I have been contacted by Mr. John Strickland, of the Austin Space Frontier Society. He is seeking office as a Director of the National Space Society and is collecting signatures for his nominating petition. I have agreed to place his name before our membership. Copies of his petition will be available at the August and October meetings, or you can download a copy here. A copy of his campaign statement is available for download as well.

The signed petition sheets may be returned by postal mail or scanned and sent by email, but if you send it electronically be sure to scan and send BOTH sides.

The next regular meeting of the Clear Lake Area National Space Society & Moon Society chapter will be on Monday, August 21st in the conference room of the Bay Area Community Center in Clear Lake Park. Doors open at 6:30; meeting begins at 7:00 p.m. Light refreshments, sodas and bottled water will be available. 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.

Nominations for Chapter Officers:

There may not be a meeting in the month of September as I will be out of town until late in the month. Therefore, nominations for Chapter officers and directors will open at the August meeting. Positions which are open for nominations are:

• Chapter President – Currently held by Eric Bowen.
• Chapter Vice-President – Currently held by Doug Hall.
• Chapter Treasurer – Currently held by Jay Lewchanin.
• Chapter Secretary – Currently vacant.
• Director, Position 1 – Currently held by Marianne Dyson.
• Director, Position 2 – Currently vacant.
• Director, Position 3 – Currently held by Larry Friesen.

To be eligible for all officer positions and Director, Position 1 a candidate must be, or must be willing to become, an active member in BOTH the National Space Society and The Moon Society. A candidate for Director, Position 2 must be an active member of the National Space Society. A candidate for Director, Position 3 must be an active member of The Moon Society.

Nominations may be made in person at any general membership meeting up to and including the election but require a second. Nominations will also be accepted by email up until the cutoff date of Friday, October 6th at 11:59 PM Central time. Email nominations require two independent nominations from eligible chapter members (members active in the Chapter and either the National Space Society or The Moon Society). Elections will be held at our Chapter’s annual business meeting on October 16th and the new officers will take their positions as of January 1st. (Positions currently vacant will be filled immediately upon election.)

From left to right: Martin Cassidy, Dave Cheuvront, Morgan Sowell, Doris Jin, John Moffitt, Ray Tussing, Joel West, Kimberly Hall, Doug Hall, Cindy Cao, David Forbus, Jill Moffitt, Jerry Jacques, Anita Gale and Michael Molenaar. Not pictured: Eric Bowen. Additional pictures may be viewed on line at https://ehbowen.net/~info/photo/

The Clear Lake Area Chapter hosted a summer social and pool party at the home of Anita Gale on Saturday, July 8, 2017. It was a great success! We had a total of sixteen attending, including several guests…two of the guests elected to join NSS that same night! We welcome Mr. Ray Tussing and Mr. John Moffitt, our newest members! The menu included hamburgers and hot dogs prepared by our grillmasters Michael Molenaar and John Moffitt as well as boiled shrimp with all the fixings cooked by Lupe Gonzales, one of Anita’s co-workers at Boeing.

The Clear Lake Area Chapter will hold regular meetings at 7:30 pm on the third Mondays of August and October. Our next planned social event is a movie night to be held on a Saturday some time in November. Check the chapter web site at http://nss-houston-moon.org for updates and to put your name on our mailing list so we can keep in touch!

The Clear Lake Area Chapter started off the August Legislative Blitz a month early, as three Chapter representatives met with Congressman Gene Green (D, TX-29) in one of his local Houston offices on July 21st. Present were Eric Bowen, chapter president and constituent of Congressman Green as well as Douglas Hall, the chapter’s vice president and David Cheuvront, member of the NSS policy committee. The meeting was friendly and engaging, and the Congressman indicated interest and receptivity to the proposals from the Alliance for Space Development.

If you have not yet done so, we encourage you to take the first step of reaching out to and meeting with your own representative by signing up for the August Blitz at https://tinyurl.com/2017AugustBlitzSignup. The next regular meeting for the Clear Lake Area chapter will be held at the Bay Area Community Center in Clear Lake Park on Monday evening, August 21st at 7:00 p.m. Everyone is welcome!

From left: Dave Cheuvront, Eric Bowen, Doug Hall, Congressman Gene Green.

August is the month in which Congressmen traditionally return to their districts for recess. This August, we are asking you to make a personal appointment to meet with your U. S. Representative in his/her local Houston office in order to briefly talk about some legislative items of special interest to NSS. For this year, those items include:

• ULCATS – “Ultra Low Cost Access To Space”. This program is intended to radically reduce the cost of sending payloads to orbit and beyond.
• Cis-Lunar Commercialization – Proposals intended to encourage the development and growth of a spacefaring economy in the Earth-Moon sphere, to include both LEO and GEO and the Earth-Moon LaGrange points.
• NEOCAM – Proposal for a satellite camera system to detect and monitor Near Earth Objects with potential for planetary defense against asteroids and other threats.

