Artsnova Digital Art and Space

Astronomy Day

Yesterday was Astronomy Day. I had been asked to speak at the Astronomy Day event at Harper College in Palatine IL. My presentation was The Universe According to Monty Python in which I spend an hour explaining the lyrics of the two minute long Galaxy Song which was featured in the movie The Meaning of Life.

I must say that for a bunch of comedians they did a pretty good job of getting their astronomy right but they did have professional help. During the course of my talk lots of big numbers get thrown around. As a rule the best laugh comes with my follow up to the line about the sun being the source of all our power where I segue into an explanation of nucleosynthesis. Whereas Carl Sagan looked at the situation through rose colored glasses when he said that we’re all made of “starstuff”, I level with the audience and tell them the truth: that we’re all nothing more than nuclear waste. Folks really seem to like hearing this.

Also, as a rule, people do not raise questions about the astronomical aspects of my talk but do ask questions when the subject turns to cosmology and relativity. To me this is only natural as those concepts are more alien to our everyday experiences and touch on the very nature of the universe.

For contrast, this Tuesday I’ll be giving a talk to all the third graders at a local grade school. My talk is The Solar System in 3D and the kids get to wear geeky red-blue anaglyph glasses. Believe it or not, third graders are a great audience. They are very curious and not at all afraid to ask questions.

Ad Astra, Jim

NASA Lunar Base

A 1949 Gallup poll of Americans found that only 15% of the public believed that man would walk on the Moon by 2000. How is it that we accomplished this by 1969? Of course the Cold War and a series of Soviet space firsts played the lead role. But space art also played a role in providing for the population a visualization of what space exploration could be like.

Space art still has a role to play in exposing the public to the vision of what it would mean to truly become a spacefaring civilization. There is a precedent for art’s ability to shape public policy. One of my favorite artists is Thomas Moran, an outstanding painter of the Hudson River School. One of Moran’s landscape subjects was Yellowstone, which he visited as part of an expedition in 1871. His paintings of the landscape had such an impact on the public that in 1872 Yellowstone was made our nation’s first national park. If you would like to know more about Thomas Moran and his art, I recommend the book Thomas Moran.

Peter A. Nisbet, a well known landscape artist who was part of the NASA Art Program, said that “Art is about what words cannot express. Many things have happened in the exploration of space that people cannot know through photographs or newspapers/television reporting. It is the artist’s task to bring forth the mysterious, the exalted, the great beauty and power surrounding these events.”

Later this month I will be attending the International Space Development Conference in Washington D.C. While it has not yet been confirmed, I expect to be giving a presentation on space art and its power to promote space exploration. Titled Using Art to Promote Space Exploration, the presentation is part history, part call to action. To be considered for a programming slot, I had to submit a 500 word abstract. Imagine my surprise when upon finishing the abstract I discovered that I was over 1,000 words. Heavy handed editing got me down to the 500 world limit. Following is the abstract that I submitted.

Title: Using Art to Promote Space Exploration
Author: Jim Plaxco
Abstract:

In the beginning there was astronomical art whose purpose was to illustrate planetary bodies and astronomical concepts. With the advent of science fiction space art came into being as a means of illustrating fictional space ships and off-Earth habitations.

In the 1950’s space art migrated from the realm of science fiction to science when artists were commissioned to create illustrations for non-fiction books describing space exploration. A peak of public relations was reached during this period with a series of articles in Collier’s Magazine which became the basis for a subsequent series of programs created by Disney for television.

In 1962 NASA created the NASA Art Program to document and celebrate the events and activities of the space program. This and other art commissioned by NASA has been used for multiple purposes including: technical illustration of hardware; public affairs imagery promoting particular programs; capturing the emotional impact of space exploration; illustrating scientific discoveries.

Throughout the space age art has been used as a means of visualizing and promoting space exploration. The target of this art has been both the public and public policy decision makers. This art focused on the Apollo program during the 1960’s; the Shuttle program during the 1970’s; the International Space Station during the 1980’s and 1990’s; and the Vision for Space Exploration during the 2000’s. Today the main customers for professional non-fictional space art are space agencies, aerospace companies, and those publications that cover the field.

