Sojourner Online

SOJOURNER

The Newsletter of

the Seattle Chapter

The National Space Society

NSS Seattle

ปปปปปปปปปปปปปปปปปปปปป December 1998 ซซซซซซซซซซซซซซซซซซซซซ

The National Space Society is an international membership group

dedicated to furthering the exploration and development of space. The Seattle

chapter mission is to facilitate Space Activism and all pro-Space activities; and to provide

a gathering place for space enthusiasts to meet, exchange information and ideas.

President:   Vince Creisler vincelc@hotmail.com
Vice President: Chris Vancil    CLVANCIL@aol.com
Secretary:      Randy Rumley    rjrumley@juno.com
Treasurer:   David Stuart        xsxs80a@prodigy.com
Editor:    Christopher Erickson aster@wolfenet.com

----------Board of Directors---------

Kelly Caviezel Gary Harrison Christopher Erickson

Susan Harrison Toni Rusi

------------Advisors------------

Terry Burlison

Chapter meetings are held at 7:00 PM on the second Saturday of each month, at the

Museum of Flight; parking is available in the lot North of the museum. To receive

information regarding upcoming events please send your name and addresses

to: Randy Rumley; 12008 S.E. 223rd Drive Kent, WA 98031

XXV

soทjourn(s๒ j๛rn), to stay for a time in a place; live temporarily.

Message from the President

It's finally happening, the International Space Station is beginning to be built. That a Space project could travel so difficult a road-political opposition, Russian economic turmoil, technical difficulties and bureaucratic nightmares--and still be completed will serve as an orbiting symbol of human determination, if nothing else. If the ISS should meet or exceed expectations, becoming the source of

revolutionary discoveries and inventions, perhaps it will also serve as a lesson to doubters about the value of investing in Space. A lesson that really sinks in, so future Space projects will have a smoother path.

Vince Creisler
President, NSS Seattle

URLs:

Advanced Space Propulsion Programs:
http://infinity.msfc.nasa.gov/Public/ps01/spropulsion.html

NASA TV schedule:
http://www.nasa.gov/ntv/breaking.html

Moon Race Home Page:
http://members.aol.com/dsmith6439/moonrace/moonrace1.htm

Election Time Approaches

This month's Sojourner contains the Candidacy Statements for the officer positions within NSS Seattle. Though no positions are contested, it is the policy of NSS Seattle to provide statements from those who are be contending the positions for the coming year. Elections will be held on January 9th, 1999 during the chapter meeting.

Upcoming Meeting

December 12th, 1998

There is no speaker scheduled for this month's meeting. That's not to say that the meeting will be without entertainment though. Next month several members of NSS Seattle will be presenting papers and chairing panels at the RustyCon science fiction convention, and this month we will be practicing. For those who will not be present for the talks in Everett, we invite you to review the presentations at this month's meeting.

Meeting Summary

November 14th

One of the most memorable images of the moon-landing era was that of the astronauts bounding across the lunar surface in the Rover. The complexity of creating the vehicle, and the means to carry it to the moon were major engineering feats overlooked by the general public during a time of mission apathy.

Al Krininger, head of Lunar Rover Engineering Laboratory Support; and Cy Varnum, Lunar Rover Lead Test Engineer were our speakers for last month's meeting, and they well detailed the problems and pleasures of developing the Rover.

Mr Krininger led the group that built the mock-ups and models for the engineering staff in Kent. His talk covered the research done by Boeing into a Mobile Lunar Laboratory (1964-1965) designed to spend two weeks exploring the surface. In 1966, a new Lunar Car was designed that would carry one astronaut, but at the time of the first moon landing no Lunar Rover was schedule for construction. In October of 1969, Boeing got the go-ahead for the Lunar Rover, and delivered it on April 1st, 1971, two weeks ahead of schedule.

Cy Varnum worked for Boeing out of the Kennedy Space Center, and managed the acceptance testing for NASA. Though we in America refer to the Lunar Rover as the Rover, British Leyland (manufacturer of the Land Rover) claimed rights to the name Rover and forced NASA to change the name to Roving Vehicle.

He worked with many different groups and divisions within NASA, which caused the expected headaches, but explained that the two hours working, and six hours giving tours was the hardest part.

The presentations were excellent, from the video of the Apollo 15 mission to the sideways picture of the rover inadvertently taken by an unnamed astronaut who was thrown from the passenger seat.

Though there were other issues to review concerning RustyCon, NorWesCon, and the Officer elections, we spent the rest of the evening remembering the glory days of Apollo.

NSS Seattle, Public Access

A rerun of Terry Burlisons Orbital Rendezvous is scheduled for January 9 from 5:00PM to 7:00PM. This one is very timely, it is excellent material to know when watching Shuttle/ISS launch and assembly.

