posted 08-03-2019 01:37 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Spaceflyer:
I can offer you a seat.

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posted 08-09-2019 11:55 AM               

Space artist group photo last night (Aug. 8) before our VIP party. Mike Collins, Nicole Stott and Ron Garan joined us!

posted 08-09-2019 08:06 PM               

Apollo panel is always a huge success!

posted 08-10-2019 10:27 PM               

There was a good crowd on both Friday and Saturday, with Saturday having the larger crowd. I was able to spend some time with my good friend from California Doug Henry and my friend from Oz Stephen Burnard, and got to meet David Chudwin, Chris Calle, Tim Gagnon, Jeremy Theoret, Francis French and Dennis Jenkins. Friday was Dee O'Hara's birthday and she was presented with a large birthday cake and a "gothca" from her time as the nurse for the Mercury astronauts (think Wally Schirra).

posted 08-14-2019 08:01 PM               

Some of my favorite stuff from my second of many Spacefests:

• First time to meet Mike Collins (and hear wonderful stories about his life and travels) and cosmonaut Gennady Padalka (he inscribed his selfie with Tsiolkovsky's quote "Earth is the cradle of humanity, but one cannot live in a cradle forever" in Cyrillic).

• Seeing 2001 for the first time (!!) after a wonderful panel discussion featuring actor Gary Lockwood, artist Mark Pestana, Ed Gibson, Nicole Stott, and Mario Runco.

• Fun closing night performance by shuttle astronaut band Max Q featuring 60's and 70's rock

• Meeting great kids, artists, Shuttle astronauts, moonwalkers, new friends, old friends from prior ASF and Spacefest shows, world-renowned meteorite hunters Twink Monrad and Geoff Notkin (who both generously gifted my science-nerd son with some meteorites and a personalized book), Planetary Science Institute's Larry Lebofsky, wonderful U of A meteorite scientist Dolores Hill (and she tracked down a rare Bennu Arrival beer)

posted 08-17-2019 11:10 AM            

Spacefest was a blast - it was great to meet up with old friends Tony and Andy. Jay Gallentine and I caught up over breakfast on the Friday morning. I had the great pleasure and privilege of being driven from Phoenix to Starr Pass by Andy and Vicki Chaikin (you guys are stars!) and many thanks also to Gerhard Daum for a lift back to Phoenix after Spacefest. Vielen Dank, Gerhard!

It was an honour and a privilege to meet and shake hands with Michael Collins, fittingly in this 50th anniversary year of Apollo 11.

It was also a great pleasure to get to talk again to Dave Scott and his wife Mag; to Vance Brand, Al Worden; Jack Lousma, Dee O'Hara and Gerry Griffin. I'm only sorry I didn't manage to catch up with Fred Haise this time. These people represent a Golden Age of space exploration, the like of which we shall never see again. It is always good to be able to thank them in person for the wonderful childhood memories watching the first era of lunar exploration live on TV.