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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