Live on Stage Australia in association with Mark Stewart Productions and National Geographic Channel proudly presents the Australian tour of Gene Cernan: naval aviator, engineer, fighter pilot, NASA astronaut and last man on the Moon. This major event will feature the AUSTRALIAN PREMIER of the multi-award winning documentary film, The Last Man on the Moon and GENE CERNAN himself live on stage discussing the film, his life and extraordinary career with the Q&A hosted by CSIRO astronomer and science educator, Dr Lisa Harvey-Smith. Australian Tour Dates: 27 May - Perth | Perth Concert Hall 28 May - Carnarvon | Carnarvon Civic Centre 30 May - Sydney | Hayden Orpheum Picture Palace, Cremorne (matinee & evening show) 31 May - Melbourne | The Astor Theatre, St Kilda  2 June - Canberra | Canberra Theatre Centre The Space Association of Australia has been working closely with Live on Stage Australia, the producers of the Australian tour, and we are delighted to offer you a 10% discount* on tickets for you, your family and friends. * This discount applies to all shows (excluding Carnarvon) and all price points, including the Meet & Greet package! Discount tickets are only available from this exclusive link to Ticketmaster.  The Space Association of Australia takes this opportunity to thank and congratulate Live On Stage Australia, Mark Stewart Productions and National Geographic Channel on a highly successful and hugely memorable Australian tour of Gene Cernan - The Last Man on the Moon. 

This is the free monthly meeting of the Space Association of Australia - all welcome! We'll be in the Function Room on the first floor of the Caulfield RSL. The venue is disabled friendly and includes a lift. Meals are available at reasonable prices. Ample car parking is available immediately behind the RSL or in St Georges Road.  Trams and trains run within 200 metres of the venue. 50th Anniversary of Surveyor 1 - The View from Downunder​ with Mike Dinn, Deputy Station Director at DSS-42 (Tidbinbilla) in 1966 Surveyor 1 was the first lunar soft-lander in the unmanned Surveyor program of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). This lunar soft-lander gathered data about the lunar surface that would be needed for the manned Apollo Moon landings that began in 1969.  Surveyor 1 was launched on 30 May 1966, from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at Cape Canaveral in Florida, and it landed on the Moon on 2 June 1966. Surveyor 1 transmitted 11,237 still photos of the lunar surface to the Earth by using a television camera and a sophisticated radio-telemetry system. Mike Dinn was born and educated in England. After graduating in Electrical Engineering (London) in 1955, he worked in British industry mainly on aircraft electronics and electrics.   In 1960 he moved to Australia, and was responsible for aircraft flight testing instrumentation with the Royal Australian Air Force. Mike moved to the Canberra Deep Space Tracking Station (Tidbinbilla – part of NASA/JPL’s Deep Space Network) in 1966 as Deputy Station Director in charge of Operations, his first mission being Surveyor 1. In 1967 he took a similar position at Honeysuckle Creek, one of NASA’s three main communications facilities for the Apollo program, and was actively involved in missions 7 to 14. He returned to the DSN station during the building of the new 210 ft dish at Tidbinbilla, and spent a year at JPL Pasadena (1972). This antenna supported Apollo 17 as its first task. After a period in Australia’s Department of Defence he returned to the Deep Space Station in 1983, becoming Director in 1988. NASA’s main missions during this period were Voyager, Magellan and Galileo, but the facility also supported Shuttle until the TDRSS spacecraft were in place. Mike retired in 1994 – on Apollo 11’s 25th anniversary, having just succeeded in obtaining an Apollo 11 lunar rock for display, which was presented by NASA astronaut John Young. Mike considers the highlight of his career as being Apollo 11 operations (and in particular the TV of the first lunar step to the world coming through Honeysuckle), closely followed by being at Houston during Apollo 17 and sending some commands from Ed Fendell’s INCO console on Gene Kranz’s shift, and also Apollo 8 where Honeysuckle Creek first came into its own. Mike was awarded two NASA Public Service Medals – in 1986 and 1995. (Source: Biography and photograph of Mike Dinn courtesy of honeysucklecreek.net - a tribute website to the men and women of Honeysuckle Creek Tracking Station in Canberra, Australia and the wider Australian involvement in manned and unmanned space exploration).

