Feb 1 - "The Power of the Crowd" How to find needed Technologies and Skills in an era of technology explosion and relentless change - Steve Rader - Zoom Meeting
Oct 5 - "Turning High School Students into Aerospace Engineers" - Haley Spears discusses how a space design competition has grown and the impact the competition has had on the next generation of aerospace professionals such as herself.
June 1 - "Artemis (Surface) Overview" - Flight Director Royce Renfrew talks about Lunar Surface operations in the Artemis Program.
May 4 - Barrett Shaver, Chief Development Officer for Space Center Houston provided insights and updates on the initiatives and programs at Space Center Houston.
March 2 - "Spaceflight Analogs" - JSC/Lorrie Primeaux provided insight into the various different analogs used by ROI and the type of research work performed in different analogs in support of human spaceflight. Presentation Charts
Feb 2 - "Our Journey to the moon - Small but mighty CAPSTONE" Bradley, Cheetham, co-founder and CEO of Advanced Space, discussed the CAPDTONE spacecraft which successfully arrived at the Moon in 2022 as a pathfinder for NASA's Artemis program.
2022
Dec 1 - "United Space School" - Francesco Fusco, President of the United Space School (USS), talked about the yearly two week school for incoming seniors around the world.
Nov 3 - "Moon2Mars - The Future of JSC" Doug Terrier, JSC Associate Director for Vision and Strategy, discussed plans for JSC's future, including how commercial companies and NASA are developing technologies to enable future scientific discoveries.
Oct 6 - "Hemphill's - Remembering Columbia Museum" - Belinda Gay and Lane Luckie of the 'Remembering Columbia Museum in Hemphill Texas talked about the museum and plans for the 20th anniversary observance of the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster.
Aug 4 - "Gateway" - Debra Lubhan, Gateway Manager for Vehicle System Integration, and Tremayne Days, Gateway Safety & Mission Assurance Manager provided the latest status on NASA's effort to develop Gateway, a space station that will orbit the moon.
July 21 - SOCIAL & DINNER - "JSC Center Director Update" by JSC Director Vanessa Wyche
July 7 - "Making Space History" - Matthew Peek, Associate Director of University of Houston-Clear Lake Archives and Special Collections discussed archiving personal collections and papers. Presentation Charts
June 2 - Venus Aerospace, based at Houston's Ellington Spaceport, is developing a hypersonic aircraft to transport passengers to Earth landing sites in much less time than traditional aviation. Founders Sassie Duggleby, CEO, and Andrew Duggleby, CTO, provided an overview of their program. - Zoom Meeting
May 5 - "Artemis 1 Mission Status" - Paul Marshall, the Orion Program's Assistant Manager for Strategy Integration, provided an update on the status of the Artemis 1 mission to send an unmanned Orion capsule to circle the Moon and return it to Earth. -
April 7 - "Safety and Secrecy at NASA during the Apollo Program" - Callum Hardy is a postgraduate student at King’s College London. He discusses his thoughts on the causes of the Apollo 1 fire, including the impact of confidentiality and secrecy leading to breaches of safety during the Apollo program. Callum's Dissertation
Feb 3 - "Rocket Spotting in North Korea" - NAL member James Oberg discussed his visit to the North Korean satellite launch center in 2012, as an NBC-News 'space consultant'.
Jan 6 - "Zoo in Space" - Former Shuttle Flight Director and NASA Alumni League member Rob Kelso talked about the various animals and insects that have had a part in the space program....and WHY.
2021
Nov 4 - "3D printing Humanity's future on the moon and mars" - Jason Ballard, co-founder and CEO of ICON, an Austin-based construction technologies company pioneering in construction-scale 3D printing, discussed how 3D printing is an essential part of humanity's toolkit to go to the Moon and Mars to stay.
Oct 7 - Carl Brainerd (retired), formerly with Link Flight Simulation, described the Shuttle Mission Simulator (SMS) complex used to train all Shuttle crews, and specifically the disassembly and current Motion Base restoration effort. Restoration Presentation charts.
Sept 2 - Dr. Brian Crucian, lead scientist for NASA’s Immunology research, discussed changes to an astronaut’s immune system during spaceflight, as well as developing countermeasures to help mitigate the clinical risks for astronauts during long-duration mission. - Zoom Meeting
Aug 5 - "Stopping a Pandemic with Spacesuit Technology" - NAL member Dr. Larry Kuznetz, chief scientist and designer for Planetary Protech, discussed developing a pathogen-protected suit to defend against present and future pandemics.
July 1 - "Apollo's Lessons" - Space historian Andrew Chaikin talked about his work for NASA on the human elements of success and failure in spaceflight projects, focusing on the Apollo and Space Shuttle programs.
