May Meeting
Oklahoma Space Alliance will meet at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, May 17 at the Koszoru 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) SoonerCon 2008
b) Chapter Projects
c) Pictures for NSS Chapters Report
d) Conestoga
e) Great Space Race
6) New Business
a) People’s plans for 2008 International Space Development Conference
7) Create New Agenda
Minutes of April (Yuri’s Night) Meeting
The April meeting of Oklahoma Space Alliance was held at the Days Inn on Interstate 240 in Oklahoma City. This was our annual Yuri’s Night celebration. Attending were Tom and Heidi Koszoru, Tim Scott, Claire and Clifford McMurray, and Syd Henderson. Leonard Bishop attended on behalf of SoonerCon and Jennifer Lyons (Tom’s daughter) dropped by for the celebration, bearing Tom’s keyboard.
Walter Koenig has cancelled as special guest for Soonercon. (John Ringo is the guest of honor.) Oklahoma Space Alliance will be doing a Party on Friday or Saturday night. [At this meeting, it looked like Friday, but there’s now an opening on Saturday, so we’ll decide at the May meeting.]
We will donate $100 for a platform for the Oklahoma Astronomy Club’s Cheddar Ranch site. It will require an additional $50 for supervising. We’re allowing $200 total. The date of the dedication is May 31. We will have a table. Syd appears to be the only member who can attend. [This dedication has been moved to July 26, which conflicts with Conestoga—SFH]
Tom now has our pictures on Flickr.
Tom spoke on his Great Space Race project. He is preparing a power point presentation which would take an hour. The project can be done on Second Life. Each “nation” will have two teams, the decision makers and the Assemblers.
Clifford McMurray spoke on “Asteroids—Threat and Promise.” He pointed out that it’s actually easier (in terms of Delta-V) to get to a Near Earth Asteroid than to the Moon.
Yuri’s Night 2009 will fall on a Sunday. Do we want to hold it on the Saturday before?
--Submitted by OSA Secretary Syd Henderson
Viewing Opportunities for Satellites (March 12 – April 19)
You can get sighting information at 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 can get up to 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. The target for launch of Discovery to the space station is 4:02 p.m. CDT on May 31. The next repair mission to the Space Telescope is planned for late September or early October. This will be the final mission unless NASA decides that it will require a crew to de-orbit the Space Telescope.
Station May 21, 2008
Time Position Elevation
5:16 a.m. 324° 17°
5:17 336 32
5:18 36 56
5:19 102 34
5:20 116 17
Station May 21, 2008
Time Position Elevation
9:39 p.m. 218° 17°
9:40 210 35
9:41 136 69
9:42 63 35
9:43 56 17*
*Passes very close to Vega
Station May 23, 2008
Time Position Elevation
4:26 a.m. 326° 17°*
4:27 340 32
4:28 38 52
4:29 99 32
4:30 113 17
*Passes through bowl of Big Dipper
Station May 23, 2008
Time Position Elevation
8:48 p.m. 215° 17°
8:49 206 35
8:50 136 52
8:51 67 34
8:52 57 17
HST May 25, 2008
Time Position Elevation
10:24 p.m. 230° 19°
10:25 214 26
10:26 189 32*
Vanishes into Earth’s shadow
HST May 25, 2008
Time Position Elevation
10:23 p.m. 230° 20°
10:24 212 27
10:25 186 31
Vanishes into Earth’s shadow
Station June 8, 2008
Time Position Elevation
10:00 p.m. 305° 17°
10:01 297 35
10:02 226 69
10:03 150 35
Vanishes into Earth’s shadow
Station June 9, 2008
Time Position Elevation
9:09 p.m. 308° 17°
9:10 303 36
9:11 228 77
9:12 144 36
9:13 138 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 at 10:03 p.m. on June 8, the International Space Station will be three fist-widths east of due south and three and a half 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/.
Sky Viewing
The Moon will cross the Pleiades on the morning of June 30 for observers in the northeastern United States.
