Do you remember the Good Old Days of Space Exploration when:

• The teacher asked students, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” and over half the class answered “Astronaut”
• The award-winning science projects at the school science fair were always space science experiments
• College programs focused on launching satellites into space
• The Space Program, and not video programs, inspired our nation’s youth
• New technologies constantly sprang up from space science education and exploration projects

Those were the days when the best of technology and learning were born from human ingenuity and creativity. Today, students in schools across the U.S. are bored with a space program for which they have little chance to participate.  

The Future of Space Exploration Lies in Private Industry

Currently, trained American astronauts and wealthy individuals with a lifelong desire for space travel are going to Russia in order to get their chance at space exploration. Americans in Orbit-50 Years wants to make space accessible to more students, space tourists, scientists, and anyone else who has dreamed of orbiting the Earth or experiencing the fascination of space.

We need financial backing from private industry - but - you may be surprised at how many of the pieces AIO-50 already has on the launch pad:

• We have identified a rocket, the Falcon 9 from SpaceX, which we are proposing to use. This launch vehicle can put our Gemini IR (Improved-reusable) and 10,000 lb. of space science experiments into orbit.
• We have selected two astronauts, mission Commander Howard Chipman and Pilot Veronique Balsa-Koken. They will begin training for AMERICA'S LAUNCH in 2011
• We are targeting February 20, 2012 as the proposed launch date. This will commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first U.S. manned orbital mission, Friendship 7, piloted by John Glenn.
• We have the original NASA blueprints - Located in Ft. Worth, TX, we will rebuild the original Gemini and update it with modern avionics and the ability to land the Improved Reuseable Gemini (IR) on the ground.
• We have a Space Science Program - Centered around space education, the ISSEP will inspire great minds for the future.
• We have the faculty and students of the Dept. of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at UAHuntsville - Advised by former NASA Administrator, Michael Griffin, UAH is testing the landing and recovery systems on the original Gemini in order to bring it up to modern technological standards.