Recent years has seen the addition of marketing the images returned by various robotic missions as art. The initial such project was “Mars As Art” which used Mars Odyssey THEMIS data. Subsequently “The Sun As Art“, “Landsat: Earth As Art” and “Our Earth As Art” programs were launched. These programs raise public interest in space exploration. This is best exhibited by the extensive media and public attention that images from the Hubble Space Telescope have garnered.

In addition to commissioning art to illustrate its programs, NASA has also sponsored art contests targeting students. The positive relationship between space exploration and student interest in science is a long accepted one. By sponsoring these contests, NASA is spurring student interest in science, art, and space exploration, as well as heightening awareness of their own programs.

NASA has leveraged art to satisfy multiple objectives. The space activist community should take advantage of these lessons. NSS has embarked on a program of support for the space arts. In addition to the traditional venue of commissioning art for Ad Astra, recent years have seen space art programming and shows at the ISDCs. Additionally NSS has conducted two successful Space Settlement Art Contests. NSS leveraged the art submitted to these contests by building corresponding art galleries on the NSS web site and using the winning art to publish calendars promoting space settlement.

As chair of the NSS Web Oversight Committee, I plan to advocate for the creation of a Student Space Art Gallery to spur student interest in art and space exploration.

Moon Base Illustration

The art used to illustrate this post is of an advanced lunar base and was used as an illustration in the 1992 multivolume NASA publication Space Resources. The entire publication is available as a PDF download from the NSS Space Resources Library.

Ad Astra, Jim

Abstract Experiment in Rotation

I’m back from a weekend of Capricon. Unfortunately I was only able to spend Saturday morning at the con as my wife had to work and my oldest son was home sick. The only presentation I attended was Bryan Palaszewski’s Moonbases: Not For The Weak Minded Pirate. The first half was mostly devoted to discussing the Apollo lunar program and the second half dealt with moon base designs.

Following Bryan’s program I headed off to the Art Show where the first person I saw was one of my favorite ladies of SF, Lori, who was running this year’s art show. I also ran into friend and space artist Tom Peters who had some art in the show. We only had a few minutes to talk before he and his wife had to head off. I took this, my one opportunity, to walk through the art show and look at the art on display. Much of the art was small pencil drawings. The most popular themes seemed to be cats and dragons. One of the ladies working the show told me that “ninety percent of science fiction fans love cats.” In fact the only art on which I observed bids had cats, dragons, or both as the subject. Unfortunately for me I don’t do either dragons or cats. Tom had some space exploration art in the show - the only such art I saw. It seems to me that over the years space ships and astronauts have been on the decline in the local SF art shows. The only two pieces of astronomical art were my own. The most impressive piece in the show was a very large recreation of primitive cave art. It was wonderfully done and I lingered over it far longer than any other piece in the show.

Sunday was a hectic day. I arrived early so that I could begin the process of packing up my art. Fortunately I was able to get into the show area (the doors didn’t officially open till 10:00am) and got my unsold art packed up.

Programming began at 10:00am and I was on for my presentation Imaging Mars which was illustrated with my own Mars images. A good portion of my presentation was actually a tutorial on how people could access the raw Mars mission data for themselves and create their own Martian artwork.

I ran my presentation right up to the hour mark and had to make a mad dash to get to my panel on Podcasting. This panel had very much of a tutorial feel to it in that I and my fellow panelists spent most of our time discussing the how-to aspects of podcasting.

Following the end of the podcasting panel, I had one hour in which to go through the art check out process, get my art into the car, and grab a quick bite of lunch before heading off for my last presentation.

The last hour of programming for Capricon began at 2:00pm and I was surprised to see a nice sized audience for my Space Solar Power for Earth presentation wherein I explain the concept of space solar power and how it benefits both humanity and the environment. Note that the best resource for papers and studies dealing with space solar power is the NSS Space Solar Power Library.

And with that I was out the door feeling that first tickle in my throat that told me that I was probably going to come down with the same bug that caused my son to miss three days of school. Well, better to be sick after a con than before.

Ad Astra, Jim

Femme Fatale digital painting

I returned earlier this evening from the Capricon Science Fiction Convention which this year has pirates as its theme. Back in January I sent in three programming ideas to the Capricon folks for their consideration. Little did I suspect that they would choose to accept all three. I gave the first of my three presentations today. The Universe According to Monty Python is a presentation I created that provides an analysis of the planetary, astronomical, and cosmological statements made in Monty Python’s The Galaxy Song. It’s amazing that one can spend an entire hour explaining the meaning behind the lyrics of a two minute song.