Mercury is currently (May 12) about magnitude 0.3 and about 10 degrees above the horizon an hour after sunset, which is very good. It reaches greatest elongation on May 14. It should still be pretty visible for a week or so, showing a larger but thinner crescent. Mercury will fade quickly after that, since it is inferior conjunction with the Sun on June 7. It will become visible again in the eastern sky at near the end of June, and reaches greatest eastern elongation on July 1.
Venus is at superior conjunction with respect to the Sun on June 9, and will not be visible for months. This leaves the Moon and outer planets to rule the night.
However, Mars is not ruling very brightly. It is currently in the western sky at sunset, in the constellation Cancer, to the left of Castor and Pollux in the constellation Gemini, and is magnitude 1.3. In late July, Mars will approach the first-magnitude star Regulus in Leo, closing within a degree by June 30. The two will be almost exactly the same brightness.
This is of interest, because Saturn is also in Leo, on the opposite side of Regulus from Mars, and is magnitude 0.6. On June 7, the crescent Moon will be about two degrees south of Mars, and ten degrees from Regulus, with Saturn about four degrees on the other side of Regulus. On the next night, the Moon will be two degrees south of Regulus and four degrees from Saturn.
Jupiter is the brightest “star” in the night sky, rising around 1:00 a.m. in the constellation Sagittarius. It is magnitude -2.5. Jupiter is getting brighter and rising earlier each night, and will reach opposition on July 9, at which point it will be shining all night long and be visible right after sunset.
Uranus (magnitude 5.8, in Aquarius) and Neptune (magnitude 7.9, still in Capricornus), are barely findable with binoculars an hour or so before sunrise, and will become slightly more visible in June. For a map showing their locations, go to SkyandTelescope.com/UranusNeptune.
Pluto is at opposition on June 20, shining at a sparkling magnitude 13.9, which means you need at least an 8-inch telescope to find it. If you possess such an item, Sky & Telescope has a finder guide for you on page 67 of its June issue and in “Observing Highlights” at SkyandTelescope.com.
Eris is in Cetus and will be until 2036. It is magnitude 18.7.
Calendar of Events
May 14: Oklahoma Space Industry Development Authority Meeting in the Commission Room at the Oklahoma Department of Transportation Building, 200 NE. 21st. Street, Oklahoma City
May 14: Mercury is at greatest eastern elongation, 22° east of the Sun (hence can be seen after sunset).
May 16: Launch of the Gamma-Ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST). (Moved from February 5.)
May 17: Oklahoma Space Alliance meeting at 3:00 p.m. at the Koszoru house.
May 25: The Phoenix Mars Mission lands on Mars at around 6:53 a.m. CDT. For details, see phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/.
May 30 – June 1: International Space Development Conference in Washington, DC. Web site is isdc.nss.org/2008/.
May 31: Discovery is launched to the Space Station.
June 3: Earliest date for the possible launch of the Gamma Large Area Silicon Telescope (GLAST). See “Space-Related Articles.”
June 6 – 8: SoonerCon science fiction convention in Oklahoma City. For more information, visit www.soonercon.com.
June 6: Piedmont Star Party held by Oklahoma City Astronomy Club. For more information, see www.okcastroclub.com/star_parties.php.
June 8: Venus is in superior conjunction with respect to the Sun.
June 11: [Tentative] Oklahoma Space Industry Development Authority Meeting in the Commission Room at the Oklahoma Department of Transportation Building, 200 NE. 21st. Street, Oklahoma City
June 21: [Tentative] Oklahoma Space Alliance meeting at 3:00 p.m. Location to be announced.
June 26: Dark Sky Party at the Cheddar Ranch Observatory, hosted by Oklahoma City Astronomy Club. For more information or directions, visit www.okcastroclub.com.
July 1: Mercury is at greatest western elongation, 22° west of the Sun (hence can be seen before sunrise).
July 5: Mid-Summers Dark Sky Party at the Cheddar Ranch Observatory, hosted by Oklahoma City Astronomy Club. For more information or directions, visit www.okcastroclub.com.
