Who We Are:
Oklahoma Space Alliance is the central Oklahoma Chapter of the National Space Society,
one of the largest space advocacy groups in the country, and has
existed for more than 20 years. Our purposes include promoting the
exploration and development of space, educating the public to current
events in space and the usefulness of an active space program, all with
the intent of promoting a space-faring civilization.
Oklahoma Space Alliance hosted the 23rd Annual International Space Development Conference on May 27-31, 2004.
We previously hosted three Regional Space Development Conferences,
assisted with earlier ISDCs, put displays in malls, hosted lectures,
sponsored television interviews, hosted viewing nights, worked with
other space-oriented groups and maintained local contact with the
Oklahoma Space Industry Development Authority.
Oklahoma Space Alliance helped out with the 2007 International Space Development Conference which was hosted by the National Space Society of North Texas in Dallas
Texas from May 24 - 28, 2007, and put together a commemorative exhibit
for the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11. This exhibit ran through July of
2009. (See below for details.)
We do a bimonthly newsletter called Outreach and a monthly e-mail newsletterUpdate to keep our members informed of current developments in space and upcoming events they might be interested in. Editor of Outreach is Syd Henderson and editor of Update is David Sheely. David also does an Update most months when Outreach is published.
Oklahoma Space Alliance is now on Facebook at Oklahoma Space Alliance
February 2025 Update (pdf format) (Information to be presented at February meeting)
January 2025 Outreach (pdf format)
February Meeting (NOTE CHANGE IN LOCATION)
Oklahoma Space Alliance will meet at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, Frbruary 8, at the McMurray’s house. Prospective members are welcome. Their house is at 2715 Aspen Circle in Norman. To get to the meeting either: (1) Take the Lindsey Street east exit from I-35, turn right at Berry, and proceed to Imhoff Road. Turn right at Imhoff, right at Poplar Lane, left at Aspen Lane, and right at Aspen Circle. or (2) Take the Highway 9 east off I-35, turn left at Imhoff Road, left at Poplar, left at Aspen Lane, and right at Aspen Circle. Clifford McMurray, President 405-329-4326 (H), 4058636173 (C) (e-mail cliffmcmurray at hotmail.com) or Syd Henderson at 4053658983 (C) (e-mail sydh at ou.edu) and we will send you updated information.
Saturday, February 8, 2:00 p.m. (tentative)
Minutes of January 11 Oklahoma Space Alliance Meeting
Oklahoma Space Alliance met January 11, 2024, at the Cyber Hall and Gaming Lounge at Norman Computers in Norman, Oklahoma. Attending in person were Clifford McMurray, Adam Hemphill, Julie Keosourinha, John Northcutt, Dave Sheely, and Syd Henderson. OSA President Clifford McMurray presided over the meeting. Clifford did an Update discussing links to material covered in the meeting and this is online at https://osa.nss.org/Update2501.pdf so I’ll cover the details that aren’t covered there.
There were 13 Rocketlab launches in 2024 and 17 Russian. By comparison, SpaceX predicted 136 launches and made 134. By comparison, China made 67 launches out of 68, so SpaceX made twice as many launches as China, which nonetheless set a national record for more launches. Many of these were launching satellites for China’s new communications network.
The current configuration of SLS cannot make a moon landing and it is likely that the configuration that can is dead. SLS is both overbuilt and underbuilt for what it needs to do.
China may have spent more on Space in 2024 than the US.
We looked at a Space News article on NASA Administrator nominee Jared Isaacman and the upcoming confirmation hearings. He owns stock in SpaceX (in connection with the Polaris Dawn mission) and if he retains it he could have a potential conflict of interest, so expect the subject to come up.
NASA has two concepts for returning the samples Perseverance is collecting on Mars, one using a sky crane, and the second a heavy launcher. Adam is skeptical (as am I) of RocketLab’s 2031 date for their bid for the Sample Return mission, partly because the first Neutron launch was moved from late 2024 to May 2025.
A typo in Update: The American record for longest spacewalk is eight (not nine) hours and 56 minutes, so China’s Cai Xuzhe and Song Lingdong’s 9 hours and 6 minutes is indeed a new record. (The American record was a ISS mission in 2001.)
We watched a video on Mars Chopper, a proposed drone that would have six helicopter-type rotors, one at each vertex of a hexagon.
Thailand is the first nation to sign both the Artemis Accords and the ILRS (China’s version).
Killer satellites tend to move slowly to their target, so ULA’s proposal to intercept them is viable. However, it would also add a deplorable amount of debris (as might the killer satellite if that is its mission).