I actually showed up at Capricon on Thursday in order to set up my art for the art show. I decided to limit myself to six works. The newest of the six is Femme Fatale which I’ve used to illustrate this entry. The difficult part was in deciding just what to bring and what to leave behind.

Saturday I am totally off the hook so can roam as I please. However it will be a busy Sunday with my giving two more presentations and sitting in on one panel. My lead off presentation is Imaging Mars in which I provide an introduction to the image processing associated with Mars mission data and an exploration of Martian geology using imagery from the Viking and Mars Global Surveyor missions to Mars. This is immediately followed by the panel Podcasting where we will discuss the technical aspects of creating and syndicating podcasts. Personally I think that podcasts may be on the way out. Given that the computer has a built in screen, that webcams are cheap, and that more and more people have high speed internet access, I predict that videocasting will grow in popularity and that audio podcasting will decline in relative terms. The one saving grace for podcasting is that those MP3 files can easily be loaded into people’s MP3 players and listened to in any kind of setting.

An hour break for lunch and then it’s off to give my presentation on Solar Power from Space for Earth which explores the idea of using a system of space-based Solar Power Satellites to meet the large increases in energy demand resulting from increasing world population and per capita energy consumption.

The Art. The piece that I have used to illustrate this post is titled Femme Fatale. It is a freehand digital painting I created using Photoshop and a custom brush I created for use with my Wacom tablet. I was quite pleased with the result and my only regret is that I decided to create this as an 11 by 14 inch painting. I now wish that I had chosen a larger size. I will be adding this piece to the Artsnova Art Gallery once I create a separate gallery to hold portraiture.

If you’re attending Capricon, be sure to check out the art show and my art.

Ad Astra, Jim

It’s time for Windycon

How quickly a year can pass. It doesn’t seem that long ago that I was posting my schedule for the 2006 Windycon Science Fiction convention. Once again I’ll be a participant in Windycon which opens Friday Nov 9 and continues through Sunday Nov 11. Following is what’s in store for me this year.

The Lunar Barrier Grand Ballroom North, Saturday 11:00:

From 1968 to 1972, eight manned missions reached the Moon. In the past 35 years, man has never risen above low Earth orbit. Will this be the state of manned space exploration for the rest of our lifetimes or will we actually once again rise above Earth’s gravity well? Will we be able to say “To Lunar orbit and beyond!” Panelists: T. Buckell, B. Higgins, J. Plaxco, F. Ruiz, H. Spencer

This should be an interesting panel especially since we have an election coming up in a year. Given that the return to the Moon program is a product of the Bush administration and widely derided by Democrats, I fear that plans for a return to the Moon may be short lived. I find it strange and disappointing that the party that gave us the Apollo missions to the Moon should be so non-supportive of a return visit.

The Vision for Space Exploration Grand Ballroom North, Saturday Noon:

Is NASA’s new preoccupation with a return to the Moon a massive mistake, a wonderful idea, or of no real importance? Where should we be going in space, and how? Panelists: B. Higgins, J. Liss, J. Plaxco, H. Spencer

Another excellent topic of discussion. The Vision for Space Exploration is the most strategic mission that NASA has been given since Apollo. What’s even more amazing is that this program has survived for three years in the current political environment. If the American voters want to see this project last beyond the end of George Bush’s term as President, then we had better do everything humanly possible to make sure that the next president continues to support this vision. One thing you can do to help is to join the National Space Society.

Prints and Originals Orly, Sunday Noon:

You look at the originals and crave them, but the prices seem so high. When should you consider buying a print rather than an original? What exactly does it mean to be a print (and how are they created)? Panelists: P. Charlifu, S.V. Johnson, J. Lee, J. Plaxco, D. Waltz

Looking around my office, I count 8 prints and 4 originals hanging on my walls. Interestingly, I bought three of the originals at a couple of different Windycon art auctions many years ago and they actually cost less than most of the prints I have.

The whole issue of originals vs prints has been further complicated by the advent of digital art and the giclee or giclée. Digital prints represent an entirely new arena. But there is precedent provided by the world of photography. For example, the film negative is analogous to the digital file in that both are the source of the final printed image.

