annual celebrations and educational
events, Yuri's Night creates a global community of young people
committed to shaping the future of space exploration while
developing responsible leaders and innovators with a global
perspective.
www.yurisnight.net
March 5, 2005
Color Newsletter Available
Before I talk about our newsletter, I wanted to pass along
some information concerning the subject of the March lead
article on the IMAX movie, "Aliens of the Deep." As you will
read in the newsletter, I highly recommend this IMAX film.
Unfortunately, after publishing the article, I have found out
that the movie is being released in stages across the country
and it may not be available right away to all of our members who
wish to see it. Officially, it was released at the end of
January. However, for our California members, I was informed it
will not be in local IMAX theaters until May. So, hang in there
and be sure to keep an eye out for it. It's definitely worth
seeing.
And now, the newsletter:
As many of you are aware, OCSS is now producing a color version
of our O.C.Space newsletter. Due to prohibitive printing costs,
we cannot offer this color version except electronically as a
PDF file that is readable on any computer system. (It would
literally cost us at least 10 times as much to do color as black
& white printing.)
I tried to personally contact each member that I have an E-mail
address for to offer the first issue of the color newsletter.
Our response has been overwhelmingly positive. If for any reason
you did not receive my initial E-mail and the PDF file with the
newsletter, please let me know and I will get an attachment out
to you right away. The file is approximately 2.5MB so be aware
of this, especially if you use a dial-up modem.
I am very excited about this new development for our members. We
are always striving to do bigger and better things, and I think
this really qualifies as a major event. Last year we rolled out
the OCSS website (thanks to Jeff Howe and his great work on
that!). This year we have the color newsletter.
If you decide to take your newsletter subscription via PDF file
you will also be helping OCSS to do more great things. The
reason for this is that our largest expense is the printing and
mailing of the newsletter each month. The more copies we send
electronically, the more your dues will be able to be put to use
creating better materials for the chapter to do our programs and
displays. One example is that we are working with the Discovery
Science Center right now to have a permanent OCSS display. This
could be on line in just the next few months. Stay tuned.
Also, if you take the electronic version, you not only get to
see everything in color, you will also have a file on your
desktop where you will always have access to each issue of the
newsletter, and can print additional copies for yourself.
For now we will be E-mailing the newsletter each month as an
attachment to those members who wish to receive it. In the
future, our goal is to set up a members-only section of the
website that will have your personal password protection to
access. We will upload the newsletter there each month and all
you have to do is check the website on the first of the month to
download your copy. We will let everyone know when we are able
to make this happen. Renewal notices for electronic subscribers
will also be sent when applicable as a PDF file, so you can
print it out and send it back to the P.O. box with your dues.
Some day soon we plan to also offer electronic ways to pay your
dues such as Pay Pal so we can eliminate the mail altogether.
So, if you have not already done so, please let me know if you
would like to upgrade your membership with the color version of
O.C.Space (your membership dues will remain the same). If anyone
that has received the file has any problems, please let me know.
Any comments or suggestions, as well as newsletter submissions
of stories or photos, is always appreciated.
Take care,
Larry Evans
President
Orange County Space Society
February 14, 2005
There are a few items of note, so here they are in no particular
order.
Director/Producer James Cameron (of "Titanic" and "The Abyss"
fame) has finished a full-length documentary titled "Aliens of
the Deep," which takes viewers into the depths of the sea to
explore areas far more dangerous than outer space. Included are
visits to hydrothermal vents where creatures thrive on toxic
gas. OCSS was at the premier, which included Hollywood stars
such as Teri Hatcher, plus some star-struck guests. We are
planning a trip to see this film when it is released into IMAX
theaters this spring. Keep an eye on this site, or better yet,
you can join OCSS!
Space Day Riverside is at Longfellow Elementary School located
at 3610 Eucalyptus Ave. (Eucalyptus and Mission Inn Road) in
downtown Riverside on June 2. The event is from 8:30 a.m. to
2:30 p.m.
Space Day Riverside, sponsored by Lockheed-Martin, is the
biggest Space Day on the West coast and is always a thrill to
see and be a part of.
Several new interactive exhibits will be making their debuts
this spring includes the
Traveling Space
Museum's Odyssey III SpaceLab and the next-generation rover:
the Lunar Utility Vehicle, aka the LUV machine. We need a driver
for the LUV and presenters for the other new attractions.