June 3 - John Couluris, Program Manager for Blue Origin's Human Landing System, discussed Blue Origin's concept for their vehicle to land American astronauts on the Moon. - Zoom Meeting
May 6 - "Around the world in 90 minutes" - NAL member Jerry Ross described some of the beautiful pictures of the earth taken during his seven Space Shuttle missions.
Nov 5 - Dr. Scott Greenald, Senior Vision Scientist in NASA's Cardiovascular and Vision Laboratory presented "How a headwind fluid shift in weightlessness may cause spaceflight-associated neuroocular syndrome (SANS). - Zoom Meeting.
Oct 1 - Lunar Dust Toxicity - Torin McCoy, Branch Chief, Environmental Sciences Branch, Human Health and Performance Directorate NASA
July 23 - “Innovating Education in Challenging Times,” Daniel Newmyer – Space Center Houston VP of Education presented educational outreach programs being conducted by SSH during the pandemic.
March 5 – “To Boldly Sequence Where No One Has Sequenced Before: How DNA Sequencing is Changing Life in Space”, Dr. Sarah Wallace, JSC Microbiology Lab Technical Lead
Feb 5 – “Venous Blood Flow Stasis and Thrombosis During Spaceflight”, Karina Marshall-Goebel, PhD, Senior Scientist
2019
Dec 10 - JOINT SOCIAL & DINNER with Manned Spaceflight Operations Association (MSOA) – Speaker was Gateway Deputy Program Manager Lara Kearney. Link to presentation
Dec 5 – Guest speaker was Chris Culbert, Manager, Commercial Lunar Payload Services. Link to presentation
Oct 10 – SOCIAL & DINNER – Guest speaker was JSC Deputy Director Vanessa Wyche.
Oct 3 – Larry Bell, Director Emeritus of the Univ. of Houston Central Campus Sasakawa Space Architecture School.
Sept 5 – Steven Gonzalez, Technology Transfer Strategist presented “JSC Tech Transfer: The Latest on Partnerships and Start-Ups.” After this, Charlene Gilbert, Intellectual Properties Portfolio Manager, discussed the efforts of the JSC Tech Transfer Office to formulate an Intellectual Property strategy to support US Commercial Space companies.
August 1 – “Orion Program Update”, Charlie Lundquist — Orion Deputy Program Manager.
Nov 1 – A panel of Apollo veterans, Chet Vaughn, Hal Beck, Gene Ricks, Bill Moon and Denny Holt shared their stories and experiences from these historic first steps leading to the Moon landing.
Oct 17 – SOCIAL & DINNER – “Growth and New Visions at UHCL”, Dr. Ira K. Blake, the new president of UHCL”
Oct 4 – “James Webb Space Telescope Testing at JSC during Hurricane Harvey”, JSC/Jonathan Homan
Sept 6 – “Engineering Technology Development Effort”, JSC/Monte Goforth
August 2 – “International Space Station: Operating an Outpost In the New Frontier” – Dr. Robert Dempsey
July – No program
June 18 –SOCIAL & DINNER – “NAL-JSC – Your Impact on the Community”
June 7 – NASA Alumni League President Wayne Hale – “Update on the NAL National Organization”
June 1 – Frank Hughes presented his Apollo 13 class that he teaches at Lone Star College
May 4 – SOCIAL & DINNER – “Long-term care for those with Azheimer’s and memory issues” – Anne Neelon, Executive Director of Autumn Leaves of Clear Lake
April 14 – “Dream Chaser”, John Curry -Dream Chaser Program Director/Sierra Nevada Corporation
Mar 7 – SOCIAL & DINNER – “ISS program Current Status and Outlook” – Kirk Shireman/Manager International Space Station Program
Mar 2 – “Eva Suit Design Status” – Amy Ross
Feb 7 – “Curiosity: The Mars Science Laboratory and Mars Exploration”, Doug Archer
2016
Dec 1 – “Hope 1: Space Suit Project” Gordon Andrews/Strategic Communications Group
Nov 15 – SOCIAL & DINNER – Preliminary Results of NASA’s Twins Study, Dr. John Charles, Ph.D., Chief Scientist, NASA Human Research Program
Nov 3 – “Neutral Buoyancy Lab (NBL) Talk and Tour” by Dan Sedej
Oct 6 – “JSC History: Cradle to Grave”, Speakers – John Uri, JSC History Office Manager and Lauren Meyers, JSC History Collection Archivist, UHCL Neuman Library
Sept 1 – “DNA Sequencer on ISS”, Dr. Aaron Burton, Principal Investigator
Aug 4 – “The Value of the Moon” – Dr. Paul Spudis, Senior Staff Scientist, Lunar and Planetery Institute
June 7 – SOCIAL & DINNER – “Remembering Columbia: Building the NEXT Greatest Generation”, Belinda Gay from The Patricia Huffman Smith NASA “Remembering Columbia” Museum in Hemphill Texas
June 2 – Joel Walker, Director of Center Operations, conducted an onsite tour of the newly renovated buildings at JSC.