The Windycon art show can be a great place to acquire art at a bargain price. I’ll have several of my own pieces in the show (haven’t decided which yet) so if you’re at the convention, take the time to look for my art in the show.

Politics in the Future Orly, Sunday 2:00:

No, we aren’t interested if you think Dennis Kucinich should run against John Cox in the general election (well, we might be interested, but not for the purposes of this panel). We’re more interested in thoughts of politics in the long term. Will democracy survive? What sort of political systems will exist after mankind colonizes the planets? D. Bingle, J. Lilly, J. Plaxco, W. Thomasson, L. Zeldes

Definitely the most open ended panel I’ll be on. Who knows where this one will go. Interplanetary Fascism in the 23rd century? Technological advances, smallish physically isolated communities, the nature of trade between different settlements, the legal regime of ownership - these will all be ingredients thrown into the mix. And of course the plight of the individual will be a factor as well. To quote Robert LeFevre: “To live is good. To live well is better. To live in abundance, security, and joy is the acme of living.”

See you at Windycon. Jim

Star Map: Mars at 2:23am CST 11/06/2007

Tomorrow night (Tuesday Nov. 6) I’ll be giving a presentation to the Naperville Astronomical Association. Titled Imaging Mars, the lecture will focus on the processing of raw PDS (Planetary Data System) IMG files in order to create attractive pictures of Mars. For the most part I’ll be using images from the Viking orbiters and Mars Global Surveyor. The work flow for transforming these IMG raw data files into finished images is rather straight forward. Things are a little trickier with the Mars Exploration Rover and Mars Odyssey images. As this is an introductory level presentation, I strive to keep it simple.

This is actually a good time to be talking about Mars as an opposition of Mars is fast approaching. On December 18, Mars will make it’s closest approach to Earth this opposition. At that time, Mars will appear 15.9″ arcseconds in diameter as seen from Earth. Not nearly as good as the opposition of 2003 when its diameter was 25.1″ arcseconds but the best we’ll be treated to until 2016. Thus this is an excellent opportunity to check out your local observatory or astronomy club for the opportunity to get a good look at the red planet.

As to my presentation: the Naperville Astronomical Association meeting begins at 7:00pm and is held in downstairs rooms A-B-C of the Naperville Municipal Center at Aurora Ave. and Eagle St. in downtown Naperville IL.

Ad Astra, Jim

I spent this last weekend at the DucKon Science Fiction Convention as the Science Guest of Honor. I was both flattered and honored when the organizers selected me as Science GOH. It is worth pointing out that it was my love of science fiction, especially hard SF and SF dealing with human settlement of the Solar System, that got me interested in science in general and astronomy and planetary geology in particular.

Arriving at the con at 5:00 or so on Friday, I had to get checked in, pick up my registration, and get my artwork set up in the Art Show. I brought seven pieces with me, one of which I donated to the Super-Con-Duck-Tivity Charity Auction. This was especially fun because I told the staffers that they would have to pick which one of my seven pieces they thought would bring in the most money and that would be the one that I would donate. The fun part was listening as they weighed the pros and cons of each piece. In the end they choose NGC 7000, a digital astrophotography piece. The other six pieces in the art show were:

• Fate of the Sister Star - an impressionist interpretation of a supernova,
• In the Stream of Stars - a blue gas giant planet against a background “stream” of stars,
• A Moonish Mars - a view of the region of Pickering Crater created from a composite of Viking orbiter images,
• The Face on Mars - a color rendition of the “Face” using Mars Global Surveyor Narrow Angle Camera data,
• Intus Astrum Navis - a 3D surreal rendering of the interior of an alien star ship,
• Mistress Moon - a Photoshop created version of the Earth’s Moon.

My hat is off to Melissa, who ran the art show, and to Trouble whose assistance was invaluable. Both ladies encouraged me to participate in this fall’s Windycon SF convention and I might just take them up on it.

Friday evening’s activities consisted of the opening ceremonies, the high point for which was having a vulture from the World Bird Sanctuary flying around the room inches over the audience’s heads. Following was the Spacetime Theater’s presentation of Dancing With the Star Wars which was a mix of improv and comedy routines. Following the show I spent my time in conversation with various folks: some old friends and some new.