Special guests this year include former astronaut Dan
Brandenstein, teen astronaut candidate Justin Houchin, and FIRST
Robotics 2004 SoCal Champs Team 980. Also being sought is Don
Rethke--AKA "Dr. Flush," designer of the STS Toilet System
Volunteers are invited to stay at the Mission Inn the night
before and join the gang for dinner. Pre Space Day dinners are
always a party! We'd love to see you there. TSM will also cover
your gas and expenses.
For more information, contact Ivor Dawson at
IvorsTSM@aol.com.
OCSS and the Discovery
Science Center are working on plans to permanently display
our display case in their facility. As if you needed another
reason to visit this excellent facility!
January 2, 2005
I want to give everyone a heads up concerning our January
16 OCSS meeting. This date will be used for an all-day event
at the Discovery Science Center that will celebrate space
exploration and specifically the Huygens probe landing on
Saturn's moon Titan. OCSS is working with DSC and the
Jet
Propulsion Lab to make this a really great kickoff for 2005.
Part of our OCSS display will include many actual flown space
artifacts from Apollo and the Space Shuttle. There will also be
telescopic viewing in the DSC parking lot after dark where you
can see the real Saturn in person.
I hope that many of you will join us for this event. Considering
that the event coincides with our regular meeting, we will most
likely not have a general business meeting that day at DSC. For
any items that must be discussed in January we will talk about
them at Polly's over dinner between the day and evening events.
We will send additional information in the week prior to the
event, so stay tuned both to your E-mail and to our website at
www.ocspace.org.
Happy New Year to everyone.
Larry Evans
President
Orange County Space Society
November 29, 2004
The Orange County Space Society will hold our annual Holiday
Party at Northwood's Inn Restaurant in La Mirada, California
(Interstate 5 at Valley View) on Saturday, Dec. 11. We're meeting at 2 p.m. for a
late lunch/early dinner, whatever you want to call it. If you
would like to attend, please E-mail Cherie Rabideau at
Mach25@sbcglobal.net
or call (949) 770-0702. All guests will be responsible for their
own meals. You can get a map here. For
those of you who aren't familiar with Northwood's, it's
basically a steak place, but with other non-steak items on the
menu (though not much!). Not only is it known for its great
food, but also for the peanut shells that get tossed on the
floor. This will be a nice way to wind down from a busy year,
and to catch our breath before what is sure to be an equally
busy 2005!
November 16, 2004
Thursday, November 18, 2004, at 7:30 p.m. at the
Griffith Observatory Satellite (http://www.GriffithObs.org/satellite.html)
"The Latest from Saturn: The Cassini/Huygens Mission"
By Dr. Kevin Grazier, JPL
Dr. Kevin R. Grazier, investigation scientist/science planning
engineer at JPL for the Cassini/Huygens mission, puts us into
the Cassini orbiter that is visiting Saturn and its moons for
four years, and into the Huygens probe that will dive into the
murky atmosphere of Titan and land on its surface. Get the
latest updates, including those from the Oct. 26 flyby of
Saturn's large moon Titan. No admission charge; free parking in
front of the Satellite. Seating is limited to the first 70 to
arrive. Sponsored by Friends Of The Observatory (FOTO), the
nonprofit support group for Griffith Observatory.
November 5, 2004
HBO Miniseries "From the Earth to the Moon"
HBO has donated three VHS copies of the ground-breaking 12-part
miniseries to OCSS to use in fundraising. There are six tapes
with two hour-long episodes on each tape. There is also a unique
stand that holds all six tapes, along with exceptional graphics
on the boxes themselves. We are going to be auctioning off one
set per month, starting in January. When we get a framework for
the auction that will accommodate everyone -- from meeting
attendees to E-mail and phone bidding -- we will let you know.
If anyone has any suggestions on how best to handle this
auction, taking into account E-mail and phone bids, please let
us know by the November meeting date (Nov. 21).
November 3, 2004
November is a busy month, so we wanted to get this information
out there so you can plan your time:
Saturday, November 13:
There will be a single showing of the movie "2001: A Space
Odyssey" in 70mm at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood. This is
the same theater where we had a two week display for the
re-release of 2001 in 2001. This is a great theater and the 70mm
print of the movie was unbelievable when it was last shown here.
Remember that if you have only seen 2001 on a small television
screen, you haven't seen 2001! This will be an unusual showing
in that it will play as a double feature with "Goldfinger."
Bizarre combination, but well worth the trip nonetheless. I have
already started a list of names for people that want to come to
this event. It starts at 8:15 pm. Anyone interested is asked to
please contact me. Tickets will probably sell out so we'll need
to order early.
