posted 12-06-2009 07:47 AM               

• STS-125 launch from press site
  
• ASF Astronaut Autograph & Memorabilia Show
  
• STS-129 launch from press site

posted 12-06-2009 08:09 AM               

The ASF Apollo 12 dinner in November -- meeting Bill Anders, Fred Haise, Charlie Bolden, Bob Cabana, Hoot Gibson and Rhea Seddon for the first time, and hearing a marvelous speech by Neil Armstrong.

posted 12-06-2009 12:47 PM               

I fabricated the award for Robert's ten year anniversary presentation. The edges of the backer piece were white but I wanted them black so I grabbed some spray paint and took care of it. Of course I didn't think about painting the back to match. So there, posted on cS for the world to see, is Robert holding up the presentation and exposing the nasty, half painted with black overspray, backside of the presentation.

posted 12-06-2009 03:31 PM               

Spending two days in the company of Charlie Duke.

posted 12-08-2009 04:47 PM               

1. Meeting Michael Collins in San Diego.

2. Wishing Buzz Aldrin a happy 40th anniversary of the A11 launch at KSC July 16.

3. Watching STS-127 launch from the Banana Creek VIP bleachers.

posted 12-08-2009 08:01 PM               

As an astronautics fan, the most intense year for Canadian manned programs I've ever witnessed.

posted 12-09-2009 04:17 AM               

Sharing a drink or 3 in the bar with BlackArrow, what a kind & knowledgeable man he is, sharing a personal voyage of discovery and being at KSC with Rick for STS-125 and seeing Ed Mitchell at his house (Thanks Rick!).

Spending such a lot of quality time with Charlie Duke this year, meeting and talking to Helen Sharman again (article in Spaceflight Magazine soon), and seeing many good friends on both sides of the pond including "Titan" engineers Joe and Fran, J Buch from the Surveyor team and meeting up with Larry McGlynn and Jimmy Brown - what legends! and meeting the fantastic people at the KSC press site.

Having a full article published in Spaceflight magazine (STS-125), and being elected to the membership Committee at BIS.

Talking at length with Dave Scott and Al Worden about their crew's Apollo 12 skit, Chatting to Tom Stafford and his aide, etc.

Having my son meet Charlie Duke.

Meeting with the STS-119 Shuttle astronauts this year was great (thanks Rob and Ollie), and helping to inspire many more people to get involved in the hobby and in space science in general.

It is always particularly nice to share time with the many people who freely give their time and help to people and work tirelessly for the advancement of space exploration and information, Rex Hall, Robert P. et al.

What a refreshing change it was to meet a young guy, Shane (AstroAutos) who is so enthusiastic about all things space, that was a highlight as well.

posted 12-09-2009 06:34 AM               

Getting a phone call while in Hawaii letting me know that my wife and I were bumped up to VIP status for the launch of 119.

While in Hawaii paying respects to Ellison Onizuka and Lacy Veach.

Seeing 3 patches fly this year. Working on ten others.

With apologies to Fred & Jackie for neglecting this the first time out: One definite highlight was attending the ASF auction reception in October and watching the shuttle statue I painted sell for more than I ever hoped. 1. It supported a great cause and 2. the statue couldn't have gone to a better home.

Sharing space (literally and figuratively) with Robert at the ASF Show.

Seeing my face staring back at me from the front page (above the fold) of the Nov 16th issue of Florida Today.

But most of all meeting Mi Hermano Jorge and his family for the first time and sharing a private behind the scenes tour at KSC.

Finally watching (on TV) a good friend launch on Dec 20th.

Tim

posted 12-11-2009 08:15 AM               

I had the chance to hang out with many astronauts, meeting family members and getting to know them. It will be fun to watch their missions even more now.

posted 12-11-2009 01:01 PM               

There is a tough question as this was such a big space year for Jackie and me. We started it with Spacefest 2009 where we had the great pleasure of meeting Paul and Chris Calle, super people. Had lunch with our very own Robert Pearlman, oh, Mike and Pat Collins as well. Dinner with Alan Bean and all of the other events at Spacefest! Next it was what we like to call "our big space trip". We started out with the STS125 launch from the causeway drove to Houston and were at Mission Control during the Hubble repairs. This trip took us up through Oklahoma and the Stafford museum to Chicago down though Mitchell Indiana and the Gus Grissom museum, to Huntsville and back to the Savannah area which is home, a total of 4300 miles driven. Here are the spacecraft we saw on the trip:

• Mercury Liberty Bell 7, Aurora 7, Sigma 7, Faith 7
  
• Gemini III, V, VI, IX, X, XII
  
• Apollo 4, 6, 7,8,13,14,16,17
  
• Skylab 2
  
• Saturn V displays at KSC, JSC and Huntsville (all three in one trip!)
  
• Space Shuttles Atlantis & Endeavour (both on the pad at once)

Following that trip was the Space Camp Hall of Fame induction for Robert and being part of the Pearlman contingent. We followed that with three attempts at seeing STS-127 launch, we missed the actual launch day. But by being there we had the thrill of meeting with Tom Stafford and having a one on one conversation for about an hour. Next we made the night launch of STS-128. We were winning bidders of Tim Gagnon Shuttle sculpture from the ASF auction. Then there was the Ares 1-X launch as well.We ended the year with the ASF signing event which has had great reviews here on cS.

Included in the year were a number of new artifacts added to the collection, some of these include the ASF lucites, a Gemini RCS thruster (unflown), a contractors model of the Saturn V Q-ball, a contractor's model of the General Dynamics direct launch vehicle for the Apollo program (they did not win obviously but it is a cool looking model), Apollo 11 Kapton Lucite, building the full scale LM leg and ladder for a full scale Apollo astronaut replica , adding Paul Calle's "The Great Moment" canvas giclee as well as two of Alan Bean's to our walls and finally our recent win of a contractor's model of the MOL full stack.

posted 12-14-2009 10:08 PM            

So #1 was arranging and hosting a visit by Sam Mattingly to JSC on Dec. 8. Sam, and his partner Harry Loats, led the team of contractors that refined the technique of underwater EVA simulation in the pool of the McDonogh Boys School outside of Baltimore, Maryland. In 1966, they convinced NASA to take a chance on them, and--long story short--trained Buzz Aldrin for his successful Gemini 12 EVA, which led to the wide-spread use of water tanks for such training. I arranged for Sam to get a VIP, behind-the-scenes tour of the Neutral Buoyancy Lab at JSC (and tagged along, of course), where he met astronauts Rex Walheim, Chris Cassidy and Aki Hoshide, and of course the many professionals who make the NBL the world-class facility it is.

#2: sitting in my office last week when, who should knock and stop in, just to say "hi" but Bob Thirsk, just 10 days after his landing in Kazakhstan, and on his way to a meeting with the Director of Flight Crew Operations. I've known Bob for over 20 years and he is one of my favorite people.

#3: getting to arrange a visit by Dr. Bill Carpentier to the lab of a NASA-funded investigator to examine archived biomedical data. Bill was a Gemini- and Apollo-era flight surgeon, and, among his many accomplishments, he was quarantined with the Apollo 11 crew in the Mobile Quarantine Facility on the Hornet and in the Lunar Receiving Lab at MSC (and, as a reward or as compensation, was invited by Neil Armstrong to go on the crew's around-the-world tour). He is working on a book about Gemini medical results, and I have been lucky enough to get to know him as a collaborator and role-model.

Apologies if these sound like bragging, but like I said, I have a nearly-ideal job for a life-long space geek.