Friday, February 25, 2011

What's our future in flight?

A huge crowd down in Florida and an even bigger one on television yesterday watched the final launch of Space Shuttle Discovery. It's hard to believe it first started flying when Ronald Reagan was President. When it lands next month, that's it. Only a couple of missions are left for the remaining Shuttle fleet. Moving forward (backward?) we're going to have to hitchhike to space aboard a Russian Spacecraft.

There are so many things wrong with this picture. For all the good work NASA does, it fails miserably when it come's to planning "What's next?" Maybe the answer is to take space exploration private. But it's in our nature to explore and we need to keep doing just that.

It's important to get the next generation of engineers, astronauts and pilots interested in flight now. A great way to do that is to attend tomorrow's Aeromodeling Expo at Wings over the Rockies Air and Space Museum. You and your kids can learn about flight and even sit in the actual cockpits of real planes. Wings over the Rockies is an up close and personal experience. Rather than have exhibits behind rope lines, you can actually touch historic aircraft.

Another great way to get your kids interested in aerospace is this great app called F-Sim Space Shuttle. It's very realistic and lets you "land" a Space Shuttle either at the Kennedy Space Center or Edwards Air Force Base. At just $1.99 it's a no-brainer app for your iPad or iPhone.

Let's get, and keep, our wings on.

Brian Olson
Conversation Starters Public Relations
"We start the conversation about you"

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