Guest: Francis French. Topics: human spaceflight history, STEM education, space policy, our space future. Please note that you are invited to comment, ask questions, and rate this program on the new Space Show blog, http://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. In addition, the books that Francis talked about during this program can be found at www.onegiantleapfoundation.org/books. If you buy them from this site, Amazon makes a contribution to The Space Show/OGLF. During our first segment, Mr. French told us about existing and coming exhibits at he San Diego Air & Space Museum. We also talked about some of the permanent exhibits which include the Apollo 9 capsule, Moon rocks and in the aviation part of the museum, Predator drones. Francis told us about several of the educational, student, and outreach programs the museum has in place. Several listeners asked him about the students, changes he has noticed in them over the years, and their interest in STEM as well as space, also the teachers, and even the parents. Francis provided us with very interesting observations and commentary on these population subsets so don't miss what he had to say. In our second segment, he talked about his three books of which he is the co-author. These books included "In The Shadow Of The Moon," "Into That Silent Sea," and "Falling To Earth." All three of these books are being placed on the One Giant Leap Foundation Amazon partners book page per the above URL. Francis told us about each book, not just in terms of the book contents, but the behind the scenes stories and facts we seldom if ever hear about. The same for the space missions and the people who carried them out. As we continued talking about the stories that made up our early human spaceflight program, we talked about testing programs and risks then and now. You will both appreciate and enjoy this look at an important part of our history. In the third segment, Francis was asked to tell us more about Al Worden and "Falling to Earth: An Apollo 15 Astronaut's Journey to the Moon" which will be released in the summer of 2011 but can be pre-ordered at this time. Francis not only told us about Al Worden and why he was and is so special, but he also talked about former Astronaut Donn Eisele. Toward the end of the show, listener Tony sent in a note asking if either space solar power or space tourism could be a driver for better STEM education. You can learn more about the San Diego Air & Space Museum from their website, www.sandiegoairandspace.org. Please post your questions and comments for Francis French on the blog URL above. You can also send them to Francis using www.sandiegoairandspace.org/includes/php/email_composer.php. Make sure you reference Francis French & The Space Show in your email.
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