Guest: Loretta Hall; Topics: We discussed her book "Space Pioneers in their own words" & our early space history. Please direct all comments & questions regarding Space Show programs/guest(s) to the Space Show blog, http://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments & questions should be relevant to the specific Space Show program. Written Transcripts of Space Show programs are a violation of our copyright & are not permitted without prior written consent, even if for your own use. We do not permit the commercial use of Space Show programs or any part thereof, nor do we permit editing, YouTube clips, or clips placed on other private channels & websites. Space Show programs can be quoted, but the quote must be cited or referenced using the proper citation format. Contact The Space Show for further information. In addition, please remember that your Amazon purchases can help support The Space Show/OGLF. See www.onegiantleapfoundation.org/amazon.htm. For those listening to archives using live365.com & rating the programs, please email me as to why you assign a specific rating to the show. This will help me bring better programming to the audience. We welcomed Loretta Hall back to the show to discuss her new book "Space Pioneers in their own words." Remember, if you buy this book on Amazon, use the OGLF access so that Amazon will contribute to The Space Show. Instructions are in all archive summaries on our website & the blog. For more information, visit both www.spacepioneerwords.com & www.authorhall.com. In the first segment of our 90 minute program, Loretta discussed the background of writing this book as well as the oral histories at the New Mexico Museum of Space History (www.nmspacemuseum.org). I asked our guest for some of her favorite stories & she mentioned Paul Haney, Neil Armstrong & others. I also asked her about her UFO chapter 17 in the book, "Anyone Else Out There?" This came up later in the show as well with some very interesting stories including one involving an emerald laser classified experiment with the sound of frogs in the background discussed in detail in the second segment. We talked lots about the importance of knowing our early space history. What was fascinating about Loretta's scholarship & this book was that many of the stories & people featured were those in the background of our early space program as she did not just focus on the top people & the stars we all know. The emerging commercial & NewSpace industry in New Mexico was also talked about & at times Loretta said that once operational flights begin at the spaceport, the industry may provide the exciting inspiration needed as was the case with many of the early space programs. BJohn emailed in a question about the New Mexico culture influencing our space program & the possible cultural issues facing a Mars settlement crew. In the second segment, we again talked about Chapter 17 & we heard more about UFO stories from those involved in our early space history. Loretta read a few passages from some of the oral histories where people were genuinely concerned about the adverse stigma attached to UFO comments so they were avoided. Her book covered balloon histories & when asked about connections with our space history & the Old West, mostly what we found out about were rancher disputes with the government over land use, etc. Later in this segment, we talked about the rocket slide work with John Paul Stapp & Loretta read an interesting quote from him about his famous rocket sled ride. Loretta was asked to explain the structure of the book, then she relayed a few more stories to us including one about setting up a school at White Sands for the Paper Clip kids plus one of stratosphere ballooning. These were part of the roles women played in the oral histories in the museum's research library. Please post your comments/questions on The Space Show blog above. You can reach our guest Loretta Hall through her websites or me.
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