2008 Space Settlement Calendars now for sale
The National Space Society’s 2008 Space Settlement Calendar is for sale at the NSS website, space.nss.org for $14.95. (There is also a link through the Oklahoma Space Alliance website, http://osa.nss.org/index.html). It’s worth checking out.
Special Announcement
The Dallas Symphony Orchestra will be performing Gustav Holst’s “The Planets” At the Meyerson Symphony Center at 7:30 p.m. on September 25, 2007 as part of a multimedia presentation. Discount tickets are available to all members of National Space Society chapters. Prices: Grand Tier: $25.00; Orchestra/Orchestra Terrace/Dress Circle: $40.00; Front Orchestra/Loge Box/Dress Circle Box: $65.00. To purchase discount tickets or for other information, please contact Jason Loft at 214-871-4054 or [email protected].
September Meeting
Oklahoma Space Alliance will meet at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, September 15 at the Koszorus' house in Norman. Prospective members are also welcome. Their house is at 514 Fenwick Court in Norman.
To get the meeting either: (1) Take the Robinson Street west exit off I-35. Proceed west to 36th Street where you will turn left, and go south until you turn left on Rambling Oaks (about half a mile north of Main Street). Fenwick Court is the third street on the left. Tom's house is the last on the left side, or (2) Take the Main Street west exit off I-35, proceed west past the Sooner Fashion Mall, and turn right at 36th Street, and go north until you turn right on Rambling Oaks (about half a mile north of Main Street). Fenwick Court is the third street on the left. Tom's house is the last on the left side
Agenda:
1) Introductions (if necessary)
2)
Read and approve agenda
3)
Read and approve minutes and reports of activities
4)
Read and discuss mail
5)
Old Business
a) In the Shadow of the Moon is premiering in Tulsa on October 4 and Dallas and Plano, Texas on September 21. Do we want to do a field trip? It doesn’t look at this time like it will be showing in the Oklahoma City area, although Quail Springs is noted for showing odd things. See below for details on this film.
b) NSS Chapters Activity
c) Projects
d) Second Life
6) New Business
a) World Space Week is October 4 – 10. NSS wants us to arrange some sort of public event. See the e-mail exchange below for details.
b) Yuri’s Night 2008. Yes, it’s early, but we if want to arrange something with the Omniplex, we need to do it by the end of the year,
7) Create New Agenda
Minutes of August Meeting
Oklahoma Space Alliance made a field trip to TGV Rockets in Norman Oklahoma, where Pat Bahn showed off his facilities. Claire and Clifford McMurray, Tom Koszoru, Tim Scott and Syd Henderson attended from Oklahoma Space Alliance. This isn’t where they actually store their rockets, although Pat showed us some of their hardware including tiles.
TGV is developing a new engine so that they can use JP8 fuel (jet fuel) which Bahn claims is a lot more accessible than rocket fuel used by other companies. They have designed engines and can turn out a new one in about six months.
TGV tested an engine earlier this year which was damaged in a hard (i.e. explosive) start. One of the chambers of the engine cracked but the engine survived in one piece.
After the field trip, Claire, Cliff, Tom and Syd went over to the Koszoru house for a pot luck supper with Heidi Koszoru helping set up the food. Tom showed off Second Life to those who haven’t seen it.
July Party
Claire and Clifford McMurray and Syd Henderson hosted a Space Day party at the Conestoga Science Fiction Convention in Tulsa on July 20. The party was timed to coincide with the 38th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. We had about 50 people come by and take refreshments.
In the Shadow of the Moon
In the Shadow of the Moon is a 2007 British documentary directed by David Sington which is being presented in the United States by Ron Howard of Apollo 13 fame. The documentary features commentary by 10 of the astronauts who flew around or landed on the Moon, including Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins of Apollo 11, John Young of Apollo 10 and 16, Eugene Cernan of Apollo 10 and 17, Jim Lovell of Apollo 8 and 13, Dave Scott of Apollo 9 and 15, Alan Bean of Apollo 12, Charlie Duke of Apollo 16, Edgar Mitchell of Apollo 14, and Harrison Schmitt of Apollo 17.
