Events and Activities Highlights (Pre-2010)
May not be a complete list. If you know a missing entry, please let us know.
2009 Highlights
January 2009 No HAL5 program due to New Year. Happy New Year. Be safe.
February 2009 HAL5 free public lecture on "T-Minus 3 Years and Counting. Update on Friendship 7's 50th Commemoration" with guest speaker Mr. Craig Russell of Americans in Orbit-50 years.
March 2009 HAL5 free public lecture on "Homesteading Space: The Human Story of Skylab" with guest speaker, Mr. David Hitt, co-author.
April 2009 HAL5 free public lecture on part 2 of "An Introduction to Planetary Defense: A Study of Modern Warfare Applied to Extra-Terrestrial Invasion" with guest speaker, Dr. Travis Taylor, scientst, engineer, and author. Yuri's Night - Huntsville at LeeAnn's. HAL5 table at Sci-Quest's Space Day.
May 2009 "Remembering Konrad Dannenberg." ISDC 2009 at Orlando, HAL5 received the Chapter of the Year award for 2008 and awarded the 2011 ISDC
June 2009 HAL5 free public lecture on "Going Green to the Moon" with guest speaker, Mr. Tim Pickens, CEO of Orion Propulsion, Inc. Tim will be talking to us about what Orion Propulsion is doing in this area.
July 2009 General membership meeting and annual election of officers. Discussion includes chapter and NSS status, Project HALO status, and what's on your mind.
August 2009 HAL5 free public lecture on "Alternate Energy Options Including Space Based Solar Power" with guest speaker Mr. Dave Christensen, aerospace consultant.
September 2009 HAL5 free public lecture on "Armchair Astronauts, Learn to fly in space! Orbiter FREE Space Flight Simulator" with guest speaker Mr. Seth Eden Hollingsead.
October 2009 HAL5 free public lecture on "Project Apollo: Man's Epic Flight to the Moon" with guest speaker, Mr. Robert Jaques, former NASA MSFC Historian.
November 2009 HAL5 free public lecture on "Space Exploration and a Higher Velocity Exploration Engine" with guest speaker Al Reisz. HAL5 co-sponsored Konrad Dannenberg Tribute at University of Alabama Huntsville.
December 2009 HAL5 free public lecture on "Mastering Working in Outer Space: 21st Century International Space Station" with guest speaker Steve Noojin, Senior Manager, ISS Boeing Huntsville Project.
2008 Highlights
January 2008 HAL5 free public lecture on "Recreating the Flight of the First American to Orbit the Earth" with guest speaker Mr. Craig Russell of Americans in Orbit-50 years.
February 2008 HAL5 free public lecture: Mr. David L. Christensen will be speaking to us on early rocket history and his reflections, experiences and observations. If you enjoyed our Sputnik 50th anniversary talk, you will love this. HAL5 at the US Space 50 event.
March 2008 HAL5 free public lecture on "Is the Dream Still Alive?" with guest speaker Dr. Marty Kress, Executive Director, National Space Science and Technology Center (NSSTC).
April 2008 HAL5 membership meeting, upcoming events planning, and etc at Shoney's. Yuri's Night - Huntsville at LeeAnn's. HAL5 is teaming up with other local organizations to host Huntsville's first official Yuri's Night party.
May 2008 HAL5 free public lecture on "Ares I-X: First Flight of a New Generation" with guest speaker Mr. Stephan Davis, Deputy Mission Manager for Ares I-X at MSFC. At ISDC 2008 at Washington D.C., HAL5 received "Chapter Excellence Award for Public Outreach in 2008."
June 2008 HAL5 membership meeting, upcoming events planning, and annual election of HAL5 officers. NSS 2009 Space Settlement calendar goes on sale from HAL5 and NSS.
July 2008 No HAL5 Monthly program. Have a happy 4th of July. HAL5's Moon diorama at Huntsville - Madison County Main Public library is up. HAL5 has a table at July 19 Huntsville Cub Scout water rocket event. We will be demonstrating a suitecase hybrid rocket on loan from Orion Propulsion.
August 2008 HAL5 summer social: Saturday, August 2. HAL5 free public lecture on "Microgravity Propellant Transfer in Parabolic Flight" with guest speaker, Mr. Mike Brennison, HAL5 and Project HALO team member.
September 2008 HAL5 free public lecture on "Global Warming - Let the Numbers Tell the Story" with guest speaker Dr. John R. Christy, distinguished professor of atmospheric science, Alabama state climatologist, and director of Earth System Science Center. HAL5 table at VBAS Astronomy Day (Sept. 27).
October 2008 HAL5 free public lecture on "HAL5 Really Alive at 25!" with guest speaker Mr. Greg Allison, co-Founder of HAL5. HAL5 celebrates its 25th birthday this year. We have done a lot of interesting stuff. Some well publicized and some not well known. Imagine what the next 25 years would bring.
