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Should you wish to contact the
society or require general information please contact ASTRA
using the following Email address: Should you encounter any problems
with this Web
Page please
email: Jan.28.
Archie
Roy,
'Astronomy with Pick and Shovel', Glasgow University Union,
room 4. (Back on our old turf - Strathclyde Union no longer
available.) Mar.1. Film
show, Venture Sciences Association, Big Bear Lake,
California (see June below). May 5. ASTRA
hosts Youth & Space Council meeting, at the Mackerston
Hotel, Largs, and offers to host the following year's main
meeting ('launch campaign'). However only Denmark was
represented at the meeting, though Samo Resnik was there as
an observer from Yugoslavia; the Scottish invitation was
rejected at the next meeting in Europe. May 12. AGM.
Paul Benson stood down from Council, Gordon
Dick (now
known as Gordon Ross) co-opted. June 26-July
3. Ron Williams visits DARK Youth & Space group in
Denmark to discuss Waverider
flights. June 30-July
1. Duncan
Lunan opening
speaker, "Man and the Planets", at the symposium 'A View
from Earth, 1984', organised by the Venture Sciences
association at Big Bear Lake, California. The other speakers
included six former astronauts, scientists from JPL and the
Planetary Society, and Gene Roddenberry of 'Star Trek', with
a NASA exhibition and tours of local observatories including
the big solar one. The Association was the personal dream of
Victor Hirt, a retired mining engineer resembling Oscar in
many ways, and he was very keen to establish links with
ASTRA, especially on the technical side. Unfortunately he had
tried to do it all in six months, leading up to an event on
the scale of the High Frontier with only six members to draw
on, and no experience except for the film show above and a
bus run to a Shuttle landing at Edwards. He had his sums
wrong by a factor of ten and made a loss of $48,500, leaving
me stranded in California until I made my way home by
selling copies of "Man and the Planets", which took 15
weeks. Nevertheless, his
achievement was lasting, at least for ASTRA. I was invited
to lecture at JPL (July 17) and NASA Ames Research Centre
(Aug.23) on the Waverider,
with major results for the re-launch of Waverider
- this was my first meeting with Jim
Randolph (see
1985, 1986,
1988,
1990
& 1993).
I opened new contacts with the L5 Society, forming an
affiliation with the Golden Gate Chapter and an unofficial
one with the main body, leading to the invitations to speak
on Waverider
and ASTRA at the 1985 and '86 Space Development Conferences
respectively, and later to affiliation with the National
Space Society; and opened discussions with Big Bear Solar
Observatory about the possibility of white light work at
Airdrie
Public Observatory
as an outstation. Although we were unable to raise funding
for this, it remains a real possibility. Victor
Hirt died
tragically in 1985. My tribute to him appeared in
Spacereport, June 87, and he is remembered in an award given
annually at the Scottish Rocket Weekend in Largs. Summer.
Gordon
Dick (now
known as Gordon Ross) discovers 'tip-fin' solution to
Waverider
low-speed stability problem and achieves first-ever free
flights of hand-launched Waverider
shapes, even as I was being told at NASA-Ames that the
problem could not be solved. July 11/12.
Duncan
Lunan at
Planetary Society "Case for Mars II" conference, Boulder,
Colorado. Took part in Phobos/Deimos Workshop, chaired by
Brian O'Leary. July 20.
Albacon 84 science fiction convention, Central Hotel,
Glasgow. ASTRA puts on extraterrestrial encounter simulation
by Chris
Boyce, and a
presentation on the Waverider by Gordon
Dick (now
known as Gordon Ross). Aug. 9-11.
ASTRA participation in Albacon 84 exhibition at Glasgow Film
Theatre during showings of 'The Right Stuff'. Talk before
Saturday matinee. Sept.5.
Duncan
Lunan at
Space Shuttle Discovery touchdown, Edwards Air Force
Base. Oct.5.
Duncan
Lunan
at Space Shuttle
Challenger liftoff, Kennedy Space Center, by courtesy of
Jeri Bell. 1985
1983
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Website Author: Nick Portwin (portwin@easynet.co.uk)
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Date Last Modified: 31 07 1999