posted 01-18-2006 08:49 PM               

quote:

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A tour of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration is always a popular venue for a technical convention in the Houston metroplex. The great majority of such events for AAPG are accomplished as an entertainment event rather than as a formally organized field trip such as this one. But for the 2006 convention, our NASA trip is indeed fortunate to have Apollo 17 Astronaut and former U. S. Senator Harrison H. Schmitt joining the tour. Dr. Schmitt, as you know, was the only geologist to walk on the Moon and collected samples for analysis. He later served as a United States Senator from New Mexico and continues to be an avid supporter of our space program.

Participants will travel to the NASA complex by chartered bus. Once at NASA, their staff will organize the group for the day's activities and set the schedule for both the tour as well as the talks focusing on planetary geology.

Our tour of the NASA complex in Clear Lake will begin with visiting the Apollo 17 space capsule and Moon rock labs and displays. Later, the group will gather for talks on planetary topics including geology of the Earth, Moon and Mars by NASA personnel and the viewing of rocks from the Moon and Mars!

As you would expect, many spectacular NASA displays and photographs will be included in these presentations.

This event will be open to both convention attendees and their spouses/guests.

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posted 01-30-2006 08:11 AM               

You can register online. If you want to register, go here:
http://www.aapg.org/houston/registration.cfm

and click on "Online Registration". Select "Non-Registrant ($30)" and then fill in the required info. When you get to the page with the Courses, don't select anything (assuming you only want to go on the Field Trip) and hit the "Continue" button at the bottom of the page. This will take you to the Trips page. The Schmitt trip is "Trip #3 – Tour NASA".

The Field Trip info page is here:
http://www.aapg.org/houston/fieldtrips03.cfm

FWIW I am assuming there may be a no-signing policy.

I also inquired about age limits, in case someone wants to bring their son or daughter with them for the tour. The AAPG person told me that the age limit of 13 is only for Convention Center activities (exhibits, talks, courses, etc) and does not apply to the Field Trips.

I went on a few AAPG field trips when I was a student member in college and they are very enjoyable. This one is special, a once in a lifetime thing IMO.

Hope to see you there!

posted 04-08-2006 10:42 PM               

AAPG Convention Chair Charles Sternbach and his wife Linda graciously invited collectSPACE to accompany the tour. There were also several cS members participating, including Mel Croft, Scott Cornish and Tahir Rahman. As they took part in the entire experience and I only part, I will invite them to post their accounts of what was said and shared.

In the meantime, here are some photographs taken today...

Jack Schmitt describes the configuration of the Lunar Module while standing before a replica of its control panels.

The room in which Space Center Houston houses its artifacts is darkened, to give the effect that the spacecraft it displays are floating in space. Illuminated by orange light coming from within his Command Module America, Schmitt shares his Apollo 17 memories.

Schmitt (center) poses with AAPG Field Trip participants in front of the Apollo 17 spacecraft.

posted 04-08-2006 10:46 PM               

cS member Mel Croft listens intently as Schmitt describes walking on the Moon before a diorama depicting his and Gene Cernan's landing site.

As the tour moves from the artifact room into the replica Lunar Receiving Lab, Schmitt chats with cS member Tahir Rahman.

The only professional geologist to walk on the Moon Harrison "Jack" Schmitt discusses moon rocks within a display of some of the samples he returned.

posted 04-08-2006 10:54 PM               

After lunch and presentations by NASA Lunar Curator Gary Lofgren, NASA Astromaterials Curator Carl Allen and Sarah Noble, a postdoctoral scientist studying lunar regolith, Jack Schmitt signed copies of his book Return to the Moon for field trip participants including cS member Scott Cornish, seen here.

Schmitt seen during his book signing through the glass of a real moon rock sample display.

posted 04-09-2006 12:35 PM               

Others can probably describe the day better than me, but this was by far the best space experience I have ever had, or likely will ever have. I know Tahir feels the same way. The amount of private face time with Dr. Schmitt was remarkable and much more than I had even hoped for. He is the nicest person and you could ask him anything. He would give you long, detailed answers, addressing you directly the whole time. He spent the whole day with us, from the time we boarded the bus in downtown Houston to when we arrived back. He is probably the most intelligent person I have ever met. I had heard others give this opinion, and I must agree with them.

One especially thrilling moment for me was to personally ask him the reason he'd kept his gold visor up a good bit of the time while on the Moon. I'd guessed it was for color reasons (seeing the landscape colors more accurately). He said yes that was the reason he did it, but of course I never knew that for sure until yesterday.

Each tour member received his book for free, which he gladly took the time to autograph for all of us.

Thanks also to Prof. Sternbach for coordinating such a wonderful trip.

Even the weather was perfect for the outside parts of the day. All in all a wonderful experience.

Scott

PS: Let me add: Special thanks to Mel for posting this thread and alerting all of us to this special AAPG Field trip.

posted 04-09-2006 06:52 PM               

Astronaut and geologist Harrison Schmitt was a great tour guide!
It was amazing to have him point out the areas he worked at the LEM mock-up and the AP-17 capsule. He went into great detail discussing the flight and the experience.
See links below for more story and pics:
www.onegiantleap.us/schmitt

www.onegiantleap.us/schmitt2

-Tahir