All:
Our attendance was 14 at last month’s meeting – a near record. Of course, that is one more than the current record of people in space at one time, something to think about: we’ve come a long way (we had 13 people in space at one time!) and have a long way to go (the largest number sent into space at one time could fit in a restaurant room).
We welcomed Ken R., President of the Dallas Chapter of the National Space Society, who gave a very broad and informative overview of the space program and the different directions it could go after the Shuttle. There is an old saying ‘a seed must die for a flower to bloom’, and while the Shuttle was inspiring in its day, its passing will enable new adventures. Ken’s discussion and slide show set a new standard for our group. Thank you Ken!
We also welcomed the three students and their coaches from the student debate team. The team is one of 8 finalists debating on an international level, discussing whether human travel should play a significant role in space travel: our group has been helping them prepare. Good luck and go get them in New York!
We also discussed Dr. Zubrin’s talk on the Space Show on February 21st (http://www.thespaceshow.com).
We then closed the meeting with a discussion of Kurt’s upcoming presentation for gifted students at SMU, and Moon Day which will be held at the Frontiers of Flight Museum on July 21st .
Next month we can continue our plans for Moon Day, supporting the University Rover Competition, the preparation of the papers from the past conventions (still moving forward slowly), and of course the upcoming national convention in LA, coincident with the landing of Mars Science Laboratory. On a more serious note, we have to still keep up the struggle to bring back Mars funding into NASA’s budget. The issue is not dead, and the battle is still undecided. More on that later.
See you in a few weeks!
Kurt