OKLAHOMA SPACE ALLIANCE
Oklahoma Space Alliance Home
OSIDA met at 1:30 p.m. on November 8 at the Oklahoma Department of Transportation Building in Oklahoma City. Syd Henderson attended on behalf of Oklahoma Space Alliance. Board members attending were the Chair, General Ken McGill, Phil Kliewer, Jack Bonny, Lou Sims, and Joe King. There were only about 6 people in the audience that were not connected with OSIDA.
There will be an Assignment and Assumption
signing on December 5, marking the official transfer of the title of the Clinton-Sherman Industrial Airpark to the Oklahoma Space Industry Development Authority. This marks the end of years of work. The name of the Airpark will be officially changed to the Oklahoma Spaceport. However, there are many signs which point to the Clinton-Sherman Industrial Airpark, and these will not be changed in the near future. The actual signing will be on the afternoon of Tuesday, December 5 in the City Council Chamber of Clinton City Hall. There will be a meeting of the Oklahoma Space Industry Development Authority at 5:30 p.m. The signing and meeting will be open to the public. Because of this special meeting, there will be no meeting on December 13.
OSIDA Executive Director Bill Khourie reported on the X-Prize Cup. Essentially, it was a repeat of what they had last year, with the same attractions and booths. There were about 8000 people at the event. One new thing was the Lunar Lander Challenge, which is for a craft with at least 25 kg of payload to take off vertically, hover for 90 seconds, travel a hundred metres horizontally and land precisely on a small concrete pad, then refuel and make the return journey. The only entry this year was from Armadillo Aerospace. Their craft, Pixel, did manage the first actual flight, but one leg missed the landing pad and the Pixel tilted at 45 degrees. On the second attempt, they lost a from the spacecraft, and the third attempt crashed on takeoff.
OSIDA set out its meeting schedule for 2007. Meetings will generally continue to be at 1:30 p.m. on the second Wednesday of each month at the Oklahoma Department of Transportation building in Oklahoma City, which is convenient for the Oklahoma government offices since it neighbors the State Capitol. There may be one meeting at the National Weather Center in Norman. Mr. Bonny wants to have a meeting at the State Capitol in March, or possibly April.
[Editor's Notes: There is usually one meeting in the winter which gets moved or cancelled because of a legislative conference in Washington. I believe this is in February.
It's unclear to me whether the 2006 elections will affect OSIDA at all. Governor Henry was re-elected, and the Republican Lieutenant Governor Mary Fallin, was replaced by a Democrat, Jari Askins. (Ms. Fallin was elected Congresswoman from the 5th District.) The State Senate, which was 26 - 22 Democratic, is now split evenly, but, since the Lieutenant Governor is the tiebreaker, the Democrats retain control, possibly with a power-sharing arrangement. This is the first time a chamber of the legislature has been tied, so there are no precedents for Oklahoma. The House is still controlled by the Republicans, but, since the Minority Leader was Jari Askins, and she defeated the Speaker, Todd Hiett, in the race for Lieutenant Governor, both parties will be changing leaders. Still, the election pretty much left the status quo--in the state of Oklahoma, that is--so I don't expect much to change.]
To contact Oklahoma Space Alliance, e-mail Syd Henderson.
PO Box 1003
Norman, OK 73070
Copyright ©2006 Oklahoma Space Alliance.