Introductions and some brief history re: RMMS chapter was given for the newer members and Tom spoke of his prior involvement with the Louisiana chapter and their activities. Some talk about the upcoming convention in Chicago and who would be attending and what talks were to be given. Dewey asked for some ideas about low-amp 12 volt blowers for upgrading the spacesuit ventilation and the need for a second pass regarding the spacesuit design, possibly including cool-gel vests for core-body cooling. It was also determined that there will be an RMMS meeting in Aug. for those who are here and wish to attend.

Much discussion about what future meetings should be about and we brainstormed the idea of people reading a space and/or Mars related book and doing a synopsis of the book for the meetings, recaps of talks given at the current or previous conventions, other guest speakers (e.g., Wayne White re: space law), or other topics as brought up and approved by members. The topic is still open for further discussion and ideas.

Brian E. brought in a hot-off-the-press Gallup poll sponsored by a space industry consortium which asked seven questions of a statistically sampled group regarding their interest in, and support of, the space program including both robotic and manned as well as their personal and fiscally defined levels of that support. Demographics of the respondents were included in the statistical analysis as well as various differences in responses between level of education, region of country, party affiliation, age, gender and other variables. The questions were for once, compared to prior surveys which would ask skewed questions such as 'would you support a trillion dollar manned space program' or ' would you euthanize your mother to support space exploration', rather unbiased and seemed to have high validity while asking realistic questions couched in annually financed terms and allowed for 'don't know' or 'refuse to answer' responses. The gist is that two thirds of the poll somewhat or strongly supported continued exploration at current or increased levels and found the attendant risks to be acceptable and the rewards tangible and worthy. Brian E. has posted the address for the detailed report and its analyses on the RMMS web page. The results were quite encouraging and should provide some excellent talking-points for the upcoming and ongoing debate re: the future of space exploration in and by this country.

-- Jim Weber