As a current financial member of the Space Association of Australia, you are invited to nominate to go into the prize draw to win one of ten tickets to see "Gene Cernan - The Last Man on the Moon". There are two general admission tickets (valued at ~$80 each) to be won for each of the following shows:  27 May - Perth | Perth Concert Hall  30 May - Sydney | Hayden Orpheum Picture Palace, Cremorne (matinee)  30 May - Sydney | Hayden Orpheum Picture Palace, Cremorne (evening)                        31 May - Melbourne | The Astor Theatre, St Kilda  02 June - Canberra | Canberra Theatre Centre To confirn your intention to participate in the prize draw, simply nominate the event in your state or territory of residence by clicking the   Buy Tickets   button at right and selecting the appropriate city prize draw ticket that appears.​  NOTES: 1. Members are only eligible to enter the draw for the event that takes place in their registered state or territory of residence (i.e. WA, NSW, VIC or ACT) as listed in their membership details. Members whose registered place of residence is outside any of these states or territory (i.e. SA, QLD, TAS, NT), may nominate for entry to any or all of the events. 2. Prizes include a ticket for entry only - travel, accommodation and expenses are not included. You must be willing and able to travel to the city you nominate at your own expense. 3. For any special circumstances please contact us at spaceflight@space.asn.au or 0413 993 231 before 7.00 pm (AEST) on Wednesday 18 May.   TERMS AND CONDITIONS  Entry:  1. The Space Association of Australia Inc. (the SAA) is the promoter of this competition, which will run from 20 April 2016 until 18 May 2016 unless and until cancelled by the SAA at any time at its sole discretion.  2. The SAA will hold a prize draw giving financial members of the SAA the chance to win one of ten (10) general admission tickets (valued at ~$80 each) to the Gene Cernan events: Two for the 27 May Perth show  Two for the 30 May Sydney show (matinee) Two for the 30 May Sydney show (evening) Two for the 31 May Melbourne show  Two for the 2 June Canberra show. All Members as at 7.00 pm on 18 May 2016 will be entered into the Prize Draw for the relevant city or cities.  3. Members will only be eligible to enter the draw for the event that takes place in their registered state or territory of residence (i.e. WA, NSW, VIC or ACT) as listed in their membership details. Members whose registered place of residence is outside these states or territory (i.e. SA, QLD, TAS, NT)  may nominate for entry to any or all of the events. 4. In consideration for entry into the competition, SAA members agree to be bound by these terms and conditions and shall at all times act in good faith towards the SAA and the competition.  5. The competition is not open to any individual who is not a financial Member of the SAA at the time of the prize draw.  Prize: 6. The Prize Draw will take place at the studios of 88.3 Southern FM in Brighton, Victoria, Australia and will be broadcast live on Southern FM during the The Space Show on Wednesday, 18 May 2016. The winners will be the first two names to be selected at random from all of the eligible Members as at the date of the Prize Draw for each of the nominated cities. 7. The winner of each Prize will be contacted directly by the Space Association of Australia.  8. The Prize winner (and a guardian if under 16) will be required to give their consent to the following: (i) for the winner’s name and (if applicable) photograph to be published on the SAA website; (ii) for the winner’s name to be disclosed to any person requesting that SAA confirm the identity of a Prize winner; and (iii) for the winner’s name and/or photograph to be published for promotional purposes.  9. Any ancillary costs and expenses associated with the Prize, such as subsistence, accommodation and travel, will not be provided by SAA and shall be borne by the winner. The Prize is non-transferable and no cash alternative is available.  10. If any winner, drawn at random, is unable or unwilling to: (i) accept the Prize; or (ii) provide the consent requested at paragraph 8 above, subsequent draws will take place until a new winner is found who is able/willing to accept the Prize and provide the necessary consent.  11. Subject to paragraphs 8 and 9 above, details of each Prize Draw winner will be made available upon request from the SAA. 12. The SAA reserves the right to cancel or amend any Prize Draw, the Competition or these Conditions without notice in the event of the occurrence of circumstances beyond its reasonable control. 

This is the free monthly meeting of the Space Association of Australia - all welcome! We'll be in the Function Room on the first floor of the Caulfield RSL. The venue is disabled friendly and includes a lift. Meals are available at reasonable prices. Ample car parking is available immediately behind the RSL or in St Georges Road.  Trams and trains run within 200 metres of the venue. Come along and celebrate the 35th anniversary of the founding of the Space Association of Australia back in April 1981. Main feature: The Psychology of Spaceflight with Adena Silverstein Space Association member Adena Silverstein is a practicing psychologist who is coming down from Sydney to talk to us about the affects of space travel on the mind: The Psychology of Spaceflight. Adena will discuss the topic from a number of perspectives. These perspectives will include focusing on the individual astronaut, the crew as a group, interactions between crew and ground control and the families of crew members who are away from home on long duration missions. Adena is a psychologist who has a keen interest in space. Since there are humans, not only payloads and satellites, launched into space, she is excited about, and sees the need to explore both her interests: psychology and space, into the area of Psychology of Spaceflight. One of her career goals is to become part of the industry of Space Psychology. She has a dream to be launched into space as part of a research team and/or as a space tourist. She has a B.A., B.Ed (Education Psychology) and a Master of Psychology (counselling). She is currently working in private practice. Her client group is varied, consisting of individuals, couples and families of different ages and in diverse stages of life. If you can't make it to the meeting in person, join us via the livestream on SAA TV below:

