Oklahoma Space Alliance

OKLAHOMA SPACE ALLIANCE

A Chapter of the National Space Society

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 23^rd 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 C;ifford McMurray. Clifford also does an Update most months when Outreach is published.

Oklahoma Space Alliance is now on Facebook at Oklahoma Space Alliance

May 2026 Update (pdf format) (Information to be presented at May meeting)

May 2026 Outreach (pdf format)

Space Priorities (pdf format)

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)

June Oklahoma Space Alliance-NSS Meeting

        Oklahoma Space Alliance-NSS will meet at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, June 13, at the location next to Norman Computers on West Main in Norman. Prospective members are welcome.
         The meeting room is in the Cyber Hall and Gaming Lounge next to Norman Computers. Please enter through the Cyber Hall door. The Cyber Hall is at 914 W Main St, opposite Norman High School. The phone number is (405) 292-9501. To get to the meeting space from points north, take Highway 77 exit off I-35, and continue south until you reach Main Street. Norman Computers is about a block and a half west of this on the south (left) side of a small mall.
         Kip is on his way back from the International Space Development Conference, so Adam will chair the meeting.

Saturday, June 13, 2:00 p.m.

Introductions and review of Space events this past month
What’s Happening in Space, News, Pictures, and Videos approximately one hour. See the April Update at http://osa.nss.org before the meeting for items to be discussed.
Break
Oklahoma Space Alliance Chapter Business Discussion

Review of OSA treasurer’s report.
Minutes of May Meeting
Plans for 2026

Chat
Videos

Minutes of May 9 Oklahoma Space Alliance Meeting

        Oklahoma Space Alliance met May 9, 2026, at the Cyber Hall and Gaming Lounge at Norman Computers in Norman, Oklahoma. Attending were Clifford McMurray, Adam Hemphill, Mark Deaver (briefly), John Northcutt, Tim Scott, Dave Sheely and Syd Henderson, with Robin Scott joining us by phone. OSA President Clifford McMurray. presided over the meeting. He did an Update discussing links to material covered in the meeting and this is online https://osa.nss.org/Update2603.pdf so I’ll cover the details that aren’t covered there.
        Bluebird 7 has a 2400 square meter antenna.
        The goal for New Glenn is 25 flights for each first stage.
        Reports are that Iran not only has access to Chinese satellites in the US-Iran war, but also Russian satellites.
        If both SpaceX and Blue Origins are ready, we’ll have SpaceX, New Glenn and SLS ready for launch in a short period of time. If they go for one launch every ten months, they can’t do two launches to the Moon in 2028 unless the first launch is before April. [Two launches seem even more unlikely due to the New Glenn launchpad explosion, though it’s possible Blue Moon may be able to fly on a different rocket.—SFH]
        Blue Origin anticipates twelve launches in 2026 and 50 by third quarter of 2028 and 100 by the end if 2029. [Obviously this is delayed because they need to repair the launch pad.]
        In addition to corrosion issues on Gateway modules, there are corrosion issues on Axiom 1 and modules for the ISS. Issue reports apparently were withheld, Corrosion issues will be fixed by the end of the third quarter of this year.
        SpaceX IPO is scheduled for Elon Musk’s birthday on June 28.
        Firefly is also working on launching from Wallops Flight Facility (on the Delmarva Peninsula). So far they have launched from Vandenberg, and they want to launch from Sweden in 2028. [In which direction?—SFH]
        Kip: In all fairness, The FAA’s launch fee could help deal with the increase of launches.
        The fee starts at 25 cents per pound and goes up by ten cents per pound per year until it finally peaks at $1.50 in 2033, with a cap of $30,000 per launch or reentry. [I don’t know if this means some launches may have to pay $60,000 but I suspect so.]
        The Oklahoma Air and
Space Port has been renamed Infinity One Oklahoma Spaceport. From the report on Channel 5 news in OKC. The renaming is promoted by the contract with Dawn Aerospace. The renovation of Burns Flat spaceport will cost $30 million. They say Dawn’s spaceplane has launched sixty times so far.
        We went to the website for Astronauts for America.
        We watched a video on SpaceX going to Mars.
        We watched a video on space travel. NASA id launching a nuclear-powered mission to Mars.
        Nuclear thermal is five times as efficient as conventional chemical rockets. Ion thrusters are ten times as efficient as conventional rockets. NASA is going for nuclear electron propulsion (SR-1). It would take one year to get to Mars.
        Kip is going to the ISDC the first weekend in June and won’t be back for the June meeting. Adam Hemphill will preside.
        We watched an interview with Jared Isaacman. [On the A16 show.]
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Minutes By OSA Secretary Syd Henderson

May 2026 Update (pdf format) (Information to be presented at May meeting)

May 2026 Outreach (pdf format)

Minutes of January 2026 Meeting
Minutes of February 2026 Meeting
Minutes of March 2026 Meeting
Minutes of April 2026 Meeting
Minutes of May 2026 Meeting

Minutes of previous meetings

Contact person for Oklahoma Space Alliance is Clifford McMurray
PO Box 1003
Norman, OK 73070
Webmaster is Syd Henderson.
Copyright 2026 Oklahoma Space Alliance.