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3 Astros Dublin 2

Chapter 11: Astronaut Encounters!

Photo: Astronauts (LtoR) Commander Brian Duffy, Capt Winston Scott & Commander (year-in-space), Scott Kelly present to a capacity audience at the Burke Theatre, Trinity College Dublin. CEO Rick Abramson, (later succeeded by Dan LeBlanc), Delaware North executives and former heads of the KSC Visitor Complex, executed a NASA directive to have astronauts (mostly retired ones), present their space experiences to…

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columbia-crew

Chapter 11: 2003 Space Shuttle Columbia & Ireland’s First Internship with NASA-KSC

Photo: The seven person crew of Columbia free-float in space on board Space Shuttle Columbia. A large group of Kennedy Space Center employees, Florida teachers, and students huddled together on the east facing viewing area atop the Astronaut Hall of Fame, in Titusville Florida.  It was a perfect day for STS 107, NASA’s 113th Space Shuttle launch.  The Indian River,…

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Chapter 13: A Tragedy in the Wings

Photo: Capt. Winston Scott at Cape Canaveral’s Launch Complex 47, where these twelve Irish science graduates (collectively known as the Discover Science Program), launched a Super Loki rocket into space in August, 2003. Video footage seen by NASA engineers the day after launch verified that a suitcase sized piece of insulating foam from Columbia’s External Tank (ET), broke away and…

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Queen's Belfast

Chapter 14: Belfast, Northern Ireland, The Wonder of You

In 2012, while working with Space Florida, I received an invitation from Queen’s University Belfast to present a commercial space briefing to a group of science and medical students. Also accompanying me was Dr. Gary Stutte, a renowned, Florida-based space biologist. The invitation was a great honor from such a prestigious university.  Founded way back in 1845, over the years…

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Chapter 15: Israel, the Holy Land

Photo: Jerusalem – Picture taken off the Via Dolorosa, the Way of the Cross, from a small Muslim restaurant. In late 2013, I was requested by Frank DiBello, the President of Space Florida to write a speech for him that he intended to make to an Israeli delegation who were visiting Orlando, Florida. It was an unusual request. Frank himself…

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sutus-international-conference

Chapter 16 – Que viva España

Photo: September 2019 – Presenting commercial space to attendees at the Sutus International Conference, Marbella, Spain. Spring 1994, Ireland to Spain As you’re read earlier, my first visit to Spain was a few fleeting days in Port Bou, Catalonia. I can’t say that it formed a lasting impression with me, more a case of survival. If nothing, during the 1980’s…

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