The Nationwide House Society invitations you to the subsequent House Discussion board
Thursday, Might 15, 2024, 9:00 pm to 10:15 pm EST
From Moonwalks to Spaceplanes:
The Story Behind the House Shuttle Program
With particular visitor
Burt Dicht
Retired Aerospace Engineer
House Historian and Speaker
NSS Managing Director of Membership
Forty-four years in the past, on April 12, 1981, astronauts John Younger and Robert Crippen launched from Pad 39A at Kennedy House Middle aboard Columbia—the primary flight of NASA’s area shuttle program. With its reusable orbiter, the shuttle was supposed to decrease the price of area entry and remodel spaceflight right into a routine operation.
Over the subsequent 30 years, the shuttle fleet flew 135 missions, spent greater than 1,300 days in area, traveled practically 530 million miles, and delivered over 3 million kilos of cargo to orbit. This system marked a brand new period in area exploration, enabling the launch and servicing of satellites, interplanetary probes, the development of the Worldwide House Station, and groundbreaking science.
However the shuttle additionally carried an advanced legacy. Regardless of its many achievements, this system fell wanting its unique imaginative and prescient and endured two tragic accidents that claimed the lives of 14 astronauts. Be a part of us on for the subsequent area discussion board as NSS Managing Director of Membership Burt Dicht takes us by the complete arc of the shuttle program—from its beginnings as a post-Apollo undertaking to the engineering, political, and financial challenges that formed its design. The presentation will spotlight each the triumphs and trade-offs behind one of the vital formidable area automobiles ever constructed. Don’t miss this look again at this groundbreaking U.S. area program. Register for the area discussion board in the present day.
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Burton Dicht is the Managing Director of Membership for the Nationwide House Society (NSS) and oversees the Society’s headquarters on the Kennedy House Middle. For the previous 5 years, he has led the NSS House Discussion board and City Corridor sequence, moderating conversations with main voices in area and highlighting key milestones in aerospace historical past. This 12 months he’s additionally serving as a co-chair of the House Historical past session on the Worldwide House Improvement Convention® (ISDC®).
Burt started his aerospace profession in 1982 with engineering roles at Northrop Grumman and Rockwell’s House Transportation Programs Division, contributing to main applications together with the YF-23A, F-18E/F, and the area shuttle. His first space-related expertise got here as a 1980 participant in NASA’s Summer season Employment Coaching Program on the Kennedy House Middle. Earlier than becoming a member of NSS, he spent over a decade on the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) as Director of Pupil and Tutorial Training Packages.
Burt holds a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Temple College and an M.A. in historical past from California State College, Northridge. A Fellow of ASME, member of AIAA, and an IEEE-HKN honor society member, he performed a key function in securing ASME Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark standing for the Apollo Command/Service Modules, the Lunar Module, and the Voyager spacecraft. A broadcast author and frequent speaker, he brings each technical perception and historic context to his work in area advocacy.
Register in the present day to order your seat and ask your questions. Use the hyperlink under.
Register no later than Might 15 at 8 pm EST
Previous NSS House Boards and City Halls could also be considered right here.