Saturday, November 20:
OCSS member John Spencer has written a book,
Space Tourism: Do
You Want To Go? It has been published by Apogee books and is
doing very well on places like Amazon.com. What better time to
have a book on space tourism than after the flights of
SpaceShipOne and the announcements from Sir Richard Branson of
Virgin Galactic? The
Fleet Science Center in San Diego's Balboa
Park will host a talk and book signing event by John this day
starting at 1:00 pm. Francis French, our good friend at Fleet,
made the arrangements for this event and is also offering for OCSS members to get in for free, but we need to know in advance
how many will be there. We also plan to have an OCSS display at
the event. Anyone who wishes to come to San Diego and listen to
John's talk or to help with the display, is asked to contact me.
As with any San Diego-based event, on the way home we plan to
stop at Killer Pizza From Mars for dinner. Should be an exciting
afternoon.
Sunday, November 21:
OCSS General Membership Meeting. This will be our last formal
meeting for 2004. (Our annual holiday party plans are shaping up
with a tentative date of Saturday, December 11 at Northwoods Inn
in La Mirada.) The major order of business at the November 21
meeting will be to elect our 2005 officers and board members.
All members will receive a ballot with their November
newsletter. Please be sure to complete the ballot and either
mail, fax, or email to OCSS prior to the start of the meeting.
You may also bring the ballot in person to the meeting.
Space Frontier Conference DVD announcement:
The SFF conference over the Columbus Day weekend was a great
success at the Queen Mary. The November issue of O.C.Space will
feature a main article about the flights of SpaceShipOne to win
the X Prize, as well as an article and photos about the SFF
conference. A highlight of the conference was the appearance of
Burt Rutan to receive his Dream to Reality Award from the
Foundation for the creation of the first private spaceflight.
His talk, after receiving the award, was excellent and it is
available on DVD for anyone interested. Please contact Dennis
Whipple at
denniswhipple@yahoo.com for details. There is also a second
DVD available with highlights of the whole conference.
OCSS Gift Memberships:
And finally, I want to remind everyone that the holiday season
is fast approaching. What better way to show your support of
human space exploration than to give the gift of an OCSS
membership to a friend or family member? Remember that we have
members across the country and even around the world. Everyone
really enjoys their newsletter each month even if they are too
far away to come to the meetings in person. Give a special gift
this year, give the gift of space exploration and a hopeful
future!
Take care,
Larry Evans
President
Orange County Space Society
October 11, 2004
There are several items I wish to pass along to our members. It has been such a busy week in
spaceflight that it is hard to have time to catch your breath
and see all that is happening.
First is to thank Bob Hillhouse and John Spencer for heading up
the group that put on a great Space Frontier Foundation
Conference this past weekend at the Queen Mary in Long Beach.
They, and all the volunteers from OCSS and elsewhere, did a
large amount of work to pull off a wonderful event, capped off
Saturday night with the appearance of Burt Rutan at the banquet.
Everyone who was there will attest to the fact that his talk
will not be forgotten.
Second is that on Tuesday evening on the Science Channel there
will be a three-hour block of programming devoted to private
spaceflight. The first two hours will be a repeat of the show
"Black Sky: The Race for Space," which focused on the Scaled
Composites team and the design, construction, and flight of SpaceShipOne. Following this program will be a one-hour show on
the two X Prize competition flights that occurred on September
29 and October 4. Also, for anyone who is a subscriber to
Aviation Week and Space Technology, the front cover photograph
for the October 11 edition will be one taken by an SS1 pilot at
apogee, more than 62 miles above the Earth.
Third is that our friend Francis French of the Fleet Science
Center in San Diego has informed me that Apollo 15 astronaut
Dave Scott has agreed to sign copies of his biography for only
the cover price of the book through Collect Space. This is a
great deal considering that just a few weeks ago it could have
cost $150 or more to have him do this exact same thing. For
anyone interested in purchasing this book please use go to this
web address:
http://www.collectspace.com/buyspace/books.html#autographs
If anyone does order the book through the Web site, please be
sure to include in the order form comment box that you heard
about the offer through the Fleet Science Center and OCSS. Thank
you, Francis.
Last, but not least, our congratulations go out to Pam Leestma
who had an excellent article published in the October 4 edition
of the Long Beach Press-Telegram about the summer events at
Space Camp Turkey and the Global Friendship program. They even
included color photographs from both Pam and myself in the
article.
Please be sure to join us next Sunday for our regular OCSS
meeting where we will be discussing these events and many more.