July 6: Mid-Summers Dark Sky Party at the Cheddar Ranch Observatory, hosted by Oklahoma City Astronomy Club. For more information or directions, visit www.okcastroclub.com.
July 9: Jupiter is at opposition.
July 9: [Tentative] Oklahoma Space Industry Development Authority Meeting in the Commission Room at the Oklahoma Department of Transportation Building, 200 NE. 21st. Street, Oklahoma City
July 19: [Tentative] Oklahoma Space Alliance meeting at 3:00 p.m. Location to be announced.
July 25 – 27: Conestoga Science Fiction Convention in Tulsa. See www.sftulsa.org/conestoga/ for details.
July 26: Grand Opening and Dark Sky Party at the Cheddar Ranch Observatory, hosted by Oklahoma City Astronomy Club. For more information or directions, visit www.okcastroclub.com.
August 2: Dark Sky Party at the Cheddar Ranch Observatory, hosted by Oklahoma City Astronomy Club. For more information or directions, visit www.okcastroclub.com.
August 13: [Tentative] Oklahoma Space Industry Development Authority Meeting in the Commission Room at the Oklahoma Department of Transportation Building, 200 NE. 21st. Street, Oklahoma City
August 14-17: Mars Society Conference in Denver, Colorado. For more information, visit www.marssociety.org/portal.
August 16: [Tentative] Oklahoma Space Alliance meeting at 3:00 p.m. Location to be announced.
September 5: 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.
September 10: [Tentative] Oklahoma Space Industry Development Authority Meeting in the Commission Room at the Oklahoma Department of Transportation Building, 200 NE. 21st. Street, Oklahoma City.
September 11: Mercury is at greatest eastern elongation, 27° east of the Sun (hence can be seen after sunset).
September 18: Launch of Endeavour to the Space Station.
September 20: [Tentative] Oklahoma Space Alliance meeting at 3:00 p.m. Location to be announced.
Late September/Early October: Launch of Atlantis on the fifth and final servicing mission to Hubble Space Telescope. [Updated May 12.]
October 6: MESSENGER's second flyby of Mercury.
October 8: [Tentative] Oklahoma Space Industry Development Authority Meeting in the Commission Room at the Oklahoma Department of Transportation Building, 200 NE. 21st. Street, Oklahoma City
October 18: [Tentative] Oklahoma Space Alliance meeting at 3:00 p.m. Location to be announced.
October 22: Mercury is at greatest western elongation, 18° west of the Sun (hence can be seen before sunrise).
October 31: 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
October 31: The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is launched. It will assume a polar orbit. The mission will last at least a year. For more information, visit en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_Reconnaissance_Orbiter or lunar.gsfc.nasa.gov/.
November 12: [Tentative] Oklahoma Space Industry Development Authority Meeting in the Commission Room at the Oklahoma Department of Transportation Building, 200 NE. 21st. Street, Oklahoma City
November 15: [Tentative] Oklahoma Space Alliance meeting at 3:00 p.m. Location to be announced.
December 20: [Tentative] Oklahoma Space Alliance Christmas Party at 3:00 p.m. Location to be announced.
January 4, 2009: Mercury is at greatest eastern elongation, 19° east of the Sun (hence can be seen after sunset).
January 14, 2009: Venus is at maximum eastern elongation, 47.1° east of the Sun.
February 13: Mercury is at greatest western elongation, 26° west of the Sun (hence can be seen before sunrise).
February 16, 2009: Launch of the Kepler Mission, which will look for Earth-sized and smaller planets around other stars. For more information, visit kepler.nasa.gov/.
February 19 – 22, 2009: Spacefest 2009 in San Diego, California, For information, visit novaspace.com/spacefest/.
March 2009: Dawn asteroid probe flies by Mars.
March 8, 2009: Saturn is at opposition.
April 26, 2009: Mercury is at greatest eastern elongation, 20° east of the Sun (hence can be seen after sunset).
August 10, 2009: Saturn’s rings are edge-on with respect to the Sun.