Sington uses archival footage from the Apollo moon missions, shot by the astronauts themselves, some of which hasn’t been available in over 30 years. The result apparently is very successful. The film won the audience award for World Cinema-Dramatic at the Sundance Film Festival and has won a couple other documentaries. It’s running 92% at the movie review site www.rottentomatoes.com, which is excellent, although that is from only 35 reviews since the film had only been released in New York and California as of September 7. It will be expanding its release over the next weekends to 150 -200 theaters by mid-October.
The web site for the movie is http://www.intheshadowofthemoon.com/.
Here are some release dates that might be of interest to our correspondents:
Oklahoma: October 5 at Circle Cinemas in Tulsa
Texas: September 21 at Arbor Theatre in Austin
Texas: September 21 at Angelika Theatre in Dallas
Texas: September 21 at Angelika Theatre in Plano
Texas: September 21 at Angelika Theatre in Houston
Texas: September 21 at Greenway 3 Theatre in Houston
Texas: October 5 at Bijou Theatre in San Antonio
Kansas: October 5 at 13th Avenue Cinemas in Wichita
Missouri: September 28 at Tivoli Theatre in Kansas City
Missouri: September 28 at Glenwood Arts Theatre in Kansas City
The closest showings to our Wyoming correspondent seem to be in Casper and Sheridan on November 7.
There doesn’t seem to be a showing in the Oklahoma City area. The best chance would seem to be the Quail Springs Cinema, which often gets movies the other theaters don’t. (Right now they’re showing a French film on Molière I never heard of), and the Oklahoma City Museum of Art, but it’s not on the schedule for either place.
Viewing Opportunities for Satellites (September 15 – October 24)
NASA has dropped the International Space Station from the list of satellites covered by J-Pass, although they are still covered on the Orbital Tracking page via spaceflight1.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/. This only seems to give you data for a couple of weeks. J-Pass still covers unmanned satellites at science.nasa.gov/Realtime/JPass/.
You can get sighting information at http://www.heavens-above.com/. Heavens Above allows you to get Station data for 10 day periods, and gives you a constellation map showing the trajectory of the satellite. If you go to the bottom of the map page, it will give you a really detailed map with the location at 10 or 15-second intervals, depending on detail. In fact, the detailed charts will even show you the tracks against maps of the constellations, which should help you if you are familiar with the night sky.
Sky Online (the Sky & Telescope web site) carries station observation times for the next few nights at skyandtelescope.com/observing/almanac. Note that with the addition of the solar panels, the magnitude of the Space Station is now -1.0, making it brighter than all the stars other than the Sun and Sirius, and the planet Saturn as well. The Hubble Space Telescope is roughly magnitude 1.5, which is brighter than the stars in the Big Dipper, although, since it is lower in the sky, it is a bit more difficult to see.
Missions to the Space Station or Hubble Space Telescope may change its orbit. At this writing, the target date for the Discovery launch to the Space Station is October 23. The next repair mission to the Space Telescope is planned for August 7, 2008.
Station September 25, 2007
Time Position Elevation
6:50 a.m. 335° 15°
6:51 354 26
6:52 39 35*
6:53 82 26**
6:54 101 14
* Passes above pointers in Big Dipper
** Passes 3° below Saturn.
Station September 28, 2007
Time Position Elevation
6:21 a.m. 290° 35°*
6:22 219 60
6:23 156 32**
6:24 146 16
* Appears from Earth’s Shadow
** Passes 2° below Sirius
HST October 1, 2007
Time Position Elevation
8:25 p.m. 221° 20°*
8:26 203 27
8:27 176 31
8:28 149 24
*Passes very close to Jupiter
HST October 2, 2007
Time Position Elevation
8:23 p.m. 228° 19°*
8:24 212 27
8:25 186 32
8:26 157 29
8:27 136 22**
* Passes 3° above Jupiter
** Vanishes into Earth’s Shadow
HST October 3, 2007
Time Position Elevation
8:22 p.m. 230° 20°*
8:23 212 27
8:24 186 32
8:25 158 28
8:26 138 21**
* Passes 4° above Jupiter
** Vanishes into Earth’s Shadow
Station October 4, 2007
Time Position Elevation
8:06 p.m. 235° 18°
8:07 243 39
8:08 343 72
8:09 36 34
8:20 43 16*
*Vanishes into Earth’s Shadow
HST October 4, 2007
Time Position Elevation
8:21 p.m. 231° 18°*
8:22 210 27
8:23 184 30
8:24 159 26
8:25 141 19
Passes 3° above Jupiter
Vanishes into Earth’s Shadow
Station October 22, 2007
Time Position Elevation
8:08 p.m. 309° 17°
8:09 304 34*
8:10 234 77**
*Passes very close to Vega
**Vanishes into Earth’s Shadow
Station October 24, 2007
Time Position Elevation
7:14 p.m. 313° 17°
7:15 313 35
7:16 8 88
7:17 131 36
7:18 132 17
Pass times are from Heavens Above.