We will also be making nominations for our 2005 OCSS Officers
and Board members. For anyone that would like to make a
nomination for any position, or would like to nominate
themselves but cannot be at the meeting, please be sure to drop
a note to our Secretary, Jeff Howe, with the information prior
to the meeting.
Take care and welcome to the dawn of a new era in spaceflight.
Larry Evans
President
Orange County Space Society
September 30, 2004
We are in the midst of a true revolution in space and there are
several events I want to remind our members about: The flights
of SpaceShipOne, TV specials about the flights on the Discovery
Channel, the Space Frontier Conference, and a good pass of the
ISS in the evening sky.
SpaceShipOne:
On Wednesday morning Mike Melville piloted SpaceShipOne to an
altitude of approximately 337,500 feet, nearly 10,000 above the
100 kilometer mark and the altitude he attained on his June 21
flight to become the first civilian astronaut. This flight also
marked the first of a set of two flights necessary to complete
the competition the the X Prize. Many members of OCSS were able
to attend the flight. It was a great day for commercial
spaceflight. The second flight is tentatively scheduled for
Monday morning, October 4. The public is invited so head up to
Mojave if you want to be a part of space history.
Discovery Channel Specials:
There are two television specials currently planned on the
Discovery Channel concerning the X Prize and the flights of
SpaceShipOne. The first show is scheduled to air this coming
Sunday, October 3 from 9 to 11 pm. The title is "Black Sky: The
Race for Space." If the second qualification flight is
successful on the 4th, a second show on the Discovery Channel is
scheduled for Thursday, October 7.
Space Frontier Conference:
The SFF Conference 13 will be held aboard the Queen Mary cruise
ship in Long Beach Friday October 8 through Sunday October 10.
Many OCSS members are working with the Space Frontier Foundation
to create a great conference this year. This includes
volunteering to help out at the conference with things such as
registration. If you have not signed up as a volunteer and wish
to do so, please let me know as soon as possible and I will put
you in touch with the right people to get on the schedule.
ISS Pass:
For those interested in watching the sky, the International
Space Station will be making a nice pass on Thursday evening,
September 30. Here are the parameters:
7:10:14 pm at 10 degrees in the NNW
7:13:00 pm at 35 degrees in the NE
7:15:22 pm at 13 degrees in the ESE
It will reach a magnitude of 0 so it will be very bright and
easily seen by the unaided eye.
September 13, 2004
September OCSS meeting
The September meeting of the Orange County Space Society will be
this Sunday, Sept. 19, at 4 p.m. at the Discovery Science Center
(Interstate 5 and Main Street in Santa Ana). As an added bonus,
it is also the night that Dr. Bob Noss will set up his
half-dozen telescopes in the Discovery Science Center parking
lot to allow for some fantastic stargazing. So, come for the
meeting and stay for the stars!
We will also talk about the amazing Astronaut Autograph Show in
Burbank on Sept. 4-5 that OCSS helped out with, the Space
Frontier Foundation conference, and the latest on the X-Prize.
It should be a great meeting, so I hope to see a full room!
Sincerely,
Jeff Howe
Secretary
Orange County Space Society
August 31, 2004
Counting down to the Astronaut Autograph Show!
This weekend, September 4 and
5, there will be a fantastic event held at the Burbank Hilton
Hotel -- the Astronaut Autograph Show. Many OCSS members will be
volunteering to work at this event or will be in attendance, and
I wanted to make sure that everyone in the chapter is aware of
the event and can hopefully attend.
There will be approximately 30 astronauts and celebrities at the
event. Astronauts will include 3 of the 4 surviving Mercury
astronauts, along with the unofficial 8th astronaut, Bill Dana
("Jose Jimenez"). Apollo, Skylab, and Space Shuttle astronauts
will also be in attendance. Moonwalkers Dave Scott, Charles
Duke, Gene Cernan, Alan Bean, and Buzz Aldrin are slated to
appear. Celebrities include Pad Leader Guenter Wendt, Flight
Controller Sy Liebergot, Liberty Bell 7 expedition leader Curt
Newport. Actors Bill Daley ("I Dream of Jeannie"), Warren
Stevens ("Forbidden Planet"), and Gary Lockwood and Keir Dullea
("2001: A Space Odyssey") will also be available. A special
added bonus is that Russian cosmonaut and the first man to walk
in space, Alexei Leonov, will be there, along with his
Apollo-Soyuz crewmate, Valery Kubasov.