November 2008 HAL5 free public lecture on "SERVIR - Space Technology Improving Life on Earth. A 21st Century System for Improved Environmental Decision Making in Mesoamerica" with guest speaker Mr. Dan Irwin, NASA Researcher. HAL5 hosted the NSS fall board meeting. To coincide with the board meeting, HAL5 held a paid luncheon lecture on "Ares Proejcts and the Nation's Future" by Mr. Robert Armstrong, NASA Ares Project Outreach.
December 2008 HAL5 free public lecture on " Solar Sails: A Novel Approach to Interplanetary Travel" with guest author Les Johnson . Book signing will be available before and after the lecture.
2007 Highlights
January 2007 HAL5 free public lecture on "X Prize Cup 2007 wrap-up" with HAL5 member Bart Leahy. Project HALO Tube Launch - 1 (TL-1) subscaled tube launcher test #1.
February 2007 HAL5 meeting to discuss our plans for 2007, including a status of our existing projects and activities. We will also cover the planned events for the upcoming meeting of the NSS Board of Directors and Space Blitz activities, to be held in mid-February in Washington, D.C.
March 2007 HAL5 free public lecture on "Orbital Space Settlement" with guest speaker Greg Allsion, co-founder of HAL5, HARC and Executive Vice President of National Space Society. Project HALO TL-1 subscaled tube launcher test #2.
April 2007 HAL5 free public lecture "Ares I-X. The first step in the long journey ahead" with guest speaker Mr. Stephan R. Davis, Deputy Manager of Flight & Integrated Test Office at NASA MSFC.
May 2007 HAL5 Monthly program: Membership meeting. Topics included: NSS Banner Redesign contest, ISDC 2007, Project HALO status, HAL5 display at Huntsville Public Library in June, Space Camp 25th anniversary gala, and interest in another Regional Space Conference or ISDC Huntsville.
June 2007 HAL5 Monthly program: International Space Development Conference (ISDC) 2007 wrap up, and annual election of HAL5 officers.
July 2007 No HAL5 Monthly program. Have a happy 4th of July.
August 2007 HAL5 Monthly program: Aerospace scientist and author Les Johnson will speak on his very recently published book (co-authors Gregory L. Matloff and C Bangs) titled "Living Off the Land in Space: Green Roads to the Cosmos."
September 2007 HAL5 Monthly program: NASA Marshall Historian Mike Wright will speak about "Historical Trends in Technology." How our perceptions of technology - including space - have changed over time and what that means for technology today.
October 2007 HAL5 free public lecture on the 50th anniversary of Sputnik program featuring former Von Braun Rocket Team members Konrad Dannenberg and Ernst Stuhlinger, Apollo engineer and aerospace consultant Dave Christensen. Master of Ceremony is Ralph Petroff. HAL5 participated in the Sally Ride Science Festival at UAH, and VBAS Astronomy Day. X-Prize Cup 2007. Project HALO TL-1 static firing number 3.
November 2007 HAL5 Monthly program: Growing into Space: The Youth Space Movement. Introduction to Federation of Galaxy Explorers (FoGE).
December 2007 HAL5 Monthly program: "Recreating the Flight of the First American to Orbit the Earth" with guess speaker Mr. Craig Russell of Americans in Orbit-50 years.
2006 Highlights
January 2006 HAL5 free public lecture on "In Situ Materials-Based Lunar Habitats" with guest speaker Mr. Michael R. Fiske, Chief Technologist, Jacobs Sverdrup In Situ Fabrication & Repair Habitat Structures Project.
February 2006 HALO System Meeting. Introduction to HALO by Steve and Yohon. Discuss future of TL-1, goals (100 km and video downlink), and open discussions.
March 2006 HAL5 free public lecture on "Humand Destiny: Space or Extinction" with guest speaker Greg Allsion, co-founder of HAL5, HARC and Executive Vice President of National Space Society.
April 2006 HAL5 free public lecture on "Garbage Dump in the Sky: Space Debris and Its Impact on Space Operations." with guest speaker Dr. Bill Cooke, NASA Marshall Aerospace Engineer. Meteoroid Environment Office.
May 2006 HAL5 free public lecture on ISDC 2006 Wrap Up.
June 2006 HAL5 free public lecture on "James Webb Space Telescope: The 'First Light' Machine" with guest speaker Dr. Philip Stahl. Senior Optical Physicst at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. James Webb Space Telescope Optical Components Technical Lead.
July 2006 HAL5 free public lecture on "An Introduction to Planetary Defense: A Study of Modern Warfare Applied to Extra-Terrestrial Invasion" with guest speaker Dr. Travis Taylor, scientst, engineer, and author.
August 2006 HAL5 free public lecture on "HAL5 HALO and HARC Exploits. Past, Present and Future" with guest speaker Greg Allison, Co-founder of HAL5, Initial Project HALO Program Manager, Past President & CEO of High Altitude Research Corp (HARC).