Key: Position is measured in degrees clockwise from north. That is, 0° is due north, 90° is due east, 180° is due south, and 270° is due west. Your fist held at arm's length is about ten degrees wide. "Elevation" is elevation above the horizon in degrees. Thus to find Hubble Space Telescope at 8:22 p.m. on October 3, measure five fist-widths west from due south, then two fist-widths above the horizon.
In addition to the J-Pass program which I use to provide this satellite viewing data, J-Pass provides a service called J-Pass Generator, which will e‑mail you sighting information for the next three days for up to ten satellites. For more information, go to science.nasa.gov/Realtime/JPass/PassGenerator/.
Calendar of Events
I’ve been adding links to all the space probes mentioned here. If you know of some I’m missing, please let me know. Links are at the first appearance of the mission in the calendar. Wikipedia tends to have pages on all major space missions, even when I haven’t mentioned them, with links to the mission web sites.
September 15: Oklahoma Space Alliance meeting at 3:00 p.m. at the Koszorus.
September 19: Oklahoma Space Industry Development Authority meets at 1:30 p.m. at the Oklahoma Department of Transportation Building in Oklahoma City.
September 23: Autumnal equinox is at 4:51 p.m. CDT.
September 26: Launch of the Dawn probe to the asteroid Vesta and the minor planet Ceres. [Postponed from July.] See http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dawn_Mission for details.
September 29: Mercury is at greatest eastern elongation, 26° east of the Sun (hence can be seen after sunset).
October 20: [tentative] Oklahoma Space Alliance meeting at 2:30 p.m. Location to be announced.
October 21: Peak of Orionid meteor shower.
October 23: Launch of Discovery to the International Space Station.
October 28: Venus is at greatest western elongation, 46.5° west of the Sun.
November 1: Launch of Kepler Mission, which will detect Earth-size and smaller planets in the habitable region around other stars. For details, visit www.kepler.arc.nasa.gov/ or en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kepler_Mission.
November 2: Mercury is at greatest western elongation, 19° west of the Sun (hence can be seen before sunrise).
November 9: the dwarf planet Ceres is at opposition at magnitude 7.2.
November 17: [tentative] Oklahoma Space Alliance meeting at 2:30 p.m. Location to be announced.
November 17: Peak of Leonid meteor shower.
December 2007-January 2008: Naked-eye Comet 8P/Tuttle peaks, probably at around 4th magnitude.
October 23: Launch of Atlantis to the International Space Station.
December 14: Peak of Geminid meteor shower.
December 16: [tentative] Oklahoma Space Alliance Christmas Party, time and location to be announced.
December 22: Winter solstice is 12:08 p.m.
December 24: Mars is at opposition with magnitude -1.6.
January 3, 2008: Peak of Quadrantid meteor shower. This shower is named after the obsolete constellation Quadrans Muralis. The radiant is in Boötes.
January 14, 2008: MESSENGER's first flyby of Mercury. For information on the MESSENGER mission, visit http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/ or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MESSENGER. MESSENGER is an acronym for Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging, which shows how far you have to go sometimes to get a cool acronym.
January 20, 2008: Mercury is at greatest eastern elongation, 19° east of the Sun (hence can be seen after sunset).
February 5, 2008. Launch of the Gamma-Ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST).
February 14, 2008. Launch of Endeavour with the Kibo Japanese Experiment Logistics Module to the Space Station.
February 20, 2008: Total lunar eclipse visible from North America.
February 24, 2008: Saturn is at opposition.
September: India launches its lunar probe Chandrayaan 1. [Postponed from September.] The craft will orbit the Moon at an altitude of 60 miles for two years. For information, visit en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandrayaan or
www.isro.org/chandrayaan/htmls/home.htm.