The Burbank Hilton is located just across the street from the
Bob Hope Airport (Burbank Airport) on Hollywood Way, about an
hour north of Orange County off the 5 freeway. (Three miles
north of the 134 Freeway, exit left [North] on Pass Avenue, two
lights to Verdugo, right, 0.5 miles to Hollywood Way, left then
two miles to the hotel at 2500 Hollywood Way.)
Hours: Saturday from 9am to 5pm and Sunday from 9am to 3pm.
All Boy or Girl Scouts who come in uniform will be admitted
free. If you are an OCSS volunteer and have not received the
special emails that went out, please contact me and I will make
sure you have all the information you require.
For further information, see their website at
www.farthestreaches.com
Hope to see you all, there.
Larry Evans
President
Orange County Space Society
July 30, 2004
Help Out Some Astronauts!
OCSS has been asked to assist with the Astronaut Autograph Show,
to be held at the Burbank Hilton on Saturday and Sunday,
September 4 and 5. The show will feature more than 30 guest
astronauts, cosmonauts, and other personalities that helped put
humans into space.
We have been asked to provide volunteers to sit with the
astronauts and help them with autograph seekers and other needs.
We are looking for people who will be able to sit for a few
hours and not get "star-struck" and talk their ear off.
The show runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, and 9 a.m. to 3
p.m. on Sunday. Volunteers who work the show will get in for
free. Otherwise, everyone is more than welcome to attend.
Admission is $10 a day, or $15 if you attend both days.
If you want to stay the night, there are special room rates
available. Visit
www.autographshows.net.
So if you'd like to spend some time with an astronaut, please
give us a call at (949) 770-0702 or (714) 937-1480, or E-mail us
at
ocspacesociety@hotmail.com. More information will be
provided to interested parties.
We would really like to provide a good group of helpers to the
show, and we need a lot of people. Please get back to us as soon
as possible so we can make final arrangements.
Sincerely,
Jeff Howe
Secretary
Orange County Space Society
July 8, 2004
Space Camp Turkey Update
For those of you not
aware, the Orange County Space Society is again involved this
summer with the program at Space Camp Turkey. Located in Izmir
on the Aegean coast, this is a fantastic facility and program
that we have been privileged to be a part of now for the second
year.
The Partner School
Program of the Global Friendship Through Space Education
organization gets schools together from several countries.
During the school year the schools form e-pals with kids writing
e-mails to each other, sharing projects designed to promote
space and science education, and having video conferences where
they can see each other face to face. In the summer, everyone
comes together here at Space Camp Turkey to learn and play
together.
Seven members of OCSS
are here now working with this program.
We arrived last
Saturday afternoon. We are 10 hours ahead of California time so
it takes a while to get used to the time change, not to mention
19 hours of flying!
We have kids and
adults from five countries: the United States, Turkey, Greece,
Israel, and Bulgaria. What an eclectic group of people all
working together, promoting peace, and getting excited about
space exploration.
Opening ceremonies
occurred on Sunday evening. The campers were addressed by Kaya
Tuncer, founder of Space Camp Turkey. Traditional Turkish
dancers performing in front of a full-scale Space Shuttle nose
section is always a site to behold.
The following morning
we had a live contact with the International Space Station.
Twenty children were able to talk directly to U.S. astronaut
Mike Fincke via short-wave radio through the Turkish Amateur
Radio Club. This is the second year in a row that we have had
this privilege. It is almost unheard of to be able to do
something like this twice in a row so we really want to thank
NASA for their work to make this happen.
We even had a
representative from NASA present for several days. Carolyn
Connely of the NASA Distance Learning Program joined us here and
participated in the camp program to learn more about the ideas
and goals of Global Friendship Through Space Education.
Today we had two
major events happen. This evening we had a video conference with
Johnson Space Center and the kids were able to ask questions of
three-time shuttle astronaut Janet Kavandi. Carolyn Connely who
had literally just returned from her long flight back to the
States, hosted the conference.
The second event was
that the Patriarch of the Greek Orthodox Church in Turkey
visited Space Camp today. He toured the facilities, spoke with
reporters, and talked with people here at the camp. Many of us
had the privilege to sit with him for lunch. It may have been a
little fancier on the plate, but we all ate exactly what the
kids in the cafeteria were eating. Shows how good the food here
is! It also shows what an eclectic group of people you find
here!
Last night we had our
Culture Night. This is where the campers make presentations
about their own country so that the rest of us get to learn
about other cultures. There was song and dance, joke telling,
and even a skit that showed how it was really a Turkish mission
that was first into outer space! At the end of the evening there
were 140 kids up on stage all singing, laughing, and having a
great time together. You've never seen such enthusiasm from
kids.
