Post by Doris McCraw
It is in our genes. The desire to explore to know what’s there. From ‘Star Trek‘ , ‘Star Wars‘ and Arthur C. Clarkes “2001, A Space Odyssey“, space is a part and parcel of our dreams and thoughts. Who hasn’t spent time looking at the stars and wondering what was up there? As a child my love of space was to stand outside, look up and pick the stars I wanted to visit. I even used to plan my trip, as long as it didn’t involve flying. I can hear you laughing. I know, space ‘flight’ is part of the package. You are probably wondering where all this is leading. The Space Symposium!
What is the ‘Space Symposium’? It is the premier gathering of the global space community, which is how they describe it. This one was the 29th year. Even though NASA didn’t make it this year it was still a great event. To wander the displays, the booths and talking with the people is heaven for anyone who has the slightest interest in space. For me, one of the greatest parts of the event: the young people who attended. They showed interest, asked intelligent questions and overall gave a person a good feeling about where these young ones will take us in the future. If you would like to see an overview of the week you can visit http://www.astronaut.com. and then the link to the 29th Space Symposium.
This image was selected as a picture of the week on the Farsi Wikipedia for the 8th week, 2011. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I also realized that this event could be seen as the story and characters of a book. You have the main characters, that would be the larger companies that attended, and then the secondary characters, the smaller companies. Each has a part to play, but not all are in every story, just like not all the companies are a part of each others final product. However, everyone needs to be seen and their specialties evaluated, just like we do when composing our stories. Who knows when the contact you make at a symposium will be a part of the final product. Sometimes we just meet characters that will not leave our consciousness until we find a place for them, even if that is in a future story.
Maybe some day I will write a story about this amazing event, but I would have to make it a space story or a mystery about satellites, space travel or… That is for another time. In the meantime, look up, enjoy the stars, the Milky Way and the sky. Follow your dreams or as Smashmouth sang at the opening ceremonies “You might as well be walking on the sun.”
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