Long Island Space Society - Organizational Meeting Thursday September 19, 7 - 9 PM Present: Arthur Smith, Richard Ohlrogge, Allan Aronoff, Frank Robinson Rich Santer, Erik Langeland, Susan Raizer, Edna Edelstein, Eugene Edelstein, Frances Cervone, Eugene Cervone, John Pazmino Charles Frank, Merven Mandel, Joshua Stoff, Benjamin Parris Larry Cuocci, Joe Schenk, and son Joe Schenk + at least 1 other Joshua Stoff, Cradle of Aviation curator, gave everyone a warm welcome, waiting at the gate until a few minutes after 7:00 to direct people to the meeting room. We mingled for a few minutes and started the real meeting at about 7:15. Arthur Smith talked first about some of the motivation behind forming the organization, and some history of the National Space Society; also mentioning some of the people who had helped him out up to this point but couldn't be present tonight. Josh Stoff then took the floor. He talked a bit about an NSS group on Long Island in the 1980's, which dissolved around 1990, but which had helped out with the restoration and some of the other work the museum had done. He talked about some of the exciting things still coming to the museum; including a "voyage to Mars" exhibit about 2 months away. They plan to open up another hangar with more and larger planes. The long-range plan is to construct a new 3-story building, in the first floor they are looking at an aerospace camp: a new program, different from the Huntsville space camp program. Including a full scale space lab simulator. They have some equipment from NASA now that needs volunteer work, and he welcomed comments and any time people had to help out. There were a few questions about the IMAX theatre - they have the space station IMAX now; they haven't decided whether to offer the Apollo-13 one, depending on how well it does in other places. On a question about funding - the museum received some money from the county mainly for the buildings; everything exhibited is private, privately donated. They are still raising money for some things; the status is as a public non-profit. The museum is available for catering and events for anybody interested. After Josh, Benjamin Parris, director of the Long Island Museum of Science and Technology spoke about their plans. He mentioned his feeling that interest in space and science had been declining, and he was glad to see the level of interest in the people attending. A museum like theirs can get support from high tech companies that feel they need local workers who have grown up with enthusiasm for science. Unfortunately that seems to have been less available recently, with the recent financial troubles in various industries, and a lot of the companies around here are small, not able to give much support. LIMSAT had a temporary facility in Kings Park, but never with more than shoestring funding. This was closed to move here - he felt they have to raise $50 to 70 million total. Nassau county had promised $22 million, but with the budget troubles there and the change in administration he was very uncertain that would materialize now. They still have a handful of extremely dedicated people working on the museum project; funding is the big problem right now. He pointed out we really should be able to do well - Long Island has the brains and talent pool; all the Intel Science talent successes for example. They have a terrific children's museum, for kids up to a certain age (grade 3?) but what's missing is the next level; Long Island is a great metropolitan area in itself, with unique industries here. He felt there were some hopeful signs - the federal and state funding for biotech and nanotech centers in the area. Science literacy is important, and understanding the importance of the space program is part of that. Edna pointed out the "lack of interest" in the space program is only among adults - kids are all enthusiastic about it. Larry (?) asked whether there was anywhere in Nassau county for launching model rockets. Apparently not, although they are able to do it occasionally near the museum (?) We then went around the room introducing ourselves. Quite a variety of backgrounds and interests! Richard Ohlrogge then spoke for a few minutes about the Challenger Centers. These are for middle-school age students, the program was founded by spouses of Challenger astronauts. The idea is to provide simulations of a space mission; each student has a role, scripted, with printed guides they work according to. But they throw in surprises, and the students have to respond and work in ways that follow real-life scenarios. The centers have a variety of different simulations and classroom tools. Students prepare at their home school in advance, before going on their "missions". The nearest center is in Paramas New Jersey (Rich Santer had attended it, and many other space-related sites with his students!) - these are generally open to the public, but hours vary; some are closed in the summer. There are already three centers in New York, but none in the New York city area, or on Long Island. There is one in Bridgeport, CT, and another probably opening soon at Mystic. Dowling College was working on one, to house at the National Transportation Aviation Center in Shirley. It's not a simple thing to take on - they require a feasibility study, etc. It's expected to take about 2 years to get going, and about $1 to 2 million, depending on whether an existing building can be used, or a new one has to be constructed. Part of the problem is marketing, promoting to organizations that could provide funding. Michael Schwartz, the NorthEast coordinator, will be able to come talk to us at a later meeting if we are interested. We then watched the video, which provided a good overview of what is done at these centers. Children work in teams, and a staff member assists the groups. The age range is 3rd to 8th grade (there are different programs for different ages). Both teachers (Edna and Rich) indicated they new many of their colleagues who would be very interested. Rich's experience was that BOCES would pay 50% of the per student cost for such programs. Allan thought Dowling would be a good location for this. We discussed funding and ongoing expenses - it should pay for itself after starting up, the challenge is getting it started. Josh Stoff expressed some concerns at this point: they looked at these before deciding on going with their aero-space camp plans. Some problems he had - the centers aren't usually open in the summer, and cater to children, not older people. And they focus only on space while his museum had a mission to cover both space and aviation. Richard felt we would need to think about this and discuss at a couple more meetings before making a decision on such a major project. Arthur then brought up some of the business and organizational issues. Interest sheets had been handed out, and he asked that those present indicate whether they were interested in working on the Challenger Center project, a possible spaceport project (the NYC chapter has been looking at a New Jersey spaceport concept) and/or short term things like the letter writing campaign. He also noted the special October 4th meeting being held by NSS-NYC on space and developing countries. Our next meeting is planned for October 23 or 24th at Brookhaven National Lab. He then brought a few items up for a vote of those present; the following resolutions were recorded by Erik Langeland (elected secretary): RESOLVED: The Bylaws of the National Space Society were unaminously adopted. RESOLVED: The following officers were elected unanimously: President: Arthur Smith Vice President: Edna Edelstein Treasurer: Richard Ohlrogge Secretary: Erik Langeland The meeting then closed - coffee and cookies had been kindly provided by Josh Stoff. Action items from the meeting: 1. New officers complete the chapter application and submit to NSS; continue organizational work. 2. Those interested join in the NSS letter writing campaign for World Space Week, Oct 4-10! 3. Richard Ohlrogge, Cheryl Dodes, others interested find out more about what we would have to do for a local Challenger Center, invite regional director to a later meeting. 4. Those interested contact Josh Stoff at CAM (camcurator@earthlink.net) or Ben Parris at LIMSAT (bparris@limsat.org) to help out with their donated NASA equipment (and/or fundraising?) 5. Firm up plans for the next meeting.