I wish there was some
other way to share these events than just through an occasional
E-mail/website update, and putting out an issue or three of the
newsletter. I wish you could all come here and experience the
wonder of what happens at this marvelous place firsthand.
The special week for
the kids comes to an end on Saturday morning. Some of us will
spend several days in sightseeing over here in Izmir, Cesme,
Ephesus, and in Istanbul before returning home on the 16th.
Our OCSS picnic will
be the following day, July 17th. Please join us for our great
picnic at Brookhurst Park where we can try to share some of the
excitement of what we have experienced on out second trip to
Space Camp Turkey.
Larry Evans
President, Orange
County Space Society
July 4, 2004
Odyssey SpaceLab Preview
On
Friday, July 16, beginning at 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the A-MAN
International Science and Discovery Center at 101 South La Brea
in Inglewood, A-MAN and the Traveling Space Museum will preview
the first permanent Odyssey SpaceLab and Mission Control Console
to the press and education professionals.
The
Odyssey SpaceLab, built by TSM, is a full-scale space module
cross-section designed specially for children. What's most
unusual about the Odyssey is the fact that kids get to interact
with real adult hardware. First-time observers are usually
amazed that the equipment actually does work! The SpaceLab
hardware is designed to work the same way NASA built equipment
works.
The Odyssey is equipped with a robotic video-microscope,
space observation station, DVD players, TV monitors and headsets
for videoconferencing, computers, radios and other equipment
that make learning science fun.
The
Odyssey SpaceLab is a first of its kind teaching tool for
educators and a thrilling learning experience for children. The
Odyssey can be used to teach lessons in telecommunications,
space physiology, astronomy, geography, microbiology, rocketry
and more. And Odyssey can do them all simultaneously. The video
conferencing technology connects individual crew members aboard
the Odyssey with team members at a “remote” Mission Control
console. The Mission Control crew members become instructors
capable of guiding the Odyssey crew through lab experiments and
other lessons.
The
A-MAN Center is headed up by Hal and Dr. Bettye Walker who will
begin a summer school science program at the center called
Project SUM. Project SUM is a free program for local students
sponsored by the National Science Foundation. It was Hal Walker
who bounced the first laser beam off the moon to measure its
exact distance from the Earth for the Apollo moon mission back
in the mid-1960s.
We
believe the Odyssey to represent the future in education
technology. Come to Inglewood and see the launch point!
Ivor
Dawson, Founder & President
Traveling Space
Museum, Inc.
323)
291.5130
www.travelingspacemuseum.org
June 29, 2004
Launch Report from OCSS member Art
Adler
(Art lives just outside Kennedy Space Center, Florida)
At 6:54 p.m. on Wednesday, June 23, 2004, after several delays
including three days for bad weather, the Boeing Delta II rocket
blasted off in a hazy blue sky with 30 mph wings blowing
northwest, the rocket going southeast downrange. There were 10
cars watching the launch on State Route 401, which is the
approach road to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (on a possible
government closure list along with Patrick AFB) and just past
the cruise ship terminals, as I watched directly across the
lagoon from Pad 17B.
The Boeing Delta II rocket was
carrying a Lockheed Martin-built GPS 2R-12 replacement Global
Positioning System satellite, which will also assist the Mercury
Probe (Messenger Mission) which will be launched July 30 from
the same launch pad.
This launch was dedicated to
President Ronald Reagan with a large banner on the launch
structure that read: "Launch One For The Gipper!"
It was a beautiful launch and I
followed it with my binoculars until I could no longer see it.
As I drove off the entire ignition, liftoff, and flight
contrails were still in the sky for all to see. The thrill is
for me, not hearing the roar at first, but when the sound
travels to where you are, and the spit and sputter and the air
and ground vibrate with the awesome power of it all. I believe
it reached its successful orbit.
From Cape Canaveral,
Arthur C. Adler
June 24, 2004
SpaceShipOne opens the age of
privately-funded spaceflight
An exciting day was had by thousands of people lining the fences
at Mojave Airport on the morning of June 21. They all came to
witness the first spaceflight funded entirely by private funds.
Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft, put up approximately $20
million of his own money so that Burt Rutan and his group at
Scaled Composites could build and fly the White Knight and
SpaceShipOne.
At 07:50:51, the tiny craft with 63-year-old Mike Melvill at the
controls dropped from the White Knight mother ship already
flying at about 50,000 feet. Mike ignited the rocket and headed
toward space, achieving a height of 328,491 feet, just over the
100-mile (62-mile) threshold of space. About 25 minutes later,
SpaceShipOne glided back for a perfect landing and a new era in
spaceflight was born.
