St. Louis and the Gateway to Space Conference
St. Louis Gatway Arch day view from Old Courthouse
I returned Monday night from my first trip to St. Louis. I was there to attend the Gateway to Space Conference. My participation in the conference consisted of:
- giving a presentation on newSpace,
- participating in a group presentation on the Enterprise in Space project,
- serving as a panelist on the two-hour Rocky Road to Space Settlement Panel,
- participating in the National Space Society's website committee meeting,
- exhibiting some of my space art as a part of the Saturday evening Cosmic Celebration.
In addition to the aforementioned items, I also created the cover art for the conference's program book and had arranged for the Chicago Society for Space Studies to be an official sponsor of the conference.
My Friday at the conference began with a tour of the Washington University Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences Moon and Mars laboratories. The three science presentations that went with the tour – two about Mars and one about the Moon – were very interesting and dealt with some of the research being done there.
For me, the highlight of the conference was the next event. The program Space Retrospective featured a group of McDonnell Douglas engineers who had worked on the NASA Mercury and Gemini programs. Also special was that this event was held in Boeing's Prologue Room, a "museum" of aviation, space, and missile history that is not generally open to the public.
Inside the Boeing Prologue Room
Hearing these engineers, along with Lowell Grissom (Mercury Astronaut Virgil ‘Gus' Grissom's brother) recount tales of the dawn of the space age and the many challenges they faced was really something. The Mercury and Gemini members of MAC's Old Team present were Norm Beckel, Dean Purdy, Earl Robb, Jerry Roberts, Bob Schepp, Ray Tucker, and Nelson Weber.
MAC's Old Team
McDonnell Douglas engineers from NASA Mercury and Gemini programs (The man front and center in the tan pants is Lowell Grissom, Gus Grissom's brother. At the far right is panel moderator Earl Mullins of The Space Museum. Second from the left is Paul Baldwin, President of the NSS St. Louis Space Frontier.)
Serving as panel moderator was Earl Mullins. In addition, The Space Museum, Greater St. Louis Air and Space Museum, and St. Louis Rocketry Association all had artifacts and memorabilia from the Mercury and Gemini era on display.
Saturday was a full day of programming at the hotel starting at 9:00am and running until 9:00pm with the Cosmic Celebration and NSS internal committee meetings keeping me until the very end. This was followed by sitting in the hotel bar until about 2:00am speaking with several friends.
My only programming committment on Sunday was the two-hour Rocky Road to Space Settlement Panel. I was then able to sit back and relax as all my formal duties were done. I took the opportunity to go on the conference's tour of the Greater St. Louis Air and Space Museum in Cahokia, IL (Thanks Gloria for generously offering to drive there and back). We spent almost two hours exploring the museum and attached hangers.
In the cockpit of a McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II at the Greater St. Louis Air and Space Museum
Sunday night Gloria (a local reporter), Libby (Challenger Center), Ronnie (Boeing), Dale (XCOR Aerospace), and myself walked a few blocks to have dinner at the Old Spagetti Factory. I was quite impressed both by the food and the restaurant's beauty. From there it was back to the hotel bar and an evening of conversation.
Monday morning Ronnie and I hiked over to the Gateway Arch and took the tram to the top (we had bought tickets the night before). The two pictures that follow were taken from the inside viewing area at the top of the arch.
Fisheye lens photograph of downtown St. Louis
Telephoto lens view of Busch Stadium, home of the Saint Louis Cardinals.
Arriving home Monday night, I now have a few days to prepare before heading off to the Windycon Science Fiction Convention – which will be the subject of my next post.
St. Louis night view of Gateway Arch from my hotel window
In closing I want to commend Christine, Paul, and all the other members of the NSS St. Louis Space Frontier for putting on an absolutely wonderful space conference.
| Return to the Blog Index | This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 12th, 2014 at 1:13 pmand is filed under National Space Society, Space Art, Space Exploration.
2 Responses to “St. Louis and the Gateway to Space Conference”
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It's hard to find educated people on this topic, but you seem like you know what you're speaking about! Thanks