This is the free monthly meeting of the Space Association of Australia - all welcome! We'll be in the Function Room on the first floor of the Caulfield RSL. The venue is disabled friendly and includes a lift. Meals are available at reasonable prices. Ample car parking is available immediately behind the RSL or in St Georges Road.  Trams and trains run within 200 metres of the venue. Space Association member Ishraj Inderjeet, together with Jessica Orr, reports on their time attending the 2016 Southern Hemisphere Space Studies Program presented by the University of South Australia (UniSA) in partnership with the International Space University (ISU).   Ishraj, who completed a Bachelor of Engineering (with Honours) in Aerospace Engineering at RMIT University in 2015, was the winner of a Sir Ross and Sir Keith Smith Fund full scholarship to attend the Space Studies Program, between 11 January and 12 February this year.

The Space Association of Australia Inc., the Royal Aeronautical Society - Melbourne Branch and One Giant Leap Australia, are pleased to present: Planning for Failures - Using a Toothbrush to Repair a Space Station with Ed Van Cise. Ed Van Cise is a NASA flight director responsible for supporting the current and future operations on the International Space Station. The International Space Station is a unique off-world research laboratory where out-of-this-world science is conducted every day. It is also a remote outpost in space that requires reliable maintenance and logistics planning, and well-trained crews, operators, and engineers to work through contingencies. The methods used by the leadership laboratory that is Mission Control, in Houston, Texas, and around the world, for managing this unique spacecraft can be directly mapped to the management of operations and assets.  This even includes using a toothbrush to save a spacewalk. Entry is free but bookings are essential:  REGISTER HERE  Ed Van Cise Flight Director at NASA’s Johnson Space Center Houston, Texas Ed Van Cise – call sign “Carbon Flight” – was selected as a NASA Flight Director in 2009. He had previously worked in human spaceflight with the International Space Station (ISS) project since 1998 and has been certified to operate a number of different systems of the ISS over the course of his career, accumulating over 6,000 hours of console experience in ISS operations along the way. These operational areas include: Space Station Structures and Mechanisms; In-Flight Maintenance; Motion Control; Command and Data Handling; and Communication and Tracking systems. Ed’s experiences include not only direct command and control of the space station but also the instruction of astronauts and flight controllers, as well as the management of groups that perform that work. He has also accumulated over 90 minutes of zero gravity experience on NASA’s ‘Vomit Comet’ reduced gravity aircraft and has used his SCUBA certification to dive on the full size ISS mockups in NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory. Ed has a Bachelor’s Degree in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Michigan. The US Space and Rocket Center's Space Camp was a major influence on Ed's career planning and in the Summer of 2012 he was inducted into the US Space Camp Hall of Fame. Other honours include: a NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal, a NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal, multiple NASA Team Awards and multiple NASA Group Achievement Awards.  Entry is free but bookings are essential:  REGISTER HERE    429