Many members of the Orange County Space Society were able to
attend this event. A full report with photos was published in
the July issue of O.C.Space. All members will have their copy by
the first of July. One of the highlights of the article is a
full description of the flight from takeoff through landing
directly from Melvill.
You can also take a peek at the lead photos on the
newsletter page on this site. If
you missed the issue, don't let it happen again by
joining OCSS.
Larry Evans
President, Orange County Space Society
June 16, 2004
SpaceShipOne flight
Burt Rutan's Scaled Composites
group is scheduled to make their first attempt at a civilian
flight into suborbital space next Monday, June 21.
If the flight goes as planned, here is the tentative schedule
(all times Pacific):
06:30 - Launch of the White Knight carrier aircraft, with
SpaceShipOne slung underneath.
07:30 - Arrival of White Knight at approximately 50,000 feet and
drop of SpaceShipOne.
07:30 - Ignition of SS1 main engine and boost into a suborbital
trajectory. Expected speed is Mach 3.5 and an altitude of over
100 kilometers (62 miles). It will take 5 minutes to reach the
top of the
flight arc.
07:55 - SS1 will glide back to the Mojave Airport, unpowered and
land about 25 minutes after engine ignition.
This event will probably generate a lot of news coverage both
local, national, and probably even international, so watch you
television news shows for live coverage and recaps throughout
the day. There could be delays based on weather or mechanical
problems, so be sure to be flexible when searching out coverage.
Many members and friends of OCSS are planning to be in Mojave,
California, for this event. Our HQ for this will be at the Motel
6 in Mojave. If anyone on this list plans to be at the flight,
we would love to get together while in town. Several of us will
arrive by approximately noon on Sunday, June 20. We will be
finished with media responsibilities by about 5:00 pm. My
suggestion is that anyone who is in town at that time should
plan to meet so we can go out for a nice leisurely dinner and
then prepare
for the following day's flight attempt.
If you wish to join us, please stop by the Motel 6 at 16958
State Route 58, Mojave. Phone: 661-824-4571, at approximately
5:00 pm on Sunday. Ask for Larry Evans or Jeff Howe.
Remember that the event is open to the public and the takeoff,
flight, boost phase, and landing, should all be visible very
easily from the Mojave Airport site. Overnight parking is
allowed but there is a $40 charge. The gates will open at 3:00
am on June 21 for the public to enter the site for the flight
day activities. I hope that a lot of you can see this historic
event in person or watch it live on television.
Larry Evans
President, Orange County Space Society
June 7, 2004
SpaceShipOne Launch Viewing
I was just forwarded the below
message from George Whitesides, Executive Director of the
National Space Society. This sounds like it could be a great way
for people to get to see the activities surrounding the launch
attempt for SpaceShipOne on Monday morning June 21. All
accommodation in and around Mojave were sold out within hours of
the announced flight, so this idea has great merit, not to
mention the ability to be with fellow space enthusiasts at a
true watershed event for spaceflight. Please consider the offer
and if interested please contact Adam at the email listed in the
e-mail.
Larry Evans
President, Orange County Space Society
From: Adam London [mailto:aplondon@yahoo.com]
Subject: Announcing: Road trip and party for SpaceShipOne Launch
Hi everyone!
We've had a great reaction to the idea of getting a group of
people together to go witness the upcoming SpaceShipOne launch,
and a plan is quickly formulating:
We're making it into a ROAD-TRIP and PARTY with the help of NSS
(the National Space Society), who has agreed to co-sponsor the
event and has decided to host a party! (Thanks go out to their
new exec. director, George Whitesides!!)
2-3 RVs (at least) will be rented, 2 from LA, and possibly one
from SF. Each will sleep 6, and others can be accommodated if
they are willing to sleep outside in tents.
Departure for Mojave will be on Sunday morning. Sunday night,
NSS is planning on hosting a big party at and around our RVs
that will go late into the evening.. perhaps until the White
Knight takes off with its cargo!!
Monday morning, post launch, we will have a chance to rest and
wander around a bit, and then make our way back, returning to LA
(or SF) on Monday evening. If the launch is delayed a day, then
the RVs will stay and depart Tuesday immediately after the 2nd
attempt.
Total cost per person for RV and gas should be $100 or less, as
NSS has agreed to share part of the RV cost with the revelers.
