The Clear Lake Area Chapter will meet on Tuesday, August 20th in the conference room of the Bay Area Community Center in Clear Lake Park beginning at 6:30 p.m. The address is 5002 NASA Road 1; Seabrook, Texas. The Community Center is north of NASA 1, away from the lake; enter through the side door adjacent to the parking lot as the main entrance may be locked after 5:00 p.m. A Zoom meeting option will also be available for the Chapter business portion of the meeting; information is posted below. Also, please see the attached meeting documents.
Our meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. and run to just before nine (when the facility closes). We’re planning to offer a few light refreshments and bottled water; your own contributions are also welcome of course!
Zoom Meeting Info is at the bottom of this post.
In Memoriam
Larry Jay Friesen, Ph. D.
Clear Lake Area Chapter Director, Position 3, emeritus
Chapter Scientist
Larry Friesen was born on September 7, 1946, to Eric and Dorothy Friesen. He was the oldest of their four children. His formative years were all spent in Kansas — Wilson (until age 8), LeRoy (age 8-11), and Clay Center (through high school as an honor roll student), and then college at the University of Kansas.
As the Space Age emerged in the late 50s and early 60s, Larry became fascinated with outer space. That interest led him to be a leader in the Clay Center Community High School science club, where he and other members spent time building and launching small rockets. He was gifted in science and math, obtaining his B.S. in Physics from University of Kansas, where he graduated in three years and was the recipient of a prestigious Summerfield Scholarship which paid for his undergraduate tuition. He was awarded scholarships to Rice University in Houston, Texas, where he received his Master’s and Ph.D. degrees in Astrophysics.
In college, one of his fellow scholarship hall residents recalled that he “read encyclopedias for entertainment.” He loved history and was interested in the origins of the world wars and would philosophize about such things with anyone who would listen.
It was his dream to be the first man on the moon. Although he did not achieve that goal, much of his professional career as an aerospace engineer was spent working for NASA contractors at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. He worked on space shuttle glide patterns and how space junk collisions could cause damage to spacecraft.
Larry’s nephews and nieces remembered Larry’s deep love of space and often playing SolarQuest with him during the Christmas holidays. Growing up, they always thought of him as their “space uncle with multiple degrees doing something for NASA.” They remember Larry helping them identify constellations. They recalled his giving them “cool science toys and a complete engineering manual for the Space Shuttle.”
He loved to have philosophical conversations with family members. Topics ranged from reasons why space junk is hard to clear and a critique of things he saw in popular science fiction shows — “well, if you really had to design a warp drive….”
Farewell and Godspeed, Larry. We hope that you have that warp drive ready for us when we get there…
Zoom Meeting Info:
Eric Bowen is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Clear Lake Area NSS & Moon Society Chapter Meeting
Time: Aug 20, 2024 06:30 PM Central Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83394488043?pwd=lktOdLxkD75xOVvocThFrvXHpI2Tat.1
Meeting ID: 833 9448 8043
Passcode: 637876
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Meeting ID: 833 9448 8043
Passcode: 637876
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