If you sign up you will receive background material so that you go into your appointment informed, as well as additional printed information to leave with your Congressman afterwards. At your request, we will attempt to have a chapter officer go with you for additional support if you desire. You should also feel welcome to bring up other items of personal interest to you which need not be on the NSS legislative agenda.

If you’re willing to participate…

1.  Go on line and look up your Congressional representative and his/her contact information at: http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/
2. Next, go on line with NSS and register to participate in the August blitz at: https://tinyurl.com/2017AugustBlitzSignup using the information you found in step 1.
3. You will be contacted by a national or local August Blitz coordinator who will help develop a strategy for reaching out and coordinating efforts in your district. You will also be provided information to help you prepare for your meeting.

Chapter Officers will be attempting to meet with our two United States Senators from Texas, but we need each individual one of you to reach out to your own Congressman in your own district. Every voice counts!

There are two important items of Chapter business for our June 19th meeting:

First, a new charter for the NSS Chapters Assembly (of which our Chapter is a member) has been proposed. It is close to receiving approval for ratification, but it is also nearing the deadline for ratification. We will be discussing whether or not to ratify this proposed charter in the meeting. The proposed charter is available to review here: [Chapter Assembly proposed Charter]. The present charter from 1988 may be compared here: [Charter of the NSS Chapters’ Assembly-1988].

Additionally, we have been asked as a Chapter to participate in the August legislative “blitz”. August is the month in which Congressional representatives traditionally come home to their districts for recess. If you are willing to participate, we will ask you to make a personal appointment with your Congressional representative when he (she) returns to his home office. If possible, one of the chapter officers will accompany you for support. You will be given some “talking points” for items of major concern to NSS as an organization and of course you may bring up items of personal concern to you. The meeting should be brief and simple, focusing on only a couple of important topics, but personal contact is very important when trying to make these connections with those entrusted with the leadership of our nation. If you are available and willing to participate, please let me know at the meeting or by email.

UPDATE 2017-06-20: If you are willing to participate in the August Blitz, please look up your Congressional district and representative’s name and then go to this link to sign up as a potential participant.

Anita Gale is hosting our Chapter’s annual summertime social and pool party in her home at 18506 Upper Bay Road in Nassau Bay, across NASA 1 and down the road just a few blocks from the Space Center on Saturday, July the 8th from 4:00 p.m. through 9:00. This year’s party will feature a Shrimp Boil, but burgers, hot dogs, sides and salads will be available as well.

We would appreciate an RSVP email to info@nss-houston-moon.org so that we know how many to plan for. No charge for the party, but contributions towards the refreshments will be accepted with our thanks. We also welcome contributions of appetizers/snacks or desserts. Children are welcome with appropriate adult supervision.

In the event of inclement weather on Saturday, July 8th the party will be rescheduled for the afternoon of Sunday, July 9th…. Edit 2017-06-28: Our shrimp chef is not available on Sunday, so we will go through with the party on Saturday afternoon rain or shine.

The next regular meeting of the Clear Lake Area National Space Society & Moon Society chapter will be on Monday, June 19th in the conference room of the Bay Area Community Center in Clear Lake Park. Doors open at 6:30; meeting begins at 7:00 p.m. Light refreshments, sodas and bottled water will be available. 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.

Our chapter’s own Marianne Dyson, former NASA flight controller and long-time Board member, is also a well-known science fiction and space author. Her memoir A Passion for Space has been selected by Amazon for their March 8th Kindle Daily Deal in conjunction with International Women’s Month. The regular list price of the book is $39.99; the Daily Deal price for the eBook will be only $3.99…90% off! (See Marianne’s web site if you’d like to purchase an autographed hard copy of her book at her regular selling price.)

I’d also like to mention that as of right now Marianne has a short story published in the current issue of Analog, available at Barnes & Noble and other good bookstores and newsstands.

[NOTE: This notice and the associated e-mailing are presented as a courtesy to our member Marianne Dyson. The Clear Lake Area Chapter is a 501c3 nonprofit and is receiving no compensation either for posting this message or from sales of these works.]

The Clear Lake Area Chapter held a very successful meeting the evening of February 27th, 2017. There were several new faces present and some important business was transacted. As originally discussed in our meeting last October, some bylaws changes were made which were intended to formalize the update process in the future and also to open up some director positions for increased participation. The detailed update is here with text being struck in red and new text which was adopted in green. The complete text is posted on our “About the Chapter” page.

With the adoption of the new bylaws, Chapter and Moon Society member Dr. Larry Friesen became eligible for the newly designated director position #3. As he was nominated and elected as a provisional director last October in anticipation of this revision, he assumed the seat immediately upon the adoption of the new bylaws. Congratulations, Larry, and welcome to the Board!

In other Chapter news, advance planning has begun for a “Yuri’s Night” party on Wednesday, April 12th and for our second summer social and pool party on Saturday, July 8th. Details are still being confirmed, but if you want to be sure to receive the notification then sign up for our Chapter Events mailing list using the form in the sidebar!