San Diego Space Society

SD Space board member James Pura spent some time as an intern at SpaceX this summer, and he’s written an article at Discovery Space about it:

I was one of these interns, and what was in store for me was plenty enough to make my heart beat just a little faster for the rest of my life.

A spacecraft meant to ferry people calls for a window, so I was given the task to design a testing apparatus (from scratch) for the windows on SpaceX’s Dragon capsule.

It’s an inspiring story; taking an active role in the new space revolution is something we all hope to do. James recently shared his experiences with us at an SD Space program meeting. Please join us for the next one; you never know who you might meet.

The world lost San Diegan entrepreneur and space enthusiast James Benson last week. Benson was the founder of Poway-based SpaceDev, which developed the hybrid rocket motor used by SpaceShipOne, and Benson Space Company, which focused on commercial space tourism.

From the SpaceDev release:

Benson was diagnosed in 2007 with a glioblastoma multiforme brain tumor, the cause of his death early this morning. Mr. Benson had resigned from an operational role in SpaceDev in September 2006. He retained a seat on the Board of Directors of SpaceDev where he had continued to support the Company that he founded in 1997.

Prior to founding SpaceDev, Mr. Benson spent thirty years associated with the computer field, spanning the era from the introduction of modern mainframe computers, to the dominance of the computer industry by microcomputers. Mr. Benson invented modern full text computer indexing and searching in 1984, and exploited the new field through companies he founded; Compusearch and ImageFast of McLean, Virginia.

After his successful career as a computer industry entrepreneur, Mr. Benson decided to take on the challenge of starting an innovative space commercialization venture because it combined his lifelong interests in science, technology and astronomy with his successful business experience. SpaceDev was the result.

In addition to his roles in SpaceDev and Benson Space, Benson had been a member of the Board of Directors of the California Space Authority. He founded the non-profit Space Development Institute, and introduced the Benson Prize for Amateur Discovery of Near Earth Objects.

We offer our condolences to Mr. Benson’s family, friends, and colleagues.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration was born fifty years ago today. Despite its ups and downs, the agency has had some extraordinary achievements. From the NASA History in Brief page:

Formed as a result of the Sputnik crisis of confidence, NASA inherited the earlier National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), and other government organizations, and almost immediately began working on options for human space flight. NASA’s first high profile program was Project Mercury, an effort to learn if humans could survive in space, followed by Project Gemini, which built upon Mercury’s successes and used spacecraft built for two astronauts. NASA’s human space flight efforts then extended to the Moon with Project Apollo, culminating in 1969 when the Apollo 11 mission first put humans on the lunar surface. After the Skylab and Apollo-Soyuz Test Projects of the early and mid-1970s, NASA’s human space flight efforts again resumed in 1981, with the Space Shuttle program that continues today to help build the International Space Station.

Here’s to another 50 years of progress. Happy Birthday, NASA!

Our friends at SpaceX made history on Sunday night. Flight 4 of the Falcon 1 rocket launched a test payload into orbit, overcoming all previous issues to achieve a perfect launch. James Pura, SD Space board member and SpaceX engineering intern, was at the SpaceX offices cheering the launch.

The 10-minute launch video is available on YouTube, as is the full 40-minute webcast with some explanation and graphics. The SpaceX updates site should have more details and a recap soon.

Congratulations to James and everyone else who worked so hard to achieve this amazing launch.