Dear Members and Friends,
The June 2012 Update follows:
Oklahoma Space Alliance NSS Chapter UPDATE for June 2012
A free email newsletter for members & friends of Oklahoma Space Alliance NSS
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June 2012 Meeting :(NOTE TIME and LOCATION)
Oklahoma Space Alliance will meet at 2:30 p.m. on June 9 at Denny’s on the I-240 access road on the north side just east of Pennsylvania Avenue in southern Oklahoma City. The street address is 1617 SW 74th Street and the phone number is 685-5414. This is in the middle of a long line of eating places so we can use the opportunity to scout out potential meeting places. Claire and I found out in November that it is easier coming from the east to get off at the previous exit (Western Avenue) and proceed down the north access road.
We only have the meeting place until 6:00 p.m.
Agenda June 9, 2012:
1. Introductions
2. Read and approve agenda
3. Read and approve minutes
4. Distribution of Ad Astras
5. Feature Presentations
a. ISDC – Claire / Cliff
b. Falcon 9 / Dragon Mission
6. What’s Happening with Space
7. Read and discuss mail
8. Treasurers Report
9. Report on OSIDA
a. Old Business Meeting Place
b. Sooner Con
c. Moon Day with Dallas Chapter
10. New Business
a. NSS Elections
b. Create New Agenda
c. Adjournment and informal discussions
Minutes of May Meeting
Oklahoma Space Alliance met May 12, 2012 at the I-Hop on North Classen Boulevard in Oklahoma City. Attending were Steve and Karen Swift, Dennis Wigler, Claire McMurray, Syd Henderson and Russ Davoren.
Steve reported on an article naming the top 10 commercial spaceships headed for reality. These include SpaceShipTwo/White Knight, Lynx, Silver Dart, Excalibur Almaz (based in the Isle of Man), Armadillo Aerospace Vertical Tourships, Dream Chaser (Space Dev’s Vehicle), New Shepard (Blue Origin), Sundancer (Bigelow; SpaceX will launch a load for Bigelow in 2014), Cygnus/Taurus 2 and, of course, SpaceX’s Dragon Capsule.
Russ got to interview Burt Rutan in 2005.
What’s Happening in Space?
Asteroid mining proposed by Planetary Resources, Inc. Of the 9000 known near-Earth asteroids, more than 1600 are energetically as easy as the Moon. A single 500-meter platinum rich asteroid contains the equivalent of all the platinum group metals mined in the history of the Earth. [These metals are rare in Earth’s crust because they were incorporated into Earth’s core during the planet’s formation.]
The May issue of Popular Science was devoted to aviation and space.
We watched a video of the Earth at night, and a video of a Falcon 9 engine test.
Claire suggested making signs announcing that we are having an open meeting and visitors are welcome.
Mail: Parts of the annual report are not in. Claire turned in the contact list.
Brochures are almost complete, but we need to add the chapter number to them.
Moon Day weekend is July 20-22. We’ll go to NSS North Texas’s event, which is 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. on July 21. Bring brochures, something about chapters and Lego Moon base. Dry run will be at fan table at Soonercon.
Soonercon: Steve Galpin would like to talk about military space.
Essays and art contests: “Awards” sounds better for small amounts than “scholarships.”
Promotions: Signs for meetings, Oklahoma Gazette. Put meeting announcement on web well in advance. Claire might be able to get Kip to write an article once a month.
Syd needs to correct directions next time we meet at I-Hop since you can’t get directly to I-Hop by going down 50th Street from I-235.
Syd checked the Moore Public Library as a possible meeting place, but they were continuously booked on Saturdays for the next two months.
Dear Oklahoma Space Activist
Oklahoma has a Space Port. This Space Port could create jobs in Oklahoma if we developed a good marketing strategy. Horizontal launch and landing facilities will become the launch and landing of choice, especially with re-usable launch equipment that Virgin Galactic plans to use in the near future.