The retired military weather satellite that broke up on December 18 is one of a series that has a bad record of breaking up in orbit. Also, since it broke up at an altitude of 840 km, the debris will be up for a very long time.
--Minutes By OSA Secretary Syd Henderson
Minutes of December 14 Oklahoma Space Alliance Christmas Party
Oklahoma Space Alliance had its annual Christmas party at the McMurray residence on December 14. In attendance were Clifford and Claire McMurray, Mark Deaver, Adam Hemphill, John Northcutt Dave Sheely, Tim Scott, Syd Henderson, and one visitor whose name I didn’t catch.
We had one item of business, which was to elect officers. We confirmed the slate for this year, which was Clifford McMurray for President, Dave Sheely for Vice-President, Syd Henderson for Secretary, and Tim Scott for Treasurer,
We had a prediction question to check out next year: How many Starship launches will there be this year. I said nine, and consensus seemed to be between that and a dozen,
The Orion capsule costs twenty billion dollars, while SLS costs thirty-two billion dollars.
Syd is having difficulty getting the website to update. FileZilla is updating its cache but isn’t sending the updates to the website.
--Minutes By OSA Secretary Syd Henderson
Minutes of November 9 Oklahoma Space Alliance Meeting
Oklahoma Space Alliance met November 9, 2024, at the Cyber Hall and Gaming Lounge at Norman Computers in Norman, Oklahoma. Attending in person were Adam Hemphill,, Clifford and Claire McMurray, Mark Deaver (briefly), Dave Sheely, and Syd Henderson. OSA President Adam Hemphill presided over the meeting He and Clifford did an Update discussing links to material covered in the meeting and this is online at https://osa.nss.org/Update2411.pdf so I’ll cover the details that aren’t covered there.
The next Starship launch will be in the afternoon and land in the next morning in the Indian Ocean. SpaceX has two launch towers so they can catch both the first stage and the spacecraft itself.
The Chinese startup Cosmoleap is also going to use “chopsticks” to catch its lander. The fourteen million in funding is clearly preliminary cost.
We watched the fifth Starship launch and recovery, including the catch.
For the Chinese version of COTS, Haolong is a cargo shuttle that will launch horizontally. Qingzhou will be a capsule and probably launch vertically.
We looked at an article on Long March 10A, which will eventually take Chinese astronauts and rovers to the Moon.
Don’t know why Intelsat 33e broke up. It’s in a relatively high orbit so the pieces won’t be coming down anytime soon.
AstroForge may be the first to return metals for space (such as platinum for profit?)/ Platinum is currently $987/oz, which is still less than the price of gold.
Wood satellites would burn up completely on re-entry. Wood also doesn’t block radio transmissions. China used white oak for heat shields on some early rockets.
Adam thinks ESA may get more competitive in space, possibly beating out India.
We looked at an article on Axion-Prada spacesuits. They are also testing electrostatic repulsion to get rid of moon dust.
Voyager 1 is now almost one light-day away from Earth.
Officer nominations for 2025 are: Clifford McMurray for President, David Sheely for Vice President, Syd Henderson for Secretary, and Tim Scott for Treasurer.
The Oklahoma Space Alliance Christmas Party and election will be at either the Koszorus or the McMurrays. [Tom Koszoru was injured so the McMurrays will host-Syd].
--Minutes By OSA Secretary Syd Henderson
Outreach & Update
Outreach and Update are the newsletters of Oklahoma Space Alliance. Outreach is published in odd-numbered months and is sent both by post and by e-mail.Update is published in even-number months and is sent by e-mail. The December Update is often replaced by a meeting announcement election ballot, in which
case the November minutes will be published in the January Outreach. You must be a member of Oklahoma Space Alliance to receive Outreach by post unless you are on our courtesy list. To receive newsletters by
e-mail, contact Syd Henderson at the address at the bottom of the page.
The newsletters listed below are slightly edited to turn them into web
pages.
