First Space Walker Among 60 Space Pioneers Converging In US For First Time In A Decade

For the first time in more than a decade, the world's "Space Fliers" will meet in the United States.  The Association of Space Explorers (ASE) XIX Planetary Congress is convening in Utah, October 9 – 15.

The Association of Space Explorers is the organization of more than 250 astronauts and cosmonauts from 29 nations who have orbited the globe. This prestigious organization will meet to discuss the future of space flight, technical improvements, and space science's impact on life today. Of the confirmed representatives who are attending this distinguished event, their total space flight time equals more than 1/4th of all of human space flight history.

Guided by this years' theme: "Our Destiny in Space: Worlds Without Borders," ASE's distinguished astronauts and cosmonauts will serve as ambassadors for space flight and engineering, making in-person visits to every school district in the state. They also will meet with various members of Utah's space industry and help launch the Governor's "Economic Cluster" program emphasizing the State's contributions to the aerospace industry. Their schedule includes a visit to ATK facilities in Promontory, Utah, the production home of the nation's only human-rated solid rocket motors. These motors currently power the Space Shuttle fleet and NASA recently announced that they will serve as the propulsion baseline for its next-generation space exploration initiative.

The Congress will honor the 30th anniversary of the Soyuz/Apollo Mission into space. Crew members from this mission include Thomas P. Stafford, Vance D. Brand, and Donald K. Slayton (deceased), from the Apollo crew; and Valeriy Nikolayevich Kubasov and Alexei Arkhipovich Leonov from the Soyuz crew. With the exception of Slayton and Kubasov, these mission fliers will be attending ASE's 19th Planetary Congress in Utah. The astronauts will be visiting every school district in the State on Wednesday, October 12 and a public "meet the astronaut" event with Vance D. Brand will be held at the Clark Planetarium in Salt Lake City that night, October 12, from 7pm to 9pm.

With 746 flight hours in Space, Brand has flown 3 shuttle missions in addition to his command of the Soyuz/Apollo Mission. 290 free tickets, available on a first come first served basis, for a theatre talk by Astronaut Brand, followed by a question and answer session will be given away at the Planetarium beginning October 5th until gone.

Former Utah Senator Jake Garn, an astronaut who served as payload specialist on 1985's Discovery Flight 51-D, is the host for the meeting.

FMI: www.getignited2005.com