May 18, 2008: The Phoenix Mars Mission arrives at Mars. For details, see http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/.
May 23 – 26, 2008: 27th International Space Development Conference in Washington, DC. Web site is http://isdc.nss.org/2008/.
July 9, 2008: Jupiter is at opposition.
July 31, 2008: Launch of the Planck Surveyor and Herschel Space Observatory from Kourou, French Guiana aboard an Ariane 5. For more information, visit www.rssd.esa.int/index.php?project=Planck, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planck_Surveyor, http://herschel.esac.esa.int/ and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herschel_Space_Observatory. [The spaces in the Wikipedia URLs are underlines.]
August 7, 2008: Repair mission to Hubble Space Telescope. [Updated September 6, 2007.]
September 5, 2008 The ESA's Rosetta asteroid & comet probe passes by asteroid 2867 Steins. Web page is www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Rosetta or visit en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosetta_%28spacecraft%29.
October 6, 2008: MESSENGER's second flyby of Mercury.
October 28, 2008: The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is launched. It will assume a polar orbit. The mission will last at least a year. For more information, visit http://lunar.gsfc.nasa.gov/ or en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_Reconnaissance_Orbiter January 14, 2009: Venus is at maximum eastern elongation, 47.1° east of the Sun.
March 2009: Dawn asteroid probe flies by Mars.
March 8, 2009: Saturn is at opposition.
August 14, 2009: Jupiter is at opposition.
September 30, 2009: MESSENGER's third flyby of Mercury.
October 2009: Russia launches Phobos-Grunt, a sample return mission to Martian moon Phobos. For more information, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phobos-Grunt.
December 2009: The Mars Science Laboratory is launched. See http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/ for details.
January 29, 2010: Mars is at opposition with magnitude -1.3.
June 2010: Hayabusa returns to Earth with a sample of asteroid Itokawa. This will be the first asteroid sample returned to Earth. Web site is www.isas.jaxa.jp/e/enterp/missions/hayabusa/index.shtml.
June 2010: Japan launches the Venus Climate Orbiter (aka Planet‑C) to Venus. Web page is http://www.jaxa.jp/projects/sat/planet_c/index_e.html.
July 10, 2010: The Rosetta comet probe passes asteroid 21 Lutetia.
September 21, 2010: Jupiter is at opposition. This is the closest Jupiter will come to Earth in the next 20 years, about 370 million miles.
October 2010: The Mars Science Laboratory rover lands on Mars. See http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/ for details.
December 2010: Japan’s Venus Climate Orbiter arrives at Venus.
October 2011: Dawn probe orbits Vesta.
March 18, 2011: MESSENGER goes into orbit around Mercury.
October 2011 – April 2012: Dawn probe orbits Vesta.
Sometime in 2012: Russia launches the “Luna-Glob” mission which will deploy 13 mini-probes upon the lunar surface.
March 3, 2012: Mars is at opposition at magnitude -1.2. This is the worst opposition for the next twenty years.
April 2012: Dawn probe leaves orbit around Vesta for Ceres.
June 6, 2012: Venus transits the Sun's disk. The early part of this will be visible from the United States, but the full transit will only be visible from the western Pacific Ocean, eastern Asia, eastern Australia, and eastern Indonesia including New Guinea.
Sometime in 2013: ESA launches the ExoMars Mars Rover. For more information, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exomars.
June 2013: Earliest date for the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope.
August 2013 (approximate): The European Space Agency/JAXA BepiColombo Mercury Orbiter is launched. Home page is sci.esa.int/science-e/www/area/index.cfm?fareaid=30.
August 2014 - December 2015: The Rosetta space probe orbits comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko. In November, 2014, it will release the Philae lander. See September 5, 2008 for website information.
Sometime in 2015 or 2016: Launch of SIM PlanetQuest (aka the Space Interferometry Mission). This mission was originally supposed to have been launched in 2005 and has been delayed at least five times. It was recently moved from 2012. For more information, visit en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Interferometry_Mission.
February 2015: Dawn space probe arrives at Ceres. Operations are scheduled to continue through July. Dawn may continue on to other asteroids if it is still operational.
July 14. 2015: The New Horizons probe passes through the Pluto-Charon system. The New Horizons web site is http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/.
July 2016-2020: The New Horizons probe visits the Kuiper Belt.
