Oklahoma Space Alliance is the central Oklahoma Chapter of, National Space Society, one of the largest space advocacy groups in the country, and has existed for more than 20 years. Our own group is small, and we are interested in increasing our membership. 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 23rd 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 recently 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.
We do bimonthly newsletters called Outreach and Update 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 Claire McMurray.
June Meeting NOTE CHANGE IN TIME
Oklahoma Space Alliance will meet at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, June 20 at Claire and Clifford McMurray’s house. Prospective members are also welcome. Their house is at 2715 Aspen Circle in Norman.
To get to the meeting either: (1) Take the Lindsey Street east exit from I-35, turn right at Berry, and proceed to Imhoff Road. Turn right at Imhoff, right at Poplar Lane, left at Aspen Lane, and right at Aspen Circle. The turns at Poplar, Aspen Lane and Aspen Circle are the first you can take, or (2) Take the Highway 9 east off I-35, turn left at Imhoff Road, left at Poplar, left at Aspen Lane, and right at Aspen Circle.
Our primary Agenda this month is to work on a display for the Norman Public L:ibrary to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing on the moon, This display will be running most of the month of July, and we are devoting our Saturdays this month to working on it.
Tom, Claire and Clifford went to the International Space Development Conference and should talk about it this month or next.
We should be eating afterward, and Tom Koszoru will bring his chocolate fountain.
Between Meetings Activities
Claire and Clifford McMurray went to Florida to see the launch of the Shuttle mission to the Hubble Space Telescope.
Oklahoma Space Alliance hosted the con suite at the SoonerCon science fiction convention in Oklahoma City. We set up at 7:00 p.m. and stayed open past 11:00 p.m. We had 39 people on our sign-up sheet, of whom about 30 were new people. Our party was opposite the Sinnercon costume party, the Art Auction and the Charity Auction.
Claire and Clifford McMurry and Syd Henderson participated on a panel introducing Oklahoma Space Alliance and private space flight. Clifford McMurray and Tom Koszoru participated on a panel on Benefits of the Space Program, along with Christopher Carson and William Ledbetter. Finally, Clifford and Claire McMurray, Tom Koszoru and William Ledbetter formed a panel on Space Exploration and the Obama Administration.
Claire, Syd, and Tom, and briefly Tim Scott, met at the McMurrays' on June 13 to work on the Norman Public Library exhibit. We took a field trip to inspect the site. We have a wall space 44 feet wide and about 81 inches high; however, we will mostly be using the top part of this because of furniture. We also have two display cases. We spent much of the meeting putting together a space timeline from Space News's 50 years in Space articles. We're dividing this into "How Did We Get There" (1915 -1969), "What Have We Done Since" (1969 - 2009), and What Could Come in the Future. Syd suggested that we also have a section "What's Happening Now?" Claire favors separating commercial operations and governmental. Syd and Tom both brought books to display. Tom wants to display his wooden model of a Space Shuttle, probably on top of one of the display cases since it won't fit inside, The exhibit will be in a gazebo-shaped reading room between the main stacks and the children's library.
After the display we had dinner with hot dogs, fruit, and potato salad brought by the members.
Minutes of May Meeting
Oklahoma Space Alliance met at the McMurray house on May 18. Attending were Claire and Clifford McMurray, Syd Henderson and Tom Koszoru.
We have lost the big display at the Norman Public Library to their Summer Reading Campaign. There are two flat display cases in the main reading room. Claire will check to see if we can use them. There is a whole wall there we can put stuff on. We should be looking for book covers to put in the cases around the rovers. We need to put together a book and video list.
Kip want to do a cookout in early June.
We had a total of eight people on Yuri’s Night. Syd needs to put notes for Yuri’s Night on our webs site.
The Planetary Society needs to be in the contact information in the back of the newsletters. The Air Space Museum at Science Museum Oklahoma should be eliminated. [I’ve replaced it with a generic contact for the Science Museum.—SFH]
Can we get Kim Vowell to send us minutes for the May 27 OSIDA meeting?
Syd will pay the $54 fee for the Post Office Box and be reimbursed.
David Baxter wants governors of all fifty states to designate July 16-24 (the 40th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission) as a space observance. July 20 would be Space Exploration Day.
The ISDC preliminary schedule is now on-line.
Check Virgin Galactic for updates on their web site.
The most visible thing we will be doing at SoonerCon will be covering the con suite. Tom has videos and equipment. We need to see about getting stomp rockets. Tom has a large cooler. We discussed refreshments. Since we are covering the con suite, we will need to bring refreshments for that period; Cookies, chips, queso, corn balls, candy, carrots, ranch dressing. We can make our own veggie tray. Dotson has 7-grain chips.
We need to talk to Leonard about panels at SoonerCon.
Find a way to fund a business school project at OU on marketing the Oklahoma Spaceport.
We need to bring cameras to SoonerCon.
Tom wants to request a deadline on our startup kit.
We can do a scale model of the Solar System.
Take Space Solar Power off agenda for May and add for June.
We can do a quiz at SoonerCon. We need prizes for a quiz panel.
June OSIDA Meeting
Email from Kim Vowell:
The June meeting for the Oklahoma Space Industry Development Authority will be held Tuesday, June 16th, 2009 at 1:30 p.m.. The meeting will be held in Tulsa this month in conjunction with the Oklahoma Aerospace Summit and Expo. The meeting will be held at the Tulsa Metro Chamber Offices, in the Tulsa World Room, located at the plaza level.
The address is 2 West 2nd Street. Downtown Tulsa. The chamber offices are located right next door to the Crowne Plaza Hotel.
Please do not hesitate to contact us if you need additional information.
We hope to see you there.
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 Claire McMurray.
May 2009 Outreach
January 2008 Outreach
February 2008 Update
March 2008 Outreach
April 2008 Update
May 2008 Outreach
July 2008 Outreach
August 2008 Update
September 2008 Outreach
October 2008 Update
November 2008 Outreach
January 2009 Outreach
February 2009 Update
March 2009 Outreach
April 2009 Update
Earlier issues of Newsletters
Minutes of January 2008 Meeting
Minutes of February 2008 Meeting
Minutes of March 2008 Meeting
Minutes of April 2008 Meeting
Minutes of May 2008 Meeting
Minutes of June 2008 Party
Minutes of July 2008 Meeting and Cheddar Ranch Observatory Dedication
Minutes of August 2008 meeting
Minutes of September 2008 meeting
Minutes of October 2008 meeting
Minutes of November 2008 meeting
Minutes of December 2008 meeting
Minutes of January 2009 meeting
Minutes of February 2009 meeting
Minutes of March 2009 meeting
Minutes of April 2009 meeting
Minutes of previous meetings
To contact Oklahoma Space Alliance, e-mail Syd Henderson.
102 W. Linn St. #1
Norman OK 73069
Copyright ©2007 Oklahoma Space Alliance.