History, Rockets

Space Hall of Fame to induct original DC-X team

An announcement from the NM Museum of Space History:

International Space Hall of Fame to Induct Original DC-X Team
Committee Seeks Contact Information For Missing Team Members

 (Alamogordo, New Mexico) –  The International Space Hall of Fame (ISHF) and the New Mexico Museum of Space History are honored to announce that the members of the original Delta Clipper Experimental (DC-X) Team will be inducted into the International Space Hall of Fame (ISHF) on the evening of Saturday, August 17, 2013.

The DC-X Team will be the first group ever inducted into the ISHF. Every member of the DC-X team displayed the qualities required to be an inductee: imagination, achievement, and the dedication to further advance man’s knowledge of the universe, and his ability to explore and develop space for the benefit of all mankind. Many obstacles confronted the DC-X team as they worked towards making the dream of aircraft-like safety for affordable space travel a reality. From underfunding, to a seemingly impossible turn-around time, the team, inspired by famed astronaut and space visionary Pete Conrad, faced each obstacle with renewed determination.

“The success of the DC-X project was the result of a total-team effort encompassing industry, government, consultants and individual supporters and support groups from around the world. This total-team mounted an awesome rapid-prototyping, engineering, management, financial, and political “offensive” that focused on demonstrating that the cost of space travel could decrease while increasing safety and reliability. The program also demonstrated that multi-discipline projects could be carried out in short time spans and with reasonable budgets,” said Lt. Col. Jess Sponable (USAF Ret.), a Government Program Manager for the DC-X project, as he introduced the team at the DC-X/XA 15th Anniversary First Flight Reunion and Future Space Conference held in 2008.

The Induction Ceremony will be held in conjunction with the DC-X First Flight + 20 Anniversary and Spaceplane Conference to be held August 16, 17 & 18, 2013, at Spaceport America, NM, and the New Mexico Museum of Space History in Alamogordo, NM.

The Induction Ceremony will take place on the evening of August 17 in Alamogordo, New Mexico, at the New Mexico State University Alamogordo Tays Special Events Center. The team will join a prestigious group of 154 other inductees, including Neil Armstrong, Gene Kranz, Edwin Aldrin, Gene Cernan, Nicolaus Copernicus, Valentina Tereshkova, Wernher von Braun, and many other space pioneers and visionaries. For a complete list of inductees, visit http://www.nmspacemuseum.org/halloffame.

The Anniversary Committee is requesting assistance in reaching all team members. A complete list of pending inductees can be found at www.dc-xspacequest.org. Names that are highlighted in red are not on the current team contact list. “We are hoping to contact as many of the original team members as possible to let them know about the Induction. Our goal is to have as many team members here for the event as possible. Please contact me directly if you can help us find anyone highlighted on the list,” said Cathy Harper, chair of the committee and public relations director for the New Mexico Museum of Space History.

For more information on the DC-X First Flight + 20 Anniversary and Spaceplane Conference and the DC-X SpaceQuest Exhibit for New Space, contact Cathy Harper at the New Mexico Museum of Space History at 575-437-2840 ext. 41153 or cathy.harper@state.nm.us or visit www.dc-xspacequest.org.

The New Mexico Museum of Space History is a division of the NM Department of Cultural Affairs. For more information, call 575-437-2840 or toll free 1-877-333-6589 or visit the website at www.nmspacemuseum.org.

Space Policy

Space policy roundup – June 14.13

Some space policy items today:

 

Education, History, Space participation

NASA “passport” gives discounts at NASA centers and Shuttle museums

The Passport to Explore Space card gives you benefits at multiple space museums and exhibitions across the country:

Passport to Explore Space holders receive special savings on admission, tours, food and retail at each location. Visit all 14 Visitor Center and space shuttle locations to complete your passport.

More at NASA visitor centers launch new passport for space tourists – collectSPACE.

Earth-bound space tourists hitting the road this summer to tour NASA’s historic launch pads and mission controls, as well as see the retired space shuttles on display, now have their own passport.

The “Passport to Explore Space” is now being offered by the official visitor centers for NASA’s nationwide facilities and the museums that display the space agency’s former orbiter fleet. Guests to the 14 locations in nine states can get the passports stamped with commemorative markers representing each of the centers, earning them offers and discounts in the process.

Education, Rocketry, Rockets

Rocket Week at NASA Wallops – students/educator build payloads for sounding rockets

An announcement from NASA Wallops:

Students and Teachers Become Rocket Scientists at
NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility

WASHINGTON — More than 120 students and educators will delve into the world of rocket science June 15-21 during Rocket Week at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on Virginia’s Eastern Shore.

Activities during the week will include a RockOn! workshop for 50 university and community college-level participants, and the Wallops Rocket Academy for Teachers and Students (WRATS) for a high school audience. All attendees will participate in a sounding rocket launch scheduled between 5:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. EDT June 20.

“Rocket Week brings together students and teachers from across the country to experience first-hand the exciting world of rocketry,” said Joyce Winterton, senior advisor for education and leadership development at Wallops. “For students, it provides them valuable experience to blend with academics for their future STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) careers. The educators gain valuable experience to expand their curriculum in the classroom and mentor students for STEM majors and careers.”

RockOn! Introduces participants to building small experiments that can be launched on suborbital sounding rockets. Now in its sixth year, the workshop is conducted in partnership with the Colorado and Virginia Space Grant Consortia.

“Working with NASA, we have developed a step approach to expand the skills needed for students to enter STEM careers,” said Chris Koehler, director of the Colorado Space Grant Consortium. “RockOn! is the first step, followed by RockSat-C and then RockSat-X. Each step is technically more challenging than the previous one, allowing the students to expand the skills needed to support the aerospace industry.”

The RockOn! participants will build standardized experiments to be launched on a NASA Terrier-Improved Orion suborbital sounding rocket. The 35-foot-tall rocket is expected to fly to an altitude of about 75 miles. After launch and payload recovery, the participants will conduct preliminary data analysis and discuss their results.

Nine custom-built Rocksat-C experiments, developed at universities that previously participated in a RockOn! Workshop, also will fly inside a payload canister on the rocket. About 50 students who designed and built the experiments will be attend Rocket Week.

Also attending will be university participants in RockSat-X. They are previous Rocksat-C participants who will fly six custom-built experiments aboard a sounding rocket from Wallops in August.

In the WRATS program, 20 high school teachers from Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and the District of Columbia will learn about the dynamics of rocketry and the science gained from suborbital sounding rockets to reinforce STEM concepts they teach in their classrooms. They also will attend the planned sounding rocket launch.

These programs continue NASA’s investment in the nation’s education programs by supporting the goal of attracting and retaining students in STEM disciplines critical to the future of space exploration.

For more information about the WRATS programs, visit:  http://education.wff.nasa.gov

The RockOn! and WRATS workshops are supported by NASA’s Sounding Rocket Program. RockOn! also is supported by NASA’s Office of Education and NASA’s National Space Grant College and Fellowship Program in partnership with the Colorado and Virginia Space Grant Consortia.

For more information on RockOn! and RockSat, visit: http://spacegrant.colorado.edu/rockon

For more information about NASA’s education programs, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/education

Everyone can participate in space