August 21, 2017: The next total solar eclipse visible in the United States, on a pretty straight path from Portland, Oregon to Charleston, South Carolina. St. Louis is the biggest city in-between.
August 2019 (approximate) BepiColombo arrives at Mercury orbit.
April 8, 2024: A total solar eclipse crosses the US from the middle of the Mexico-Texas border, crosses Arkansas, southern Missouri, Louisville, Cleveland, Buffalo and northern New England.
August 12, 2045: The next total solar eclipse visible in Oklahoma. This one is also visible in Salt Lake City, Denver, Little Rock (again), Tampa Bay and New Orleans.
Sky Viewing
Venus, Saturn, The Moon and Regulus (the first-magnitude star in Leo) will all be within 6° of each other in the east before dawn on October 7. The Moon is in the center, Venus in the upper right, Regulus in the upper left and Saturn on the bottom left. The Moon moves out of the conjunction by the next night, but Venus, Saturn and Regulus will be within 5-6° of each other for the first half of the month.
The Orionid Meteor Shower takes place in mid-October with a peak on the morning of October 21, although sometimes the peak lasts several days. This shower peaks at about 20 meteors/hour, which isn’t spectacular compared to the Perseids, Geminids or Quadrantids, but it isn’t terrible either.
Mercury is currently low in the western sky at Sunset. It will reach greatest elongation on September 29, at which point it will be 26° east of the Sun. However, it is also south of the ecliptic, which means it’s lower above the horizon. This also means Mercury is particularly easy to see in the Southern Hemisphere. This is normal for Mercury: the best greatest elongations always take place when Mercury is particularly visible in the Southern hemisphere.
Mercury will fade rapidly, passing through inferior conjunction on October 23.
Venus is low in the eastern sky at dawn, but is magnitude -4.4, which is easily visible even in twilight. However, that will change rapidly in October as it approaches its own greatest elongation on October 27, reaching magnitude -4.7 for most of the month.
Mars is magnitude 0.2 and is rising about 11:30 p.m. It is currently the brightest object in Taurus, and soon will be the brightest object in Gemini. It is rising earlier each night and getting brighter, so by the end of October, it will be magnitude -0.6. Mars will be at opposition on December 24. Although not as bright as the last couple of oppositions, it will be the best until 2016.
Jupiter is magnitude -2.1. It is the bright object in the southwest at sunset. It’s currently setting about three hours after sunset. By the end of October, it will be only 12° above the horizon at sunset. Jupiter is approaching conjunction with the Sun on December 23.
Saturn is magnitude 0.7 and low in east at sunrise. It was in conjunction with the Sun on August 21. However, it will be easier to locate in early October since it will be close to Venus and the bright star Regulus. It will be within six degrees of Regulus throughout the rest of September and most of October, but Venus will gradually separate from them.
Uranus was at opposition on September 9. Uranus is magnitude 5.7, is as bright as it ever gets, and barely visible in very dark skies to those with good eyesight. It is within 1° of Phi Aquarii, which is only magnitude 4.2 itself. A planet-finder chart for Uranus was in the July Sky & Telescope and online at www.skyandtelescope.com/skytel/beyondthepage/9124251.html.
Neptune is magnitude 7.8, which is about as bright as it gets and not visible to the naked eye. It was at opposition on August 13 and is high in the southern sky around midnight. It’s in a rather inconspicuous section of Capricornus. It’s about two degrees above and to the left of gamma Capricorni, which is magnitude 3.7. The locator chart for Uranus has a link to one for Neptune at the bottom of the page.
Space News
On September 7, NASA notified Rocketplane Kistler that Rocketplane is 30 days away from having its share of the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services Agreement terminated due to failure to secure the $500 million in matching private funds that Rocketplane needs for the project. This does not necessarily mean that Rocketplane’s relationship with NASA will end on October 7. NASA needs to give a formal notice 30 days in advance so that it decide whether to terminate or not.
Rocketplane Kistler has had organizational and financial problems that have been the subject of several articles in the Oklahoma Gazette. They have also been working on a vehicle to taking paying passengers on suborbital flights, but that seems to have been moved to the back burner for the COTS agreement.