Saturday was a busy day during which I gave two presentations and chaired one panel. I was pretty happy with how my presentation of The NSS Space Settlement Art Contest turned out. I was even happier to have a full house for my The Universe According to Monty Python talk, which I had to rush somewhat since my analysis of this two and a half minute song actually has a little more than an hour’s worth of material. I met up with my space artist friends Walter Myers and Tom Peters for our panel Space Art: Voyage to a New Frontier. Tom had brought along several of his pieces to facilitate discussion. Walt had also brought art but, like me, he had it all in the art show. Dinner that night saw me, Walt, Tom and his wife heading out for a steak dinner.

Later that evening Walt and I attended the con’s art auction. Sotheby’s it wasn’t. An art auction at a SF convention is far more fun. The auctioneers and runners did a great job of selling artwork while simultaneously entertaining the audience. Afterwards Walt and I made the rounds of the parties, er hospitality suites. One such venue was serving a particularly appealing mysterious blue liquid: an interesting combination of tasty and deadly.

Sunday morning I was sitting in the con’s Green Room having coffee and a late breakfast when I was joined by the con’s guest of honor Alan Dean Foster. Surprisingly our conversation was centered around people we knew and family, and not science fiction. I was then off to deliver my Imaging Mars presentation in which I provide an overview of how people can process Mars science mission imaging data for themselves.

Checking in at the Art Show I was pleased to learn that four of my six pieces had sold, not counting the piece I donated which had also sold at the previous night’s auction. Surprising to me was that The Face on Mars had not sold. My supposition that it would be the most appealing piece to an SF audience was obviously incorrect.

And that was pretty much the end of my weekend at DucKon. I do expect to return next year with a new lineup of both presentations and art for the auction.

Ad Astra, Jim

Rain Forest Fantasy Digital Artwork by Jim Plaxco

I have no sooner recovered from the International Space Development Conference than I must get prepared for the DucKon Science Fiction Convention for the weekend of June 8-10. This year’s theme: “The Duck Side of the Force”.

I was very much honored and flattered by DucKon’s decision that I would be this year’s Science Guest of Honor. It seems strangely appropriate since it was my childhood interest in science fiction that got me interested in science to begin with.

Following is a list of the presentations and panels that I will be involved in.

Opening Ceremonies, Friday 7:00pm, Main Stage

The grand opening festivities for the convention.

The NSS Space Settlement Art Contest, Saturday, 11:00am, Conf B

This is an expanded version of a presentation I gave at the International Space Development Conference reviewing the NSS Space Settlement Art Contest and the artwork that won that competition and which is featured in the Space Settlement Art Calendar.

The Universe According to Monty Python, Saturday 1:00pm, Conf B

An in depth analysis of the planetary, astronomical, and cosmological statements made in Monty Python’s “The Galaxy Song”

Space Art: Voyage to a New Frontier, Saturday 3:00pm, Conf B

This is a panel about space art that I arranged and which will feature two space artist friends of mine: Walt Myers and Tom Peters. The description that we submitted for the panel is “an exploration of the aesthetic of space art and how artists must balance imagination and reality.”

Imaging Mars, Sunday 11:00am, Conf B

An introduction to the image processing associated with Mars mission data and an exploration of Martian geology using imagery from the Viking and Mars Global Surveyor missions to Mars. This presentation is focused on giving people enough information so that they too can begin to process PDS images themselves.

As always, I look forward to DucKon as I have always felt it to be the most science friendly SF convention in the Chicago area. For complete details about the convention visit the DucKon Science Fiction Convention web site.

Ad Astra, Jim

National Space Society Award for Excellence Presented to Jim Plaxco

Well I’ve been home almost a week from the ISDC (International Space Development Conference) and I still haven’t fully caught up. I have quite a store of materials, recordings, and photographs to go through in order to produce some written reviews of some of the presentations I attended.

I arrived in Dallas at noon on Thursday the 24th just ahead of thunderstorms that were to cause massive flight delays and cancellations. I wound up sharing a shuttle bus to the hotel with an author working on a book about space tourism. Arriving at the hotel, I dumped my bags and headed straight off to the afternoon session of the Space Venture Finance Symposium. After sitting through three of the presentations, I ducked out in order to attend the meeting of the NSS Fundraising Committee. While not a member of the committee, I felt obliged to attend in order to report on the financial aspects of the NSS Space Settlement Art Contest and Calendar.

