Mike Simmons, founder and president of Astronomers Without Borders, was interviewed on the Space Show last Friday: Mike Simmons, Friday, 8-29-14 – Thespaceshow’s Blog

 During our 61 minute discussion, Mr. Simmons started out by introducing us to Astronomers Without Borders and visits to Iran and Iraq.  He talked about astronomy as a cultural connection among nations and peoples, especially with young and well educated people around the world.  We discussed the organization and total eclipse tours, trips, and other astro tourism projects.  He mentioned the organization’s Monthly Hangout which is a Google Plus monthly meeting with guests which you can find on YouTube. 

Our guest talked about the Mt. Wilson Observatory in Los Angeles and several listeners asked him about visiting the famous observatory.  The same for Mt. Palomar which is still in use and also in S. California.  Joe asked about the best age to introduce children to astronomy.  Mike then told us about telescopes and pointed us to basic telescopes his organization sells for those interested.  Seehttp://store.astronomerswithoutborders.org. 

Listeners asked Mike about their participation in Uwingu programs, specifically the Beam Me to Mars program.  We learned that the organization has been a beneficiary of Uwingu grants.  Listeners asked about night viewing, light pollution and dark skies programs.  Paul sent in a question inquiring about astronomy and the connection to space exploration & development which are major themes for The Space Show. This provoked an interesting discussion with our guest. 

Near the end of our discussion, Mike talked about astronomy in the arts including astro crafts, astro poetry, space artists, and more.

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Here is a recent announcement about one of their projects, for which they are raising funding on Indiegogo:

Telescopes to Tanzania

The future of children’s science education in Tanzania is
looking brighter than ever.

http://vimeo.com/89799690

Telescopes to Tanzania’s campaign to bring quality science education to the children of the East African nation is off to a fantastic start by raising $11,000 and successfully completing its first phase of building The Center for Science Education and Observatory.

To build on this momentum and share our project with the world we are launching our next phase on Indiegogo – the web’s largest crowd-funding platform.

Your generous support has already been put to work by funding a pioneering Curriculum Development Workshop,  just completed in June 2014 in Tanzania. Attended by all the regional stakeholders – science teachers, school administrators, scientists and government officials – the conference laid the foundation for the development of a national science curriculum integrated with astronomy concepts and applications.  Those gathered at the four-day meeting in Usa River, near Arusha, were able to create the core structure of a space science model for advancing the development of inquiry-based science education in Tanzania.

Once completed, The Center for Science Education and Observatory will become a Tanzanian hub that will have a long-lasting impact nationwide by training teachers, offering hands-on laboratories (including  an astronomical observatory), and providing quality educational resources.

The gateway to the development of Tanzania’s own STEM curriculum has been opened, and the groundwork has been laid to begin the next critical phase of our campaign.

We invite you to visit our official fundraising campaign website on Indiegogo. And in exchange for your support we are offering a wonderful line-up of rewards that will surely remain a lasting keepsake.

To thank all of our donors who are helping make this project possible we have created a Thank You Wall.

• See the full proposal here.
• See the people behind the project
• An East African Model for Science Education

A Standard 6 student looks through a telescope for the first
time during a science workshop at Kalinga Primary School
in northern Tanzania