If Rocketplane Kistler loses the COTS agreement, that will leave SpaceX as the sole partner in the COTS program. SpaceX doesn’t share Rocketplane’s financial problems; it was founded by Elon Musk, who made a fortune through founding PayPal and is the principal owner of Tesla Motors. SpaceX has developed a rocket, Falcon-1, which has already ascended to a height of 130 miles and plans to place a satellite in orbit early next year. They hope that by the end of next year, they will launch a larger version capable of carrying a crew of seven to the Space Station. [Wired magazine had an article by Carl Hoffman on Elon Musk in June. You can find it online at: http://www.wired.com/science/space/magazine/15-06/ff_space_musk .]
Space-Related Articles
“Dreams of the New Space Race,” by David Chandler, Nature, 30 August 2007, pp 988 – 991. Chandler briefly considers private companies that are working to launch people into space. He still considers Virgin Galactic/Scaled Composites to be the favorite since Scaled Composites actually has launched a person into space and won the Ansari X-Prize. Scaled Composites had an explosion on June 26 that killed three people, but it seems to be more of a problem with fuel storage than the craft itself.
SpaceX and Rocketplane Kistler I covered above in “Space News.” Armadillo Aerospace is developing a craft for the Lunar Landing challenge. Their Pixel craft has already met the requirement of the challenge but not while the judges were watching. Their back-up craft, Texel, was destroyed in a crash in August.
Blue Origin has been doing flight tests since November 2006. Their craft would carry three passengers on a suborbital flight and return them near the launch point.
Benson Space Company is planning a craft that will launch vertically and land horizontally, with a hybrid engine that can be turned off and on during flight. I’m not sure how far along they are. I’m similarly unsure of Interorbital Systems and XCor Aerospace.
Finally, there is the European Aeronautical Defense and Space Company’s Astrium subsidiary, which is hoping to raise $1.3 billion for a rocketplane that can take off and land on regular airports, using both jets and rocket engines. EADS Astrium’s craft would carry four passengers to 37 miles, which is not quite space, and allow them to experience weightlessness for three minutes. They also talk about using this as a sort of “Orient Express” as President Reagan once envisioned, carrying people from continent to continent in less time. Passenger flights would begin in 2012, which would put it well behind Virgin Galactic, but the rocketplane would be more versatile.
“Taking Science Back to the Moon,” by Ray Villard, Sky & Telescope, October 2007, pp 24 – 28. Lunar telescopes, radio telescopes, and experiments to measure the constancy of gravity. A possibility is a liquid mirror telescope consisting of ethylene glycol with a thin layer of silver on the surface. If spun, such a mirror would take a parabolic shape. Such a telescope would necessarily point straight up, which makes it less useful than a conventional telescope; on the other hand, it’s extremely stable, so it could be used at the poles for long-term exposures.
World Space Week
Please discuss, preferably by email & phone in advance of the Sept. 15 OSA meeting (Kip & I will be out of town) which of the suggestions below we can use in the time available. I have several Space Week posters we can put up in libraries or elsewhere if there's space available, and we could ask all the OKC area libraries to do space book displays. NSS has a suggested reading list and so do we (plus movies), plus NSS does book reviews. Maybe we could get Borders, Barnes & Noble, and/or Hastings to do World Space Week displays. Maybe Omniplex is planning something.
Please check the www.worldspaceweek.org/programs web site, then do a “reply all” & tell the rest of us what you're willing to do in the way of phone calls or visiting locations. We need to act in the next week or 2 if we want to reach the public.
Ad Astra,
Claire McMurray
----- Original Message -----
From: "George Whitesides" [email protected]
To: "Chapter leaders NSS" [email protected]
Sent: Sunday, September 09, 2007 4:38 PM
Subject: [NSS-CL] World Space Week
Wanted to make sure that the Chapter Leaders had received this message below from Dennis Stone, the head of World Space Week. Please let Veronica and Bruce know if you are planning an event. Cheers!
George
==============================
Dear NSS Friends,October 4-10 will be the greatest opportunity of our lifetime to massively educate the public about space, demonstrate public support for space, and inspire children to learn. It will be the 50th anniversary of the Space Age, World Space Week 2007.
PLEASE organize an event, no matter how small, for October 4-10. The media will be seeking out people to interview on this occasion. By promoting your event at www.worldspaceweek.org/submit_event, the media may cover your event or interview you.
