Grand Opening of the Davidson Center for Space Exploration
The Davidson Center for Space Exploration is finally complete, and the U.S. Space & Rocket Center is thrilled to announce that its Grand Opening Gala, which was held in conjunction with the 50th Anniversary of America in Space on January 31, 2008, was a dazzling success! Over 1,400 guests from all parts of the city, state, nation, and world attended this exciting evening. The event served as the culmination of a 10-day "countdown" celebration commemorating Huntsville's role in putting our nation in space.
The guest list for our gala included many nationally-known dignitaries such as Dr. George Mueller, NASA Associate Administrator, Office of Manned Space Flight 1963-69, and astronauts Buzz Aldrin (Apollo 11), Walter Cunningham (Apollo 7), Owen Garriott (Skylab), Richard Gordon (Apollo 12), Bill Anders (Apollo 8), Jim Lovell (Apollo 13), Edgar Mitchell (Apollo 14), Russell Schweickart (Apollo 9), Charlie Duke (Apollo 16), and Scott Carpenter (Mercury). Several members from Dr. Wernher von Braun's original rocket team, well into their nineties, also attended.
Although one of the evening's highlighted guests, Walter Cronkite, was not able to attend due to poor health, he extended his deepest congratulations for the event through a letter that was read by Apollo 13 astronaut, Jim Lovell. Lovell also accepted the Lifetime Achievement Award on Cronkite's behalf.
Following a breathtaking "reveal" of the fully restored Saturn V rocket suspended above the heads of the partygoers, complete with pyrotechnics and smoke effects, guests of this historical occasion had nothing but praise for what served as the culminating point of a five-year project to restore and house one of the nation's greatest accomplishments. A fabulous time was had by all who attended, and many have already tagged the gala as "the best event ever held in Huntsville." The USSRC plans to continue this excitement and excellence by making the Davidson Center gala an annual celebration. For more pictures and videos from the Davidson Center gala, visit www.spacecamp.com/gala.
The Davidson Center will officially open to the public on February 9, 2008, and at this time many space artifacts will be relocated to the new facility. The entire museum plan, which includes a variety of exhibits, artifacts, and interactive kiosks, will be implemented over subsequent months, as funding permits.
For more information on how you can make a donation toward new exhibits in the Davidson Center for Space Exploration, please visit www.savethesaturn.org and click on "Saturn V Exhibit Gallery."
Saturn V Bricks
The initial order of Saturn V Restoration Project bricks has been made, and the first installment has already been placed in the Apollo Courtyard at the entrance of the Davidson Center for Space Exploration. Scattered among the donor bricks are selected "footprints" and signatures of astronauts from Apollo, Skylab, and Shuttle missions. Additional bricks will be placed in the future as new orders are received.
For more information about how you can reserve your own Saturn V brick, visit our website (www.savethesaturn.org) and click on "Buy a Brick."
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Alumni Spotlight
Captain Phillip "Ritz" Smith began his life focused on aviation. Born in Tampa, Florida, Captain Smith's father was an air traffic controller for 27 years at Tampa International Airport and would take him and his identical twin brother to the control tower and around the large aircraft. He would also take the boys to MacDill Air Force Base to watch the F-16s take off. From a very young age, Captain Smith knew he wanted to fly.
Through elementary school, Captain Smith's interest in the space program and in flying continued to grow. Puzzles, toys, books, video games, and even pictures on the walls of his room all carried some sort of aviation theme. In the sixth grade, Captain Smith's parents gave him the best holiday surprise ever: a brochure from SPACE CAMP Florida. They told him that he was going in April of 1991, just before his birthday.
What a wonderful time! Captain Smith was in the Pluto group at Kennedy Space Center, recalling the week as "an A+ experience." As Flight Director for his mission team, one of Captain Smith's favorite memories was on graduation day: "The mighty seventh graders were a year older than us, and (they thought) a year wiser. They were 100% sure that they had 'the perfect mission'...From what we heard, they did have an almost perfect mission minus one thing.....they didn't lock the airlock going into the shuttle...so their perfect mission wasn't!" Captain Smith's group ended up winning after all! "It was a great way to end an amazing SPACE CAMP experience," he recalls.
After SPACE CAMP Florida, it was only a matter of saving up money to be able to visit SPACE ACADEMY in Huntsville. Captain Smith made a deal with his parents: he would save up for SPACE ACADEMY and they would pay for the flight from Tampa to Huntsville. Captain Smith ended up making it to SPACE ACADEMY in the 8th grade. He was in the Thiokol group and remembers the "futuristic" looking dorms, building model rockets, and firing them off outside. "I learned a great lesson," he remembers, "that if you don't put the fireproof paper in the rocket, you will melt the parachute."
Captain Smith says SPACE CAMP and SPACE ACADEMY were the spark that started him off on a career of flying! At age 14, he got a job at the Tampa Museum of Science and Industry and started saving money for flying lessons at the local airport, but his cautious parents said a resounding "no" to flying. Fortunately, for his 15th birthday, his older sister, Tammy, purchased a flying lesson for him at Peter O'Knight airport. After pleading with his parents, they let him take that one lesson, and from there Captain Smith was hooked. He earned his private pilot's license on his 17th birthday, skipping school to take the checkride.
As a senior in high school, Captain Smith accepted an appointment to the United States Air Force Academy, graduating in 2001. Upon graduation, Captain Smith went to pilot training where he received the Distinguished Graduate and Flying Excellence award. He was even lucky enough to get an F-15E Strike Eagle assignment, taking him to RAF Lakenheath, United Kingdom. There, Captain Smith deployed to Operation Iraqi Freedom, as well as to Norway, Bulgaria, and Belgium.
After his tour in the UK, Captain Smith was selected to teach new pilots how to fly the F-15E in the Formal Training Unit at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina. Thereafter, he was then chosen as the second ever F-15E Strike Eagle Demonstration Team Pilot. Today as a Demo Pilot, Captain Smith travels the world demonstrating the capabilities of the F-15E, while helping recruit for the U.S. Air Force.
For more information about Captain Smith's F-15 Strike Eagle Demonstration Team, visit Click Here.
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