Several Hundred Small Steps for Mankind

Artist and Apollo Astronaut Alan Bean was at the Museum of Flight on Saturday, November 21st for a signing of his book "Apollo: An Eyewitness Account", a collection of paintings, insights and reflections from Americas fourth moon walker.

On hand were some twenty of the original paintings, which were placed so that the hundreds of people filing through line for the book signing had the chance to study each one. Many thanks to the AAIA for sponsoring this event.

Candidacy Statement for the Office of President

I seek the Presidency of NSS Seattle for 1999, a third year in office, to establish our chapter as a vital, sustainable force for promoting Space. My goal will be to increase member involvement, beyond the handful of
individuals who make up our core group. I will seek more member participation in our activities at Science Fiction conventions and Space events, members conceiving and executing new activities and more members
becoming officers.
This is the only way to ensure NSS Seattle has lasting power.

Vince Creisler

Candidacy Statement for the Office of Vice President

I was born in Washington State and have spent the majority of my life here. Graduating from the Evergreen State College in the 1980s with a BA.
Being a child of the second half of the twentieth century - born just a few years past 1950 - I sat wide eyed as Armstrong and Aldrin first stepped on another world in July 1969. Unlike many others I have never lost that wonder of other worlds, and have made space activism part of the fabric of my life. With the International Space Station being built and a handful of spacecraft being set to explore near space we live in exciting times. I hope to help each of us to become part of this excitement and exploration of our Universe!
Ad Astra!

Chris Vancil

Candidacy Statement for the Office of Treasurer

(A note from our Webmaster: I added this canidate statement into the online version)

For many years I have been interested in helping get Humanity into Space. Part of this support has been participating in groups that are interested in getting people into Space. As current Treasurer of NSS -Seattle I have tried to keep the money matters at a low key level in order for the Seattle Chapter to focus on Space related activities and not spend inordinate time in organizational procedures. If re-elected I will continue on that path of providing organizational support for Space related activities of NSS-Seattle.

David Stuart

Candidacy Statement for the Office of Secretary

I have now been the Secretary of the Seattle NSS chapter for a couple of years. In that time I've met many interesting speakers as well as interesting members. I have enjoyed both the speakers and the discussion afterwards. It is very stimulating to be among people who aren't afraid to think.
I would like to continue as Secretary as it is within my capabilities. Most of my duties involve informing members of what is happening and what is coming up. I would also like to help grow this chapter into a more diverse and active group. This Chapter is now at a point where it is time to think about branching out and start some projects. For instance, we should consider getting involved more in community space education activities. We should also form a committee to deal with the conventions the officers are doing now. With the number of steady attending members we should be able to get some projects off the ground and moving. We just need to organize for this.
I have been reading, watching, and thinking about mankind's operations in space since I saw my first Apollo moon landing. I would like to see more happening in space, both by this country, and others. If we can get interest moving here (home to several aerospace companies), we should be able to get new projects for space.
I hope you will support me as Secretary for the coming year.

Thank you and AD ASTRA!

Randy Rumley

Candidacy Statements for
Board of Directors

We are members of the Board of Directors for the Seattle chapter of the National Space Society. We are listed by the NSS (national) membership as Mr. And Mrs. Gary Harrison (Susan), and we offer this request as consideration for service on the board as one position.
We actively participated in the birth of the Seattle chapter since the first meeting with Karen Cramer in May of 1996. As acting board members and then board members, we helped to send meeting notices, attended special organizational meetings, produced chapter (and national) guidelines, and selected officers from those present.
This year we worked on updating the membership phone tree, researched and reported on internet web sites for the Sojourner, developed requests to business for meeting presentation and chapter resource file. While we are not engineer's or physicists, and there are now many members qualified for this position on the board, we offer to continue the NSS-Seattle work as a hobby, an education, and a way to care for the 21st century.
We believe that the NSS-Seattle should serve to exchange ideas, and promote public interest at such a suitable place as the Museum of Flight. We share the belief that space exploration, and the goals of space activism are important to all people.

Gary A. Harrison

W. Susan Harrison

What's on the web (the ever growing list of URLs):

The Astrobiology Web:http://www2.Astrobiology.Com/astro/

(astrobio@reston.com)

The Virtual Space Museum:http://www.ccas.ru/~chernov/vsm/halls.htm

ISS assembly sequence:http://station.nasa.gov/core.html

Space Place:http://www.thespaceplace.com/

Space Race:http://www.nasm.edu/GALLERIES/GAL114/SpaceRace/

Space Case:http://spot.colorado.edu/~marscase/

Mars Society:http://www.nw.net/mars/

U.S. Congress on the Internet:http://thomas.loc.gov/