This is the free monthly meeting of the Space Association of Australia - all welcome! We'll be in the Function Room on the first floor of the Caulfield RSL. The venue is disabled friendly and includes a lift. Meals are available at reasonable prices. Ample car parking is available immediately behind the RSL or in St Georges Road. Trams and trains run within 200 metres of the venue. Join us for a presentation on "The Gravity Loading Countermeasure Skinsuit: From Concept to International Space Station" with our guest speaker, Dr James Waldie. The brainchild of Australian aerospace engineer, Dr James Waldie, the Skinsuit has been worn by an astronaut inside the International Space Station (ISS) for the first time.  Denmark’s first astronaut, Andreas Mogensen, spent 10 days aboard the ISS in September 2015 and pulled on the Skinsuit to test its effectiveness in the weightless conditions. Inspired by the striking bodysuit worn by Cathy Freeman at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Dr Waldie and his collaborators have spent more than 15 years getting the suit into space. Skin-tight and made of bi-directional elastics, the Skinsuit has been designed to mimic the impact of gravity on the body to reduce the debilitating physical effects space flights have on astronauts’ bodies.                   Dr James Waldie Aerospace Engineer at BAE Systems Melbourne, Australia  Dr James Waldie (MIEAust CPEng) graduated in 1999 with a Bachelor of Engineering (Aerospace) and Bachelor of Business (Administration) from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT). He continued on as a Research Scholar at the University of California in San Diego for his Masters, and earned his PhD from RMIT in 2005, working on skinsuits for extra- and intra-vehicular activity.   He has worked for BAE Systems since 2002, initially designing several UAVs and operating them around Australia, and attending the International Space University Summer Session in 2004.   In 2007 he was selected as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he worked principally on skinsuits as physical deconditioning countermeasures until 2010. Returning to BAE Systems in Australia, he has since been a Research and Technology Lead at BAE.  He has also become a Senior Associate at RMIT, serving as a Principal Investigator for the ESA-led Gravity Loading Countermeasure Skinsuit (GLCS) programme.   Dr Waldie is on the Executive of the Mars Society Australia and has also been a Project Lead for the Society since 2001, developing skinsuits for analogue trials in Australia and in the U.S.

This is the free monthly meeting of the Space Association of Australia - all welcome! We'll be in the Function Room on the first floor of the Caulfield RSL. The venue is disabled friendly and includes a lift. Meals are available at reasonable prices. Ample car parking is available immediately behind the RSL or in St Georges Road.  Trams and trains run within 200 metres of the venue. Remembering Challenger 30 Years On: The NASA family lost seven of its own on the morning of 28 January 1986, when a booster engine failed, causing the Shuttle Challenger to break apart just 73 seconds after launch. The crew of STS-51-L: Front row from left, Mike Smith, Dick Scobee, Ron McNair. Back row from left, Ellison Onizuka, Christa McAuliffe, Greg Jarvis, Judith Resnik. Image Credit: NASA

The SAA is delighted to announce it’s first event for 2016! We will be hosting a lunchtime lecture by author, lecturer, space advocate and director emeritus of U.S. Space Camp, Ed Buckbee in Melbourne, on Thursday January 7th. Ed was commissioned as an U.S. Army officer in 1958. He served at the U. S. Army Missile Command, Redstone Arsenal, AL and U. S. Special Forces, Ft. Bragg, NC. In 1961 he transferred to the newly formed NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center where he worked for rocket scientist Wernher von Braun. As a NASA public affairs officer, he worked with all the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo astronauts. He continues to be associated with America’s space program as an advocate of human space flight. Read more about Ed’s amazing life here This will be a unique opportunity to meet and hear from a man that was at the very epicentre of the US manned space program at the height of the space race! What - Lecture Greatest Space Generation-The REAL Space Cowboys by Ed Buckbee When - Thursday January 7th, 12:00 – 4:00 pm Come along early and have some lunch in the Bistro We will then move in to the adjacent function room for Ed’s lecture at 2:30 to 3:30 pm (please note you can't take or have meals delivered to the function room) Feel free to just come to the lecture! Where - The Mail Exchange Hotel - 688 Bourke St, Melbourne Cost - This is a free event (you’ll need to purchase your own lunch & drinks) RSVP - Seating is strictly limited and open to anyone. To reserve your seat please send an email to spaceflight@space.asn.au with your number of confirmed guests ASAP. More details will be published soon at www.space.asn.au Seasons Greetings and we look forward to seeing you on the 7th! The Space Association of Australia Inc www.space.asn.au www.meetup.com/MelSpaceNet Buckbee (left) and von Braun view a live demonstration of the first exhibit for the Space & Rocket Center during a filming of “Today in Space” produced by Buckbee in 1970. 162

You are invited to join us for the final meeting of the Space Association of Australia for 2015 - all welcome! Our third annual Space Trivia Night is free and open to all members, non members, friends and family. These nights are loads of fun and have become the social highlight of the SAA calendar. We'll be in the Function Room on the first floor of the Caulfield RSL. The venue is disabled friendly and includes a lift. Meals are available at reasonable prices. Ample car parking is available immediately behind the RSL or in St Georges Road.  Trams and trains run within 200 metres of the venue. For planning purposes, we ask that you RSVP your intention to attend and how many will be in your party by clicking on the  Buy Tickets  button at right.​ There is no 'fee', this just allows us to know how many to plan for. To help the night flow, please be at the RSL at or before 7.00 pm so that we can form teams and seat accordingly (we do plan to mix the groups up so please be open to the possibility of sitting with people you may or may not know). We would also like you to place meal orders prior to getting started so the meals can be delivered upstairs at 8.00 pm. So, dust off your space knowledge, get lots of sleep, eat healthy, get out and exercise and most of all, be ready for a fun night, we look forward to seeing you there! 60

The Space Association of Australia is a Proud Partner of An Evening with Buzz Aldrin: Mission to Mars - presented by Live on Stage Australia. Tickets are available from Ticketmaster.