September 2006 HAL5 generla membership meeting. Project HALO's Tube Launch 1 (TL-1) static flight motot test #2.
October 2006 HAL5 free public lecture on "Space Shuttle Mission Highlights from STS-115" with guest speaker Mr. Craig E. Sumner. Technical Director, Space Shuttle Propulsion Elements. United Space Alliance, Huntsville.
November 2006 HAL5 free public lecture on "NASA Exploration Updat - Ares Launch Vehicles." The guest speaker is Mr. Steve Cook, Manager of Exploration Launch projects Office at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center.
December 2006 HAL5 free public lecture on "Skylab Restoration Project: Rescuing the Skylab 1G Trainer." The guest speaker is Mr. Tom Hancock, Project Manager.
2005 Highlights
January 2005 HAL5 free public lecture on "Space Nuclear Power for Surface and Space Applications" with guest speaker Dr. Harvey J. Willenberg, consultant to NASA, the space industry and an expert on space nuclear power.
February 2005 HAL5 free public lecture on "In-Situ Propulsion for Lunar Exploration" with guest speaker Mr. James Hopkins, Senior mechanical systems engineer for International Space Systems.
March 2005 HAL5 free public lecture on "Solar Sailing in the Inner Solar System" with guest speaker Mr. Sandy Montgomery, NASA solar sail project manager. Project HALO work nights moved to the home of Steve Mustaikis from Tim Pickens' shop.
April 2005 HAL5 free public lecture on "Weightless in Seattle: The Physiology of Living in Space" with guest speaker Ms. Jeri Hopkins.
May 2005 HAL5 free public lecture on "Planetary Defense Against Potentially Hazardous Near Earth Objects" with guest speaker Mr. Robert Adam, PE, NASA MSFC system engineer. A record 12 HAL5 members attended the 2005 ISDC in Washington, D.C. It was the largest representation of an NSS chapter at 2005 ISDC - excluding the host chapter. A HAL5 group picture was taken with HAL5 member Konrad Dannenberg. HAL5 received an NSS Chapter Excellence Award for its great accomplishments in 2004. Ronnie received the highest recognition bestowed on an NSS member, the Chris Pancratz Memorial Space Activist of the Year Award, for his extensive work at the national level.
June 2005 HAL5 membership meeting and election of officers. Thirteen members attended. We appointed Greg Allison to be our senior advisor, a non-voting, non-officer position. Afterward, the group discussed what happened at the 2005 ISDC, and asked the members about the possibilities of bidding for ISDC 2008 or 2009.
July 2005 HAL5 free public lecture on "Astrobiology of Comets: Life in Outer Space" with guest speaker Dr. Richard B. Hoover, NASA Astrobiologist. Tim Pickens returned to "The Space Show" with Dr. John Livingston on July 5 to talk about his company, Orion Propulsion, his work on SpaceShipOne, entrepreneurial business climate, and so forth. Tim also gave plugs about HAL5 and Project HALO.
August 2005 HAL5 free public lecture on "SpaceShipOne Behind the Scenes" with guest speaker Timothy Pickens, President and founder of Orion Propulsion, longtime Project HALO and HAL5 member.
September 2005 HAL5 free public lecture on "Private Enterprise and the Vision for Space Exploration" with guest speaker Mr. Dennis Wingo, President of SkyCorp, author of Moonrush. Members of HAL5 visited Senator Shelby's office in Huntsville, as part of the NSS-wide Fall Space Blitz. Greg Allison gave a presentation on "Human Destiny - Why We Must Choose to Settle Space Now to Survive" for the September monthly program of the VBAS.
October 2005 There was no HAL5 free public lecture for this month. We showed a video of IMAX Space Station. Selected HAL5 officers and members attended the first, X-Prize Cup events in Las Cruces, NM. The group setup displays and demonstrated the rocket bikes at the space conference in Las Cruces and at the space educational days in Alamogordo prior to the start of the X-Prize Cup. At the main X-Prize Cup event, the two rocket bikes were a big draw at the joint NSS booth. We talked to the public about the rocket bikes. How this came about from the Huntsville chapter of NSS, and explained that HAL5 has done a lot of hybrid rocketry since 1994. Folks were excited to learn that NSS chapters can be this fun. NSS Executive Director, George Whitesides, thanks the Huntsville folks for the help with the booth and that the rocket bikes helped to bring folks to the NSS booth.
November 2005 HAL5 monthly program on membership meeting, and Yohon and Greg talked about our recent X-Prize Cup. HAL5 has a display case at the Huntsville Main Public Library to show HAL5's history and achievements, its connection to the NSS, its Project HALO's achievements, some rocket hardware and pictures, and what we are planning to do in the future. Project HALO's Tube Launch 1 (TL-1) hybrid rocket motor test #1.
December 2005 HAL5 free public lecture on "NASA's Plan to Return to the Moon" with guest speaker Mr. Stephan R. Davis, NASA engineer and member of NASA Exploration Systems Architecture Study Team.