January 2004
No HAL5 monthly program due to conflict with New Year's holiday.

February 2004
HAL5 members meeting. Group discussed changes at NSS Headquarters, upcoming HAL5 and NSS events (2004 ISDC, Legislative Conference), and the future of Project HALO. Members suggested topics for future HAL5 Program Nights. Members voted to hold a HALO party at the 2004 ISDC. Preliminary dates set for Project HALO milestones (engine firing, launcher demo). Members agreed to pursue HAL5 hosting a fall meeting of the NSS Board of Directors.

March 2004
HAL5 free public lecture on "Homebuilt Aerospace Vehicles: A Retrospective and a Prospective" with guest speaker Dr. John Bossard, rocket engineer and HAL5 member.

April 2004
HAL5 free public lecture on "Back to the Future: Applying Thermal Control Experiences on Apollo Lunar Rover Project to Rovers for New Exploration Initiative" with guest speaker Mr. Ronald A. Creel, Space Systems Engineer and HAL5 member, Former Member of the Apollo Lunar Roving Vehicle Team.

May 2004
HAL5 and Huntsville Library joint public lecture on "Light this Candle: Alan Shepard, The Mercury 7, and America's First Manned Space Flights" with guest speaker Mr. Ed Buckbee, Director Emeritus of the U.S. Space & Rocket Center, Founder of Space Camp, and Author of an upcoming biography on astronaut Alan Shepard.

Greg, Ronnie and Rebecca attend the 2004 ISDC in Oklahoma City. Ronnie and Greg participated in a half-day NSS Strategic Planning Workshop, NSS Committees meetings and NSS Board of Directors meeting. HAL5 hosted a great HALO room party and assisted with a 2005 ISDC room party.

June 2004
HAL5 members meeting. Group discussed what happened at the 2004 ISDC, especially the Board approval of holding a second meeting in November in Huntsville. After discussion on utilizing this forum to simultaneously hold a small conference, members approve HAL5 hosting a regional conference in conjunction with the November Board of Directors meeting. This would be HAL5's first major NSS conference since the 1993 ISDC. Ronnie will be Chair and selects the Sheraton Hotel at the Huntsville International Airport as the conference site.

Aerospace pioneer Burt Rutan makes space history by having his privately-developed, hybrid rocket-powered, manned SpaceShipOne achieve an altitude over 100 kilometers, the international border of space. HAL5 member Tim Pickens designed the hybrid rocket motor for Burt Rutan, based on work begun in HAL5's HALO program. Tim Pickens is an invited guest at this historic first launch of SpaceShipOne. Ronnie Lajoie and Tim Pickens are separately interviewed by the press and articles appears on page 1 of the June 23 and June 28 issues (respectively) of the Huntsville Times. Overshadowed by the human aspects of this historic flight, this flight is also a first for hybrid rocket motors in reaching space.

July 2004
HAL5 free public lecture on "Welcome to the Garage Age of Space Exploration" with guest speaker Mr. Tim Pickens, rocket engineer and HAL5 member. Ronnie participates in the NSS-hosted "Moon-Mars Blitz" in Washington, D.C.

August 2004
HAL5 members meeting on "Elections, SSDC, and Pizza Party". Had about 10 attendees. Group elected new HAL5 Officers, and then discuss the upcoming November NSS conference. Initial Web site for November conference debuts on August 27. The Web site is updated and enhanced almost daily up until the first day of the conference on November 12.

September 2004
HAL5 members meeting on SSDC 2004. Despite being our first conference in over 11 years, SSDC 2004 does not seem to be inspiring the bulk of HAL5 membership, nor local regional chapters, as had been hoped. The new members recruited to help with conference, however, are very inspired, and will eventually result in 3 new officers, filling our Executive Committee for first time in years.

A beautiful new poster for the November conference, designed by Carrie Alderfer of Chromaddict designs, debuts on September 29. Copies of the poster are quickly made and distributed to volunteers for posting all over the town and local region. Meanwhile, HAL5 free publicity Chair Evelyn is heroically working hard to promote the conference by all other means - our biggest, and most successful, publicity campaign since the 1993 ISDC.

October 2004
HAL5 members meeting on SSDC 2004. Still getting more during weekly SSDC meetings. During October, much progress is made on finalizing speakers and room layouts. Tours continue to evolve (especially pricing), but Web pages are added to SSDC Web site in early October, as is a detailed program grid showing the status of speakers. Pages on the few vendors and exhibits are added in late October; as is an "All-in-One" form.

A great article on the conference appears in the local Valley Planet newspaper on October 31 (no copy available), to be followed in early November with similar promotion in the larger Huntsville Times. Despite the best support in years from local media, and the lowest possible registration prices imaginable, turnout from the general public will be far below expectations, especially from the target high school and university student population.

November 2004
HAL5 members meeting on SSDC 2004. HAL5 hosts its first major conference since the 1993 ISDC on November 12 through 14. After a delayed start of operations, everything proceeds mostly smoothly. Attendance is well below what had been hoped , but a slight profit is made thanks to donations and careful tracking of finances that allowed for last minute deletion of planned expenses (e.g., program book). Sheraton Hotel was pleased with turnout and made a slight profit too. Even our one vendor (Barnes & Noble) was happy with its limited sales. NSS Board of Directors meetings were very well attended.

December 2004
HAL5 free public lecture on "Inflatable Space Habitats and In-Situ Propulsion for Lunar Exploration" with guest speaker Mr. James R. Hopkins, Senior Mechanic Systems Engineer and HAL5 member.

HAL5 Christmas Party.