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 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 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 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.
Oklahoma Space Alliance is now on Facebook at Oklahoma Space Alliance
May 2013 Outreach (html)
May 2013 Outreach (pdf version)
May Meeting:
Oklahoma Space Alliance will meet on May 11, 2013 at Denny’s on the I-240 access road on the north side just east of Pennsylvania Avenue in southern Oklahoma City. Our feature presentations will start at 2:30 p.m. with the business meeting following at 4:15 p.m. The street address is 1617 SW 74th Street and the phone number is 685-5414.
If you take the exit at Pennsylvania coming from the east, you pass right by the entrance. If you’re coming on Pennsylvania itself, there’s an entrance from the street to the north of Denny’s.
2:30 PM
4:15 PM
Minutes of April Meeting
Oklahoma Space Alliance met April 13, 2013 at the Denny’s on the I-240 access road on the north side just east of Pennsylvania Avenue in southern Oklahoma City. Attending were Steve, Karen and Brian Swift, Syd Henderson, Claire McMurray and Dennis Wigley.
This was our Celebration of Manned Spaceflight, so there was little in the way of club business.
What’s Happening in Space?
Quote: “I’d like to die on Mars, just not on impact,” Elon Musk.
SpaceX’s Grasshopper rocket successfully completed its 80-meter hover test. You can watch it here: http://www.space.com/20254-spacex-reusable-rocket-grasshopper-test.html. [SpaceX has since completed a 250-meter hover test.]
NASA’s Photo of the Day was “Light Echoes from V836 Monocerotis: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_2472.html.
Christopher J. Cassidy is on the International Space Station. He is a former Navy Seal.
Astronomy photo of the day was the Great Nebula in Orion.
Lockheed Martin launched the SBIRS GEO-2 satellite.
XCOR announced a significant milestone in its Lynx suborbital spacecraft project. Their liquid oxygen piston pump will allow Lynx rockets to launch several times a day.
Three astronauts blasted off on an express ride to the ISS. This requires four orbits before docking rather than the previous thirty.
New Ginormous 4-Billion Panorama from the Curiosity Rover: you can view it at http://tinyurl.com/bslzofa. This is an interactive panorama.
A comet will be passing within 65000 miles of Mars next year.
Orbital Services Antares rocket was erected at a Virginia pad in preparation of an April 17 launch. It’s comparable in size to a Falcon 9.
We watched a video on how to brush your teeth in space, and now you can too: http://www.space.com/20478-how-astronauts-brush-teeth-video.html.
Celebration of Manned Spaceflight:
Quote: “The sky is dark, the Earth is blue,” Yuri Gagarin.
We watched a video, “Yuri Gagarin: First Man in Space.”
Gordon Cooper died on the same day Spaceship One won the Ansari X-Prize.
We watched a series of failed space launches.
Syd and Claire need to contact Soonercon Programming. Will we be doing the hospitality suite again?
[Minutes by OSA Secretary Syd Henderson.]
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 2013 Outreach
January 2012 Outreach
February 2012 Update
March 2012 Outreach
April 2012 Update
May 2012 Outreach
June 2012 Update
July 2012 Outreach
August 2012 Update
September 2012 Outreach
November 2012 Outreach
January 2013 Outreach
February 2013 Update
March 2013 Outreach
April 2013 Update
May 2013 Outreach
Earlier issues of Newsletters
Minutes of January 2012 Meeting*
Minutes of February 2012 Meeting*
Minutes of March 2012 Meeting*
Minutes of April 2012 Meeting*
Minutes of May 2012 Meeting
Minutes of June 2012 Meeting
Minutes of July 2012 Meeting*
Minutes of August 2012 Meeting
Minutes of September 2012 Meeting
Minutes of October 2012 Meeting*
Minutes of November 2012 Meeting*
Minutes of December 2012 Meeting*
Minutes of January 2013 Meeting*
Minutes of February 2013 Meeting
Minutes of March 2013 Meeting*
Minutes of April 2013 Meeting
*Includes notes on OSIDA meeting
Minutes of previous meetings
Contact person for Oklahoma Space Alliance is Claire McMurray
PO Box 1003
Norman, OK 73070
Webmaster is Syd Henderson.
Copyright 2013 Oklahoma Space Alliance.