My goal is to keep food and RV cost to around $100 per person
for the 2-ish days, but this will be refined as we better
understand how many are coming.
Current status: We've reserved 2 RVs in LA; Music/DJ-equipment
for party is basically in place. We're working on finalizing
specific location at/near the airport. In short, WE ARE GO (for
launch)!
Family, friends, colleagues, and other space enthusiasts (or
those soon-to-be-enthusiasts-after-seeing-this) are encouraged
to join us!
What you need to do now:
Please answer the following questions (even if you've already
expressed interest) in an email back to me at:
aplspace-launch@yahoo.com (I've set up a separate address so
I can keep this all straight; I tried to send from that address,
but the alumni list wouldn't have it..)
0. What is your name? _______________
1. Are you interested in coming?
__ Definitely! Sign me up for a spot in an RV
(with ___ guests)
__ Likely coming in an RV, but gotta finalize my schedule,
get a day off work, etc (with potentially ___ guests).
__ I'm up for the party, but have my own transport to,
and lodging in, Mojave
__ I've got my own transport to Mojave, but would be
interested in a spot for a tent, as the motels are full
__ Not sure, but keep me in the loop just in case
2. What is your preferred departure location?
__ San Francisco (early Sunday morning, per person
cost will be slightly higher)
__ Los Angeles (Sunday mid-day)
3. Are you willing/able to sleep in a tent if necessary?
__ No problem - I like camping
__ If necessary
__ I definitely want a bed-spot in the RV (reserve early)
__ Sleep? I'm staying up all night for the party!
3a. Do you have a tent you'd be willing to bring?
__ Yes, it sleeps ___
__ No
4. Are you willing to help with logistics/food
gathering/RV pickup/party planning/etc?
__ Yes, let me know what I can do to help
__ Maybe, depends on what you ask me to do
__ Sorry, I'm totally swamped with other stuff
That's it for now.. I'll keep you updated on progress as we get
closer to
the big day!
Adam London
NASA Academy
GSFC '94
http://www.scaled.com has more info, FAQs, etc. on the
launch
June 2, 2004
Public
Invited--First Private Enterprise Space Flight
Now this is the type of
exciting news I really like to pass along to our members. I have
just received very exciting news and anyone who gets this
message and can get to Mojave, California, on Monday morning
June 21, is invited to attend. Also, please read through the end
of this message for important information concerning our June
OCSS meeting.
As most of you are aware, there is a program called the X Prize
to instigate private companies to build and fly paying
passengers into sub-orbital spaceflight. One of the leading
contenders is Burt Rutan's company Scaled Composites in Mojave
(about 25 miles north of Palmdale and Edwards AFB). Their entry
for the X Prize is called SpaceShipOne (yes, that is all one
word!). It is carried aloft by the White Knight carrier
aircraft, dropped, engine lighted, boost to over 100 km
altitude, re-enter, and land at Mojave airport.
To win the X Prize, the same vehicle must make this type of
flight twice in a two-week period. The prize expires in January
2005.
It has just been announced that Scaled will make the first
flight attempt to qualify for the X Prize on Monday, June 21, at
approximately 6:30 am (when the desert winds are calmer). The
most exciting part of this for our members is that the public
can attend this flight and witness space history literally in
the making. Here is the paragraph from Scaled:
<<Unlike any previous manned space mission, the June flight will
allow the public to view, up close, the takeoff and landing as
well as the overhead rocket boost to space. This will be an
historic and unique spectator opportunity. Information for the
general public on attending the event is
available at
http://www.scaled.com>>
I hope that many of our members both in California and
elsewhere, will have an opportunity to catch this
once-in-a-lifetime event.
OCSS Meeting:
Due to the flight activities, OCSS will be changing our regular
June 20 meeting date. We have a special presentation of "Rocket
Men" by Keith McInnis on Saturday, June 12 at the Discovery
Science Center at 2:00 pm. Our regular monthly meeting will
follow Keith's presentation, thus freeing everyone to travel to
Mojave the next weekend to get in place for the flight on Monday
morning.
Please be sure to join us for Keith's presentation. Kieth is
flying in from Florida for this event and will be discussing his
experiences on the Space Shuttle program and those of his father
on the Apollo program. This should be an exciting personal
presentation not to be missed.
If anyone needs further information about any of these events,
please don't hesitate to contact me. If anyone is interested in
ridesharing to Mojave, please let me know and I will do what I
can to coordinate activities.
Also, we will send out another notice regarding our meeting
specifics next week.
Take care and Fly High!
Larry Evans
President, Orange County Space Society
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