A dinner break and it was back to committee meetings. While I sorely wanted to attend the Space Settlement Advocacy meeting, I felt obliged to attend the meeting of the Web Oversight and Internet Development Committees. These were the two committees I created as chair of a special committee established to identify an alternate solution to the society’s Internet needs. Fortunately our committee was able to implement an all-volunteer system of web site support while procuring complimentary hosting from CyberTeams, producing substantial cost saving for the society. The meeting finally broke up shortly after midnight and that’s when I called it a night.

Friday was the first full day of the conference and I attended too many sessions to cover here. I also got a nice guided tour of the ISDC Space Art Show and Sale which had some very cool space art. Unfortunately I just can’t recall the name of the attractive young lady who so kindly walked me through the show. The Friday night dinner featured science fiction author and scientist Dr. Ben Bova whose presentation I will cover at a later time. Following dinner, which lasted a few hours and included a number of award presentations, I headed back to my room in order to download the photographs I had taken that day and to go over the three presentations I was slated to give on Saturday.

Saturday was more sessions and a busy afternoon as I had my own three presentations to give. Probably the most interesting session of the day was given by General Simon “Pete” Worden, Director of NASA Ames Research Center, who delivered his talk via the virtual community Second Life in which NASA has a presence. Afterwards General Worden appeared from behind the curtain to take questions from both the live audience as well as the audience in Second Life.

Saturday’s Gala Dinner featured Dr. Steve Squyres, Principal Scientist for NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Mission who spoke at length about that mission. The most memorable moment for me was when, during the awards segment that followed Dr. Squyres presentation, I was presented with the National Space Society’s 2007 Award for Excellence (see graphic above) in recognition of my work as the chair of the NSS Space Settlement Art Contest and Calendar Committee.

With my presentations behind me, I took the opportunity to spend Saturday night partying. I stuck it out until after 3:00am before heading back to my room in order to dump the photos I had taken that day to my laptop. Probably the longest conversation I had that evening was with Darel Preble, chair of the Georgia Tech Space Solar Power Institute SSP Workshop. We had an extensive discussion on, you guessed it, space solar power. You can learn more about Darel and hear him interviewed about space solar power on The Space Show.

Sunday came much too quickly. It was another morning of space with Robert Zubrin of the Mars Society opening the day with his Mars Direct presentation. The luncheon speaker that day was Apollo 9 astronaut and B612 Foundation Chairman Rusty Schweickart who spoke about the NEO impact hazard. Earlier Rusty had graciously autographed a 16×20 photo composite I had created from NASA photographs of his Apollo 9 mission. The speaker at that evening’s NSS Awards Dinner was former U.S. Senator and Apollo 17 Mission Scientist Harrison “Jack” Schmitt whose presentation dealt with mining lunar helium-3 as a fuel source for fusion reactors. His book on the subject, Return to the Moon was one of my primary sources for a class I taught on the subject at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago.

Monday morning I opted to attend the three hour Moon Rock and Meteorite Samples Certification Course. I had previously taken this course in 1989 and felt that it was about time that I go through the course again. A good portion of the class was spent doing hands-on activities meant to be done by students in the classroom. I think most people liked making craters the best.

And that is how ISDC went for me. Following the Moon Rock class, it was time to check out and head to the airport. As it was on my arrival, the weather was nasty but I was able to catch an earlier flight by flying standby and was able to depart Dallas before the worst of the storms hit.

It felt good to be back home but am not sure when I will be able to go back through the pages of notes I took, the hours of presentations I recorded, and the hundreds of photographs I took. ISDC may be over but the real challenge of ISDC still awaits me.

Ad Astra, Jim

International Space Development Conference (ISDC)

Tomorrow I leave for Dallas and the International Space Development Conference (ISDC). If you are attending the International Space Development Conference this weekend, you may be interested in attending one of my presentations.

My original schedule had me doing three presentations and serving on one panel - “Chapter Outreach Tactics: What Works, What Doesn’t, What Hasn’t Been Tried Yet?” Unfortunately tight scheduling forced me to withdraw from the panel as one of my other presentations was slated for the same time slot.

Following is my presentation schedule for the ISDC, all of which are on Saturday May 26:

The ISDC is a great space conference and has quite a lineup of speakers, including Apollo astronauts Buzz Aldrin, Rusty Schweickart, and Harrison Schmitt. This is the only space conference that I regularly attend.

Ad Astra, Jim