August 14, 2009: Jupiter is at opposition.
September 4, 2009: Saturn’s rings appear edge-on.
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 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phobos-Grunt.
December 2009: The Mars Science Laboratory is launched. See 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 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 marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/ for details.
December 2010: Japan’s Venus Climate Orbiter arrives at Venus.
October 2011: Dawn probe orbits Vesta. See dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/ or en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dawn_Mission for details.
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 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 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.
Space News
Microsoft has unveiled its new World Wide Telescope program, which you can download for free at www.worldwidetelescope.com. From the website:
“The WorldWide Telescope (WWT) is a Web 2.0 visualization software environment that enables your computer to function as a virtual telescope—bringing together imagery from the best ground and space-based telescopes in the world for a seamless exploration of the universe.
“Choose from a growing number of guided tours of the sky by astronomers and educators from some of the most famous observatories and planetariums in the country. Feel free at any time to pause the tour, explore on your own (with multiple information sources for objects at your fingertips), and rejoin the tour where you left off. Join Harvard Astronomer Alyssa Goodman on a journey showing how dust in the Milky Way Galaxy condenses into stars and planets. Take a tour with University of Chicago Cosmologist Mike Gladders two billion years into the past to see a gravitational lens bending the light from galaxies allowing you to see billions more years into the past.”
At first glance, it looks stunning and not at all difficult to use. Add it to GoogleEarth and other ways to waste a lot of time when you should be working.
Meanwhile, if you don’t want to be a lackey of the Evil Empire, Google has come up with Google Sky, which you can use on the web at http://www.google.com/sky/ without a download.
The Phoenix space probe is on track for a landing on Mars at 6:53 a.m. on May 25. Phoenix is a stationary lander which will land in the Martian Arctic and dig for water ice and soil and signs of past life. Unlike recent probes such as Pathfinder, Spirit and Opportunity, Phoenix will make a powered landing, The last attempt at powered landing was the ill-fated Mars Polar Lander in 1999.
Phoenix will land in “Green Valley” in the Vastitas Borealis, which is the great lowland that surrounds the North Pole of Mars. Vastitas Borealis is believed to be the location of a past Martian Ocean if any ever existed. It is two or three miles below the mean Martian radius. Green Valley is at latitude 68.5° N and 233° W and is about a thousand feet deep and thirty miles wide. The name is unofficial; green is the color code indicating the safest landing spots. The mission is expected to last 90 Martian days. Since it is located within the area that is covered with carbon dioxide snow in the winter, it is not expected to survive the Martian winter.
Meanwhile, in the article, “An Early Big Hit to Mars May Have Scarred the Planet for Life,” (Richard A. Kerr, Science, 11 April 2008, pp. 165-6.) two studies conclude that the Vastitas Borealis is in fact an impact crater whose outline has been obscured by the great Tharsis volcanic complex. When this is subtracted (which you can do because the complex has different composition), what results is a 6,400 mile long ellipse. In fact, the shape and the depth of the crust underneath look suspiciously like the much smaller Hellas impact crater in Mars’ southern hemisphere,
Mercury’s magnetic field is surprisingly strong, and indicates that Mercury has a molten core. An experiment at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign indicates that iron crystals forming in the core may “rain” to the bottom, causing convection currents which produce the magnetic field. This is somewhat different than the mechanism which drives the Earth’s magnetic field, which is ninety times as strong as Mercury’s.
Astronomers have found evidence of enormous amounts of baryonic (i.e. normal) matter in filaments connecting galactic clusters. This matter is so hot that it emits light in the far ultraviolet/X-ray part of the spectrum, which is blocked by our atmosphere, and is faint despite possibly containing half the normal matter in the Universe. This matter is distinct from the hypothesized “dark matter” and “dark energy” which are supposed to contain 95% of the mass-energy of the Universe.
