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August 30, 2004

NSS at the Republican Convention

NSS is helping, along with the Space Foundation, to sponsor a reception at the Republican National Convention Tuesday evening, August 31st, honoring congressional support for the new Moon-Mars vision. "Space Jam" will be held at Studio 450; a number of New York chapter members were able to get tickets, but unfortunately available tickets for the event have now been exhausted. We'll report back on how it goes! [Note: this has been corrected from an earlier report that the "Coalition for Space Exploration" was the sponsor].

Posted by apsmith at 09:52 PM | Comments (1)

August 27, 2004

Fall NSS Conference

The Huntsville Alabama L5 chapter of NSS is organizing a Fall Conference for the society and local space enthusiasts. Dates are Friday, November 12 through Sunday, November 14. Check the flyer for details - and send it in soon if you might want to be one of the speakers!

Posted by apsmith at 10:52 AM | Comments (0)

August 18, 2004

George Whitesides Testimony - Videos

On May 3, 2004, in New York City, NSS Executive Director George Whitesides testified before the Aldridge Commission, the presidential commission tasked with determining how to implement the new exploration vision, or "Moon, Mars, and Beyond" as they put it. The commission website at moontomars.org seems to have been taken down, but we've been able to obtain video copies of George's testimony:


[Note: both are about 10 Megabytes in size!]


Thanks to Ben Nault of the Tucson chapter for saving these videos!

Posted by apsmith at 10:57 AM | Comments (0)

August 13, 2004

Senate Bill S.2772

The US Senate is considering a bill S.2772, which corresponds to House Bill HR 3752, intended to promote the development of a suborbital space tourism industry. There are some wording changes between the two, which are believed likely to be resolved in favor of the senate bill, if they ever reach conference. This all seems like a good idea, although some people still have reservations about the regulatory aspects. Read the bill and write your senator with your thoughts.

The full bill title is:
To promote the development of the emerging commercial human space flight industry, to extend the liability indemnification regime for the commercial space transportation industry, to authorize appropriations for the Office of the Associate Administrator for Commercial Space Transportation, and for other purposes.

Posted by apsmith at 12:22 AM | Comments (0)

Next Meetup - September 7

Register with space.meetup.com - starting next Tuesday (August 17th) you will be able to vote on a location to meet other space enthusiasts in your area - including those who are not NSS members. The latest NSS Online Report featured a link to the next Meetup; chapters who do not already have other events planned are encouraged to support these.

Read on for a list of locations with the largest numbers signed up so far. Recruit just a handful of people in your neighborhood, and you could be in the top dozen too!

1. New York City (13 members)
2. Santa Clara County, CA (6)
3. San Francisco, CA (6)
4. Washington, DC (5)
5. San Mateo County, CA (4)
6. Orlando, FL (3)
7. Portland, OR (3)
8. Suffolk County, NY (3)
9. Nassau County, NY (3)
10. Hollywood-East LA, CA (3)
11. Houston, TX (3)
12. Arlington / Irving, TX (3)

Posted by apsmith at 12:16 AM | Comments (0)

August 07, 2004

Top 100 Space Leaders at space.com

Forwarded from Jim Muncy of Space Frontier Foundation:
Dear Fellow Advocates,

I just saw a SpaceNews website link advertising a request for
nominations of 100 People who made a difference in Space.

This is an easy and obvious opportunity for us to all nominate
the person who, more than any other, laid out the vision of a hopeful
future for humanity expanding into the space frontier: Gerard O'Neill.

Please take a couple minutes, go to the link below, and either
send them an e-mail or print out the form and fax it in.

http://www.space.com/php/spacenews/top100/

Posted by apsmith at 02:58 AM | Comments (2)

August 05, 2004

August 3rd: Meetup, Space walk, and messenger

At least a few NSS chapters managed to connect with their local Space Exploration Meetup this past Tuesday. The idea is to do something the same time every month - right now 8:00 pm (local time) the first Tuesday. Our Suffolk County meetup had 3 people at a Borders cafe, which served us free lemon squares - quite pleasant really.


August 3rd also saw the successful completion of a spacewalk from ISS by Gennady Padalka and Michael Fincke, the only two astronauts in space right now. This will allow automated docking of robotic supply vehicles - the European ATV.


And on the same day, Messenger started its long trek to the planet Mercury. A good day for space!

Posted by apsmith at 02:47 AM | Comments (0)

August 02, 2004

Elaine Walker on Mars (on Earth)!

Follow along with Elaine Walker (NSS Regional Board Member) as she describes activities at the NASA Haughton-Mars Project this season in her own words. Elaine is working on the NASA HMP's Education and Public Outreach efforts this year on Devon Island (Arctic Mars) in the Canadian High Arctic. Elaine's journal can be read on the NASA HMP's official website http://www.marsonearth.com.

Last year Elaine was president of the New York City chapter.

Posted by apsmith at 09:43 AM | Comments (0)