PLEASE invite others to participate that week:
...Invite teachers to use space to inspire children -- For free materials go to www.worldspaceweek.org/education
...Invite libraries to promote reading using space books
...Invite planetariums to use WSW to draw great attendance
...Invite rocket clubs to launch small rockets
...Invite astronomy club to set up telescopes for the public.
Ask everyone to enter their event in the calendar at www.worldspaceweek.org/submit_event to use the World Space Week logo (www.worldspaceweek.org/logo), and to tell the media. World Space Week posters are also available (www.worldspaceweek.org/poster). See www.worldspaceweek.org/programs for program ideas and www.worldspaceweek.org/locations for past years' events.
Working together to have many synchronized events, the global space community will create the largest media event for space in history this October 4. Each and every one of you can make an important contribution.
Finally, please begin considering outreach plans for World Space Week 2008 and beyond. This is the chance every year for the global space community to “punch” through the noise and get stimulating messages of space to the public, government leaders, and youth via the media.
Thank you for your participation and support of annual World Space Week!
DennisDennis Stone
Volunteer President
World Space Week Association
[email protected]
www.worldspaceweek.org
Oklahoma Space Alliance Officers, 2007 (Area Code 405)
Tom Koszoru, President 366-1797 (H)
John Northcutt, Vice-President 390-3476 (H)
Syd Henderson, Secretary & Outreach Editor 321-4027 (H)
Tim Scott, Treasurer 740-7549 (H)
Claire McMurray, Update Editor 329-4326 (H) 863-6173 (C)
E-mail for OSA should be sent to [email protected]. Members who wish their e-mail addresses printed in Outreach, and people wishing space-related materials e-mailed to them should contact Syd. Oklahoma Space Alliance website is osa.nss.org/index.html. Webmaster is Syd Henderson.
Other Information
Air and Space Museum: Omniplex, Oklahoma City, 602‑6664 or 1-800-532-7652.
Oklahoma Space Industrial Development Authority (OSIDA), 401 Sooner Drive/PO Box 689, Burns Flat, OK 73624, 580-562-3500. Web site www.state.ok.us/~okspaceport.
Tulsa Air and Space Museum, 7130 E. Apache, Tulsa, OK 74115.
Web Site is www.tulsaairandspacemuseum.com. Phone (918)834-9900.
The Mars Society address is Mars Society, Box 273, Indian Hills CO 80454. Their web address is www.marsociety.org.
The National Space Society's Headquarters phone is 202-429-1600. The Chapters Coordinator is Bennett Rutledge 720-529-8024. The address is: National Space Society, 1620 I (Eye) Street NW Ste. 615, Washington, DC 20006. Web page is space.nss.org.
NASA Spacelink BBS 205-895-0028. Or try www.nasa.gov. .
Congressional Switchboard 202/224-3121.
Write to any U. S. Senator or Representative at [name]/ Washington DC, 20510 (Senate) or 20515 [House].
OKLAHOMA SPACE ALLIANCE
A Chapter of the National Space Society
MEMBERSHIP ORDER FORM
Please enroll me as a member of Oklahoma Space Alliance. Enclosed is:
___ $10.00 for Membership. (This allows full voting privileges, but covers only your own newsletter expense.)
___________________ $15.00 for family membership
____ TOTAL amount enclosed
National Space Society has a special $20 introductory rate for new members ($35 for new international members). Regular membership rates are $45, international $60. Student memberships are $20. Part of the cost is for the magazine, Ad Astra. Mail to: National Space Society, 1620 I (Eye) Street NW, Washington DC 20006, or join at space.nss.org/membership. (Brochures are at the bottom with the special rate.) Be sure to ask them to credit your membership to Oklahoma Space Alliance.
To join the Mars Society, visit. One-year memberships are $50.00; student and senior memberships are $25, and Family memberships are $100.00. Their address is Mars Society, Box 273, Indian Hills CO 80454.
Do you want to be on the Political Action Network?
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OSA Memberships are for 1 year, and include a subscription to our monthly newsletters, Outreach and Update. Send check & form to Oklahoma Space Alliance, 102 W. Linn, #1, Norman, OK 73071.
To contact Oklahoma Space Alliance, e-mail Syd Henderson.
102 W. Linn St. #1
Norman OK 73069
Copyright ©2007 Oklahoma Space Alliance.