Space and Science on line Magazines:
Space and Science on line Magazines:
Astronomy: http://www.astronomy.com/
Astronomy Now: http://www.astronomynow.com
Discover: http://discovermagazine.com/
Nature http://www.nature.com/
New Scientist: http://www.newscientist.com/
Science: http://www.sciencemag.org/
Science News: http://www.sciencenews.org/
Scientific American: http://www.scientificamerican.com/
Sky and Telescope: http://www.skyandtelescope.com/
Space.com http://www.space.com/ (This has some connection to Space News.)
Wikipedia: www.wikipedia.org
You can sign up for e-mail updates from Astronomy, Sky and Telescope, and Space.com. A lot of these sites have useful news feeds.
The advance viewing information in Outreach comes from hard copies of Sky and Telescope and Astronomy as well as the website
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-1765780
Heavens Above (Satellite predictions) http://www.heavens-above.com/
Organizations:
NASA: http://www.nasa.gov/
NASA: Jet Propulsion Laboratory: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/
Oklahoma City Astronomy Club: http://www.okcastroclub.com/
SpaceX: www.spacex.com
and NSS http://space.nss.org/
OSIDA is http://www.state.ok.us/~okspaceport/, but the web site is being reconstructed.
For current sky viewing, you want Astronomy and Sky and Telescope. I have subscriptions to both which is how I can go to the end of next month. A lot of these links have news feeds
Officers of Oklahoma Space Alliance
Steve Swift, President 496-3616 (C)
Jim Trombly, Vice-President (resigned) 219-0283 (H)
Syd Henderson, Secretary & Outreach Editor 321-4027 (H) 365-8983 (C)
Tim Scott, Treasurer 740-7549 (H)
Claire McMurray, Correspondence Secretary 329-4326 (H) 863-6173 (C)
Tom Koszoru, Update Editor 366-1797
[Note: Jim Trombley has resigned as Vice-President as of March 2012.]
OSA E-mail Addresses and Web Site:
(Replace "at" with @ symbol.)
sswift42 at aol.com (Steve Swift)
jtvt at inbox.com (Jim Trombly)
sydh at ou.edu (Syd Henderson)
ctscott at mac.com (Tim Scott)
cliffclaire at hotmail.com (Claire McMurray)
T_Koszoru at cox.net (Heidi and Tom Koszoru)
john.d.northcutt1 at tds.net (John Northcutt)
lensman13 at aol.com (Steve Galpin)
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 isosa.nss.org/index.html. Webmaster is Syd Henderson.
Other Information
The National Space Society's Headquarters phone is 202-429-1600. Executive Director is LtCol Paul E. Damphousse, <nsshq at nss.org>. The Chapters Coordinator is Bennett Rutledge 720-529-8024. The address is: National Space Society, 1155 15th Street NW, Suite 500, Washington DC 20005 Web page is space.nss.org. For details on the NSS chapters network, see http://space.nss.org/nss-chapters-directory/.
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.
Science Museum Oklahoma (former Omniplex) website is www.sciencemuseumok.org. Main number is 602-6664.
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 Planetary Society phone 626-793-5100. The address is 65 North Catalina, Avenue, Pasadena, California, 91106-2301 and the website is www.planetary.org. E-mail is [email protected].
NASA Spacelink BBS 205-895-0028. Or try www.nasa.gov. .
Congressional Switchboard, both Senate & House, is 202/224-3121.
Write to any U. S. Senator or Representative at [name]/ Washington DC, 20510 (Senate) or 20515 [House]. To find contact & other information your congressperson, see www.house.gov/. For senators, use www.congress.org/
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 Mem¬bership. (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, visitwww.marssociety.org. 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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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.
Your Update Editor,
Tom Koszoru
Contact person for Oklahoma Space Alliance is Claire McMurray
PO Box 1003
Norman, OK 73070
Webmaster is Syd Henderson.
Copyright ©2012 Oklahoma Space Alliance.