Oklahoma Space Alliance is the central Oklahoma Chapter of, National Space Society, one of the largest space advocacy groups in the country, and has existed for more than 20 years. Our own group is small, and we are interested in increasing our membership. Our purposes include promoting the exploration and development of space, educating the public to current events in space and the usefulness of an active space program, all with the intent of promoting a space-faring civilization.
Oklahoma Space Alliance hosted the 23rd Annual International Space Development Conference on May 27-31, 2004. We previously hosted three Regional Space Development Conferences, assisted with earlier ISDCs, put displays in malls, hosted lectures, sponsored television interviews, hosted viewing nights, worked with other space-oriented groups and maintained local contact with the Oklahoma Space Industry Development Authority.
Oklahoma Space Alliance helped out with the 2007 International Space Development Conference which was hosted by the National Space Society of North Texas in Dallas Texas from May 24 - 28, 2007, and put together a commemorative exhibit for the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11. This exhibit ran through July of 2009. (See below for details.)
We do bimonthly newsletters called Outreach and Update to keep our members informed of current developments in space and upcoming events they might be interested in. Editor of Outreach is Syd Henderson and editor of Update is Claire McMurray.
Note on Meeting Times
Beginning with the August meeting, Oklahoma Space Alliance will be meeting on the second Saturday of each month, one week earlier than was previously our custom.
August Meeting
Oklahoma Space Alliance will meet at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, August 14 at Tom and Heidi Koszoru’s house in Norman. Prospective members are also welcome. The house is at 514 Fenwick Court in Norman.
To get the meeting either: (1) Take the Robinson Street west exit off I-35. Proceed west to 36th Street where you will turn left, and go south until you turn left on Rambling Oaks (about half a mile north of Main Street). Fenwick Court is the third street on the left. Tom's house is the last on the left side, or (2) Take the Main Street west exit off I-35, proceed west past the Sooner Fashion Mall, and turn right at 36th Street, and go north until you turn right on Rambling Oaks (about half a mile north of Main Street). Fenwick Court is the third street on the left. The Koszoru house is the last on the left side.
Agenda:
Minutes of July meeting
Oklahoma Space Alliance met at the Koszoru house on July 17.
Attending were Tom and Heidi Koszoru, John Northcutt and Syd Henderson. We also communicated with Claire McMurray and Tim Scott by telephone for voting purposes.
Several of our members have frequent conflicts which make it difficult to get to meetings on the third Saturday of the month. Claire requested that we change to a different weekend of the month, and the one with the fewest conflicts is the second Saturday. This passed unanimously, including phone votes from Claire and Tim, who were two of the members who had conflicts. Thus the August meeting will be on the 14th.
Note that OSIDA meets on the second Wednesday of the month, which follows the second Saturday three months out of seven, so many OSIDA updates will have to appear in the newspaper for the following month. This already happens when the OSIDA meeting happens the Wednesday before a meeting and it’s a month when Outreach is mailed, since that has to go out before Wednesday afternoon. It will now happen a lot more often.
Syd, to his surprise, found himself in possession the money from the “Tom Doesn’t Sing Fund” from the 2004 ISDC. It amounted to $195 for this good cause, plus a $100 check which was never cashed and has expired. Tom thinks the money should go to the Foundry, assuming that still exists. The Foundry goes (or went) through the Huntsville NSS chapter, which is hosted the 2011 International Space Development Conference.
Claire found the clipboard with the signup sheet from SoonerCon. This added eight people to the mailing list, and several to the e-mail list, of which four addresses bounced.
The University of South Dakota has classes on grant funding.
Tom Stafford’s daughter likes the idea of having Yuri’s Night at the Stafford Museum.
Can an OU professor assign promotion of the Oklahoma Spaceport as a class project? We also need to check with OSIDA to see if such promotion is kosher.
We voted to support Starbase through personal donations. Tom donated $20. Syd will donate at the next meeting. Do we need to get the money to Tim? We’re pledged to donate $100 which a fraction of the actual cost.
Rocketplane Limited and its daughter companies, Rocketplane Kistler and Global Rocketplane, have declared bankruptcy. This ends the Pioneer Rocketplane saga. It received millions of dollars in tax breaks from the Oklahoma legislature to launch space tourists from the Oklahoma Spaceport. Rocketplane Limited (the family tree is complicated) left Oklahoma in February 2009 and never launched a thing.
August OSIDA Meeting
The August meeting of the Oklahoma Space Industry Development Authority has been canceled. The next meeting is September 8.
Report on July 14 OSIDA Meeting
The Oklahoma Space Industry Development Authority met on July 14 at the Oklahoma Department of Transportation Building. Board members present were new chairman Jack Bonny, Gilmer Capps, Lou Sims, Cal Hobson, Ken McGill and Joe King. There were six in the audience.
The security fence at the Oklahoma Spaceport was completed about a week before the meeting. Since then there have been two incidents of cars crashing into the fence, one by the highway patrol. There was $2600 worth of damage done.
Armadillo Aerospace has requested from the FAA permission to fly up to 50,000 feet. FAA wants a radius where the vehicle could possible land. Armadillo would fly under regulations from the Office of Commercial Space.
Leftover FAA money from PAPI (Precision Approach Path Indicators) can be used at the Oklahoma Airport in Elk City if that is okay. This money has to go to an FAA program so it can’t go to the Spaceport.
Bill Khourie was designated to go to a meeting with the Starbase people.
Apollo 11 Anniversary Library Exhibit
Oklahoma Space Alliance chapter of the National Space Society put together an exhibit commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing. Photographs and a description of this exhibit are online here: Apollo 11 Library Exhibit. The display ran through the month of July, 2009..
The Stafford museum in Weatherford, Oklahoma has offered to take the exhibit. Since the books belong to some of our members, we may have to make some substitutions. The Museum will have all rights to the exhibit once they have it.
Outreach & Update
August 2010 Update
January 2009 Outreach
February 2009 Update
March 2009 Outreach
April 2009 Update
May 2009 Outreach
June 2009 Update
July 2009 Outreach
September 2009 Outreach
October 2009 Update
November 2009 Outreach
December 2009 Update and addendum
January 2010 Outreach
February 2010 Update and addendum
March 2010 Outreach
(The April 2010 Update was included with the June.)
May 2010 Outreach
April & June 2010 Update
July 2010 Outreach
Earlier issues of Newsletters
Minutes of January 2009 meeting
Minutes of February 2009 meeting
Minutes of March 2009 meeting
Minutes of April 2009 meeting
Minutes of May 2009 meeting and activities
Minutes of June 2009 meeting and activities
Minutes of July 2009 meeting
Minutes of August 2009 meeting
Minutes of September 2009 meeting
Minutes of October 2009 Activity
Minutes of November 2009 Meeting
Minutes of December 2009 Meeting
Minutes of January 2010 Meeting*
Minutes of February 2010 Meeting*
Minutes of March 2010 Meeting*
Minutes of April 2010 Activities*
Minutes of May 2010 Meeting and Activities*
Minutes of June 2010 Meeting
Minutes of July 2010 Meeting*
*Includes notes on OSIDA meeting
Minutes of previous meetings
Contact person for Oklahoma Space Alliance is Claire McMurray
PO Box 1003
Norman, OK 73070
Webmaster is Syd Henderson.
Copyright 2010 Oklahoma Space Alliance.