Candidates and Veterans

Monday during the Newspace Conference at NASA Ames in California: Seven classroom teachers are named astronaut candidates in a privately funded Teacher-in-Space program. Here they are introduced by our friend THE SPACE SHOW's David Livingston. As Christa McAuliffe once said, I touch the future.

Wednesday night at Ames a panel of NASA veterans remembered Apollo.

Friday's main event at Space Center Houston featured a rare appearance by Neil Armstrong. The crowd went sky high when Neil took the stage.His short speech told of his group of astronaut selectees, the "9 nearly perfect." Armstrong also emphasized the team effort that made Apollo fly.

Armstrong was followed by Buzz Aldrin with his own opinions on the future in Space. Buzz admires the Shuttles and thinks we should keep them operational until a replacement is ready. He thinks a crew transport should be based on the X-37, X-38, or HL-20 lifting bodies. Buzz wants international partners cooperating in settling the Moon, with NASA reaching toward asteroids, Phobos and eventually Mars.