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"

The Case for Space

With NASA's Shuttle program grinding to a halt, what's next? Nothing apparently. American Astronauts will fly to and from the Space Station on Russian Spacecraft. Galactic hitchhiking.

This past Saturday I got to hear from two Astronauts, Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger (STS-131 Shuttle Discovery) and Gene Cernan (Gemini 9, Apollo 10 & 17) who is the last human to walk on the moon 38 years ago. Cernan was honored with the "Spreading Wings" award at Wings over the Rockies Air and Space Museum.

Here are their thoughts about their experiences in space and why it's important we get a new generation of Americans interested in finding out what's "out there."

Metcalf-Lindenburger:


Gene Cernan:


Speaking with some aerospace engineers recently, the concensus seems to be that the best way to move forward in space exploration is turning it over to private enterprise. Richard Branson is leading the way. The Russians have been charging space tourists $25 million a pop for a trip to the Space Station.

Can you imagine what Apple or Google would have been willing to pay to have their logo on the Shuttle?

We're a nation of explorers. Or at least used to be. This line from The Right Stuff says it all, "No bucks, no Buck Rogers."

Brian Olson
Conversation Starters LLC
"We start the conversation about you"