National Space Society Florida Space Coast Chapter Minutes and Notes, December 13 Meeting
Time: 6:00
Location:
Ryan’s Portside Bar & Grill
555 Glen Cheek Drive
Port Canaveral, FL
321-799-4349
Attendance:
Fred Becker
Brad Byron
Jen Bailey
Tim Bailey
Robert Driscole
Helen Kane
Ross Tierney
Bob Waterman
1. Pluto Launch Public Viewing Event With LISATS
We opened the meeting with discussions of what kind of launch viewing events we want to provide. Ideas ranged from tour boat charters, the local HAM radio club viewing area, beach events, having a banner, TV coverage, hotels, the piers, along the river, food, NSS and NASA literature handouts, and so on. We decided that we will meet for the Pluto launch on January 17 at the Launch Information Service and Amateur Television System (LISATS) station on the 528 causeway near
Port Canaveral. Here is the link: http://www.lisats.org/. We have
now contacted Ernest Baldini from LISATS and they would like us to join them at their station. They will have a radio hookup with all the launch status coming over a PA. Note that the launch date may change. This is the current date.
Action: Someone to author the “NSS Space Coast Guide to NASA Launch Viewing.” It turns out that Robert Osband from LISATS has already compiled a web site that is along these same lines:
http://spacelaunchinfo.com/faq.html
Action: We will obtain NASA mission literature for the Pluto New Horizons mission in order to hand it out to the public. We will also see if NSS literature such as extra Ad Astra magazines are available.
Action: We need a large banner or two made up. The title should be:
“National Space Society
Florida Space Coast Chapter
So those who are able to attend, please mark your calendars:
NSS Florida Space Coast / LISATS Viewing of the Historic Pluto New Horizons Launch January 17, LISATS Point” (528 Causeway), T minus four hours and on.
Info: www.lisats.org
2. Mailing List and Listserv
We may create an automated mailing signup feature on our web page. Bob Waterman is considering this for us.
We discussed this excellent space site, which has space news and an informative space forum. How to get from Shuttle to CEV is a major topic there.
4. History of Cape Canaveral.
We talked about the orange groves, fishing camps and other features that used to make up Cape Canaveral before space came. We also talked about the future plans for Pads 39 A and B.
5. Zero-G Corporation Relocation to Brevard County
The Zero Gravity Corporation conducted four weightless flights from NASA’s Shuttle Landing Facility in the month of November. The response was so positive, that ZERO-G is now looking into moving operations to KSC permanently. Currently, ZERO-G is in discussions to obtain office space in the Astronaut Memorial Foundation building among other locations. In addition, Tim Bailey was just hired by the Florida Space Research Institute (FSRI) to coordinate the selling of ZERO-G microgravity research flights. This new partnership with FSRI and ZERO-G will bring more research dollars to Florida.
6. Yuri’s Night
Tim Bailey is also a member of the Executive Board for Yuri’s Night. Every April 12, the whole planet celebrates the anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s flight and the launch of STS-1. Yuri’s Night is a time to let loose and have a party for those brave space pioneers. Our chapter held an event last April 12, putting Cape Canaveral on the map.
7. Florida Space 2005 and Florida Space 2006
We talked about this recent event. The committee meets in January to start planning for Orlando in 2006. We talked about the need for the significance of the space program to be shown to the public in areas such as spinoffs and why certain space missions are being flown.
8. FSRI Newsletetter
The FSRI has a newsletter that can serve as an additional publicity outlet for our chapter events.
With that, the meeting adjourned.
Fred Becker
VP and Secretary
Prior meeting topics.
1. Space Spring Break
An initiative for a nationwide campaign for a Space Spring Break for students is on the agenda for a possible future project. The concept is to hold an educational and fun event for students.
2. Zero-G Flight Educational Outreach
Another possible future project may be for our chapter to raise funds to sponsor a local educator to fly weightless on the Zero-G Corporation vehicle. This vehicle may be coming to use the Shuttle Landing Facility as a base of operations. It may be that Virgin Galactic flights will come to KSC some day too.
Reference on Ongoing Events
1. Chapter Monthly Social
Our chapter meets monthly on the second Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. These meetings are held at Paddy Cassidy’s in Cocoa Beach. Paddy’s is located in the Publix shopping center near Ron Jon’s Surf Shop.
2. Speaker Meetings
We will also have quarterly speaker meetings to be widely publicized. These will take place at the Florida Space Authority headquarters in Cape Canaveral. This is located on the north side of the port, near the Navajo missile display and NASA South Gate. The next speaker is to be announced, selected by Sue Gaines.
A possible speaker might be Guenter Wendt, who we could ask to speak at a venue in Titusville, perhaps the Space Walk of Fame Museum in Searstown Mall. Update: this museum may have to relocate in the next few months due to a pending rent increase.
http://www.collectspace.com/padleader/home.html
www.spacewalkoffame.com/index.html
3. National Space Club luncheons.
