Welcome to SpaceRubble!

This little spot on the blogosphere will be my depository for all sorts of musings, opinions, outbursts, ramblings, mumblings, ponderings, rants, questions and observations. What they will all have in common is my unending fascination with all things relating to the Exploration of Space. Whether it involves space history, space politics, manned space, robotic space, astronomy, science fiction, space opera, collecting, modelling, conventions, and wargames, it will all probably end up here.

Who am I?  I'm a technical writer involved in educational software, and before that I was a 5th grade teacher. I entered the educational field after a long time in various business fields. For the last 18 years, I've also been involved with a remarkable institution: the Christa McAuliffe Space Education Center. Currently I work part time as a simulator flight director and as the center's Assistant Director. CMSEC is a remarkable place where 15,000 visitors a year, mostly kids, come to experience imaginary space flights in the future and learn about our place among the stars. You can find out more about CMSEC at www.spacecamputah.org

Why Now? October 2008 happens to be the 50th anniversary of NASA! What a great time to start this project. Many of my posts will deal with NASA history. What I'd like to do is post on the events that occurred 50 years ago as they progressed through that remarkable time when we Americans were stunned by the success of Sputnik and looked unflinchingly towards our future in space.  For myself and many of my friends, this is a nostalgic look back at our childhoods when space science grabbed our attention and never let us go. For my younger friends from school and the Space Center (as CMSEC is usually called) this is a look at how this whole space thing began. 

I decided to name this blog SpaceRubble because it covers a little bit of this and that, sometimes big stuff and sometimes small, it may be worth something or it may be just junk. Our solar system is also full of space rubble, the leftovers of its formation and the events of its lifetime so far. Some of it may be just dirt clods, but some of it could be valuable to our efforts to explore and conquer space.

Here's hoping we all find something of worth amidst the rubble!