Outreach is edited by Syd Henderson, and Update by Clifford McMurray (except the June 2024 was by Adam Hemphill)
--Minutes By OSA Secretary Syd Henderson
February 2025 Update (pdf format)
January 2025 Outreach (pdf format)
January 2021 Update (pdf format)
January 2021 Outreach (pdf format)
February 2021 Update (pdf format)
March 2021 Outreach (pdf format)
March 2021 Update (pdf format)
April 2021 Update (pdf format)
May 2021 Update (pdf format)
May 2021 Outreach (pdf format)
No June Update since it was a party
July 2021 Outreach (pdf format)
July 2021 Update (pdf format)
August 2021 Update (pdf format)
September 2021 Outreach (pdf format)
September 2021 Update (pdf format)
October 2021 Update (pdf format)
November 2021 Outreach (pdf format)
November 2021 Update (pdf format)
January 2022 Outreach (pdf format)
January 2022 Update (pdf format)
February 2022 Update (pdf format)
March 2022 Update (pdf format)
March 2022 Outreach (pdf format)
April 2022 Update (pdf format)
May 2022 Outreach (pdf format)
May 2022 Update (pdf format)
June 2022 Update (pdf format)
July 2022 Outreach (pdf format)
July 2022 Update (pdf format)
August 2022 Update (pdf format)
September 2022 Outreach (pdf format)
September 2022 Update (pdf format)
October 2022 Update (pdf format)
November 2022 Outreach (pdf format)
November 2022 Update (pdf format)
January 2023 Outreach (pdf format)
January 2023 Update (pdf format)
February 2023 Update (pdf format)
March 2023 Outreach (pdf format)
March 2023 Update (pdf format)
April 2023 Update (pdf format)
May 2023 Outreach (pdf format)
May 2023 Update (pdf format)
June 2023 Update (pdf format)
July 2023 Outreach (pdf format)
July 2023 Update (pdf format)
August 2023 Update (pdf format)
September 2023 Outreach (pdf format)
September 2023 Update (pdf format)
October 2023 Update (pdf format
November 2023 Outreach (pdf format)
November 2023 Update (pdf format)
January 2024 Outreach (pdf format)
January 2024 Update (pdf format)
January 2024 Update(short) (pdf format)
February 2024 Update (pdf format)
March 2024 Outreach (pdf format)
March 2024 Update (pdf format)
April 2024 Update (pdf format)
May 2024 Outreach (pdf format)
May 2024 Update (pdf format)
June 2024 Update (pdf format)
July 2024 Outreach (pdf format)
July 2024 Update (pdf format)
August 2024 Update (pdf format)
September 2024 Outreach (pdf format)
September 2024 Update (pdf format)
October 2024 Update (pdf format)
November 2024 Outreach (pdf format)
November 2024 Update (pdf format)
January 2025 Outreach (pdf format)
January 2025 Update (pdf format)
February 2025 Update (pdf format)
Earlier issues of Newsletters
Minutes of Oklahoma Space Alliance Meetings
Minutes of January 2021 Meeting
Minutes of February 2021 Meeting
Minutes of March 2021 Meeting
Minutes of April 2021 Meeting
Minutes of May 2021 Meeting
Report on June 2021 Party (including review of "Spacewalk")
Minutes of July 2021 Meeting
Minutes of August 2021 Meeting
Minutes of September 2021 Meeting
Minutes of October 2021 Meeting
Minutes of November 2021 Meeting
Minutes of December 2021 Meeting and Christmas Party
Minutes of January 2022 Meeting
Minutes of February 2022 Meeting
Minutes of March 2022 Meeting
Minutes of April 2022 Meeting
Minutes of May 2022 Meeting
Minutes of June 2022 Meeting
Minutes of July 2022 Meeting
Minutes of August 2022 Meeting
Minutes of September 2022 Meeting
Minutes of October 2022 Meeting
Minutes of November 2022 Meeting
Notes on December 2022 Meeting
Minutes of January 2023 Meeting
Minutes of February 2023 Meeting
Minutes of March 2023 Meeting
Minutes of April 2023 Meeting
Minutes of May 2023 Meeting
Minutes of June 2023 Meeting
Minutes of July 2023 Meeting
Minutes of August 2023 Meeting
Minutes of September 2023 Meeting
Minutes of October 2023 Meeting
Minutes of November 2023 Meeting
Minutes of 2023 Christmas Party
Minutes of January 2024 Meeting
Minutes of February 2024 Meeting
Minutes of March 2024 Meeting
Minutes of April 2024 Meeting
Minutes of May 2024 Meeting
Minutes of June 2024 Meeting
Minutes of July 2024 Meeting
Minutes of August 2024 Meeting
Minutes of September 2024 Meeting
Minutes of October 2024 Meeting
Minutes of November 2024 Meeting
Notes on December 2024 Christmas Party
Minutes of January 2025 Meeting
Minutes of previous meetings
Contact person for Oklahoma Space Alliance is Claire McMurray
PO Box 1003
Norman, OK 73070
Webmaster is Syd Henderson.
Copyright 2025 Oklahoma Space Alliance.