The Space Association of Australia is a Proud Partner of An Evening with Buzz Aldrin: Mission to Mars - presented by Live on Stage Australia. Final tickets are available from Ticketmaster.

This is the free monthly meeting of the Space Association of Australia - all welcome! Guest speaker: Mark Smith - Nanosat Eye in the Sky: Building a Cubesat in Melbourne We'll be in the Function Room on the first floor of the Caulfield RSL. The venue is disabled friendly and includes a lift. Meals are available at reasonable prices. Ample car parking is available immediately behind the RSL or in St Georges Road.  Trams and trains run within 200 metres of the venue.

As a current financial member of the Space Association of Australia, you are invited to nominate to win one of three A-Premium double passes (valued at $340 each) to An Evening with Buzz Aldrin: Mission to Mars events - one for the 27 November Sydney show and two for the 29 November Melbourne show.  SYDNEY: DATE 27-11-2015  TIME 08:00 PM – 10:30 PM LOCATION State Theatre, 49 Market Street, Sydney   MELBOURNE: DATE 29-11-2015  TIME 08:00 PM – 10:30 PM LOCATION Melbourne Town Hall, 90-120 Swanston Street, Melbourne To confirn your intention to participate in the prize draw, simply nominate the city or cities of your choice by clicking on the  Buy Tickets  button at right and selecting the appropriate free prize draw ticket or tickets.​  NOTE: Prizes include entry only - travel, accommodation and expenses are not included. You must be willing and able to travel to the city you nominate to attend at your own expense - see Terms & Conditions below.   TERMS AND CONDITIONS  Entry:  1. The Space Association of Australia Inc. (SAA) is the promoter of this competition, which will run from 1 September 2015 until 4 November 2015 unless and until cancelled by the SAA at any time at its sole discretion.  2. The SAA will hold a prize draw giving financial members of the SAA the chance to win one of three (3) premium double-passes (valued at $340 each) to the Buzz Aldrin events - one for the 27 November Sydney show and two for the 29 November Melbourne show. All Members as at 7.00 pm on 4 November 2015 will be automatically entered into the Prize Draw for the relevant city or cities, of their choosing.  3. In consideration for entry into the competition, SAA members agree to be bound by these terms and conditions and shall at all times act in good faith towards the SAA and the competition.  4. The competition is not open to any individual who is not a financial Member of the SAA at the time of the prize draw.  Prize: 5. The Prize Draw will take place at the studios of 88.3 Southern FM in Brighton, Victoria, Australia and will be broadcast live on Southern FM during the The Space Show on Wednesday, 4 November 2015. The winners will be the first name to be selected at random from all of the eligible Members as at the date of the Prize Draw. 6. The winner of each Prize will contacted directly by Live on Stage Australia (the show's producers).  7. The Prize winner (and a guardian if under 16) will be required to give their consent to the following: (i) for the winner’s name and (if applicable) photograph to be published on the SAA website; (ii) for the winner’s name to be disclosed to any person requesting that SAA confirm the identity of a Prize winner; and (iii) for the winner’s name and/or photograph to be published for promotional purposes.  8. Any ancillary costs and expenses associated with the Prize, such as subsistence, accommodation and travel, will not be provided by SAA and shall be borne by the winner. The Prize is non-transferable and no cash alternative is available.  9. If any winner, drawn at random, is unable or unwilling to: (i) accept the Prize; or (ii) provide the consent requested at paragraph 7 above, subsequent draws will take place until a new winner is found who is able/willing to accept the Prize and provide the necessary consent.  10. Subject to paragraphs 7 and 8 above, details of each Prize Draw winner will be made available upon request from the SAA. 11. The SAA reserves the right to cancel or amend any Prize Draw, the Competition or these Conditions without notice in the event of the occurrence of circumstances beyond its reasonable control. 

This is the free monthly meeting of the Space Association of Australia - all welcome! We'll be in the Function Room on the first floor of the Caulfield RSL. The venue is disabled friendly and includes a lift. Meals are available at reasonable prices. Ample car parking is available immediately behind the RSL or in St Georges Road.  Trams and trains run within 200 metres of the venue.