February 29, 2008

Menominee rocket scientists

Eye on the Sky:  Tribal College Students Shoot for the SkyIt's rocket science...what a group of students is doing at the College of Menominee Nation in Green Bay.

Several students are building a rocket so they can compete in NASA’s University Student Launch Initiative (USLI).

What makes this interesting is that College of Menominee Nation is a 2-year institution, and the students involved aren’t majoring in physics or engineering.

But they're not completely new to this either...

Last year, several members of this group built their first rocket, Golden Eagle.
Comment:  For more on the subject, see Indians as Rocket Scientists.

7 comments:

writerfella said...

Writerfella here --
BFD. writerfella was building and launching rockets 'way back in 1958, and his efforts even were covered by TV crews when he launched his multi-staged ionosphere vehicle in Oklahoma at Ft. Sill's artillery range in 1959. A mouse rode in that last one and was recovered alive and healthy that same day. Later, writerfella became a missile technician when he was drafted and wound up in the US Air Force in 1964. Tell him, therefore, why he was doomed later to become a science fiction writer? Two generations late, ya'll...
All Best
Russ Bates
'writerfella'

dmarks said...

Was the mouse an enrolled member of the Kiowa? If so, you might have a case for challenging Commander John Herrington's "first Native astronaut" claim. Until then...

writerfella said...

Writerfella here --
Already, Rob has pointed out that John Herrington was NOT the first 'Native American' into space. Luckily for us all, Rob finally is correct...
All Best
Russ Bates
'writerfella'

Rob said...

Thanks for yet another anecdote about your past, Russ. How many does that make...100? 200?

Like DMarks, I'm surprised you didn't start with another gratuitous swipe at Herrington. I would've bet on it.

Launching rockets in the Army isn't the same as building and launching your own. Only the first part of your anecdote is relevant.

The point of the article was that the students' rocket was good enough to enter in NASA’s
University Student Launch Initiative (USLI). Was yours?

P.S. In this blog, I'm correct all the time. Too bad you can't say the same.

writerfella said...

Writerfella here --
Boy, Rob, you lose on all such bets! One, writerfella's military service was in the US Air Force, ca. 1964 - 1968, from ages 23 - 27. Two, he launched rockets at Ft. Sill, OK, ca. 1957 - 1959 AS A HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT, from ages 16 - 18. Three, writerfella built AND launched his own atmospheric probes as a young civilian scientist and burgeoning aerospace engineer, spurred on after the launch of Sputnik. Three, John Herrington resigned from NASA and thus he is so last year.
There goes your record for this week, Rob, as usual, 0 for 31. And for your further edification, sir, writerfella obeys that most stringent of rules for writers anywhere: write what you KNOW, not what you've READ.
All Best
Russ Bates
'writerfella'

writerfella said...

Writerfella here --
POSTSCRIPTUM --
Note that Herrington's importance now so is miniscule that he did not deserve his own item number in the above litany...
All Best
Russ Bates
'writerfella'

Rob said...

Learn about the conditional tense, Russ. I said I "would've bet," not that I did bet. You can't lose a bet that never happened.

Being a missile technician in the Air Force isn't the same as building and launching your own rocket. Only the first part of your anecdote is relevant.

Thanks for giving us more irrelevant biographical info. Let us know if any of the rockets you made could've won NASA’s University Student Launch Initiative (USLI). As I said, that was the point of the article--a point you obviously missed.

"Write what you know"...is that why you wrote a screenplay about the 800-year-old "Anasazi" culture or a Star Trek script about aliens? You've violated your own rule, nitwit. You don't know any more about these subjects than I do. (Judging by your uneducated Anasazi comments, you know a lot less.)

How many ancient Indian sites have you visited, anyway? I've visited dozens of them in the American Southwest. I'm guessing I'm a lot more qualified to write about the Puebloan people and their ancestors than you are.