Space-Related Articles
“When the Moon Blows,” by Marcus Chown, New Scientist, 29 March 2008, pp. 40 – 41. Arlin Crotts has analyzed 1500 accounts of “transient lunar phenomena,” strange lights on the Moon. He is convinced they represent gas eruptions. There is some evidence of outgassing from Apollo 15 and 16 and Lunar Prospector, including radon emissions near several sites where TLPs are most often observed. The most suspicious are Aristarchus Crater, which accounts for half the TLP sitings, and Plato Crater, which accounts for another quarter. Crotts believes that the gas eruptions are residual volcanism. Aristarchus, for instance, is within plateau that was covered with lava 3 billion years ago.
The entire amount of gas wouldn’t be much—maybe a hundred tonnes a year. By comparison, the Orion spacecraft will eject 30 tonnes of gas a mission. (Preferably not radon gas.)
“NASA’s New Gamma-Ray Trailblazer,” by Robert Naeye, Sky & Telescope, June 2008, pp. 18 -23. GLAST (the Gamma Large Area Silicon Telescope) is schedule for launch on June 3 at the earliest. This is a follow-up to the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory of the 1990s and has been 15 years in the works. NASA is currently having a contest to name the new observatory.
“How to Hunt for Supernova Fossils in the Milky Way,” by Doug Welch, Sky & Telescope, June 2008, page 28 – 33. It hadn’t occurred to me that you could do this except for recent supernovae, but apparently you can detect the light echoes from supernovae that exploded centuries ago by watching their reflections from cosmic dust. For example, a dust cloud located 477 light-years on the other side of the Crab Nebula would just now be showing us the reflected light from the supernova explosion in 1054 AD. By taking repeated photographs of that light, astronomers can work out the light curve of the supernova.
These echoes are within the reach of the more powerful amateur equipment, so the author is trying to interest amateurs in detecting light echoes. The easiest is Supernova 1987A in the Large Magellanic Cloud, whose echoes not moved that far (in angular distance) from the supernova remnant. However, in our own galaxy are the echoes of the great supernovae of 185, 1006, 1181, 1054, 1572 (Tycho’s Supernova) and 1604 (Kepler’s Supernova). There is also Cassiopeia A, the remnant of a supernova from circa 1667, where the supernova proper was not actually observed, probably because of obscuring dust.
“Space Hopper,” by Guy Norris, Aviation Week & Space Technology, March 31, 2008, pp. 24 - 25. This is a profile Lynx, of XCOR Aerospace proposed entry into the space tourism business, the Lynx. The initial Lynx Mk. I is set for first flight in early 2010, and will reach an altitude of 38 miles, which means it is not actually a space-going vehicle. (The generally used boundary to space is hundred kilometers (61 miles) above the Earth’s surface.) However, the Lynx Mk. II would be capable of reaching an altitude 68 miles. Both will launch and land horizontally. The price per vehicle would be about $10 million, and tickets would be half those of Virgin Galactic. A flight of Lynx Mk. I would last about half an hour. I haven’t seen a projection of how long a flight of Lynx Mk. II would last.
“Dreamcatcher,” by Anil Ananthaswamy, New Scientist, 19 April 2008, pp. 34 – 36. Drillers are creating a hole 8,000 feet deep in Antarctica to house what will be the world’s biggest neutrino telescope. It should be complete in the year 2010.
Oklahoma Space Alliance Officers, 2008 (Area Code 405)
Tom Koszoru, President 366-1797 (H)
Claire McMurray, Vice-President/Update Editor 329-4326 (H) 863-6173 (C)
Syd Henderson, Secretary & Outreach Editor 321-4027 (H)
Tim Scott, Treasurer 740-7549 (H)
OSA E-mail Addresses and Web Site:
claire.mcmurray at sbcglobal.net (Claire McMurray, new address)
T_Koszoru at cox.net (Heidi and Tom Koszoru)
sydh at ou.edu (Syd Henderson)
ctscott at mac.com (Tim Scott)
john.d.northcutt at tds.net (John Northcutt)
lensman13 at aol.com (Steve Galpin)
dmcraig at earthlink.net (Nancy and David Craig).
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
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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.
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