AIAA San Francisco Section Newsletter April 1995 Brenda Does Proust: Remembrances of Symposiums Past by Brenda Forman It's National Space Symposium time again and all true spacers should rejoice there. If the secret name of the Goddard Dinner is the "Space Prom," then the U.S. Space Foundation's annual Symposium's is "Space Party of the Year." Everybody comes -- Apollo astronauts, military stars and bars, assorted government heavyweights, acres of contractors, scientists, space artists and last but not least, SICO, the shiny red robot who is my Main Man. The first Symposium was back in 1984. I missed that one. I only heard about it because a guy I worked with passed the proceedings along to me when they came out. I read them avidly, cover to cover. They proved to be an absolute gold mine of information on every major space issue of the day. When I'd finished, I said to myself, you gotta be there! So in November 1985, there I was in Colorado Springs. It was only the 2nd Symposium, but even then absolutely everyone was in attendance. One of them was the guy who grew up to be Speaker of the House of Representatives, Congressman Newt Gingrich, Republican of Georgia. He gave a speech that to this day remains branded into my memory. It was electrifying. It was visionary. It dissected the space industry's political failings with remorseless clarity. I just re-read it in the 1985 Proceedings and it hasn't even dated all that much. It has profoundly influenced my own thinking about space then and ever since. The 4th Symposium, in the spring of 1987, was a particularly important one for me because the column you're reading right now got its start then. Spacewatch was pretty new then and as an old-time writer, I knew that what every editor always needs is words to fill all those column inches. I offered to write a monthly column and the editor accepted. It first appeared in April of 1987, and I've been here faithfully (whether or not I could think of anything to say!) every month since then. At first, Dick MacLeod (then the Foundation's Executive Director and now its President) used to edit me (The instincts of an erstwhile teacher are apparently ineradicable!) but after a few months, I guess my grammar and spelling passed muster and he stopped. So now, what you read is what I write. For any writer, this is purest heaven inasmuch as most editors belong to the new-Cartesian school who motto is, "I edit, therefore I am." I'll be honest about it, folks: I'm proud of this column. I get to say things here that I truly believe are important, and I get to say them with all the attitude I want, and that ain't all that common a privilege. So let me toss a rose right here to the Foundation for giving me such a terrific soapbox every month. I guess they wouldn't do it if they didn't get good feedback from readers out there -- but I get to toss them a rose just the same. Well, Symposiums rolled around every year and every year, I made sure I was there. And then along cam 1992 -- and that was a REALLY big year for me because I got to be the gavel- to-gavel Master of Ceremonies for the whole show! Now, you gotta understand one thing about me, folks: I am a Ham. Give me a microphone and a spotlight and I am in hog heaven. And here I was, the Ring Master for the Greatest Space Show in Earth! Talk about being a Happy Camper. Some of you may recall the column I did right afterwards. I called it "Snapshots From the 8th National Symposium," and it's one of my favorites. It described some of the niftier scenes of the week: Don Kutyna (then CINCSPACE) making his entrance out of a cloud of white smoke wearing what can only be described as a wicked grin; my robot-sweetheart SICO in deep and intimate conversation with a small, crippled boy in a wheelchair; Apollo astronaut Gene Cernan and Voyager co- pilot Jeana Yeager doing a spiffy lindy together on the minuscule dance floor in the Broadmoor's Tavern. Such scenes are fondly remembered ever after. Reviewing the past ten years' Proceedings proves to be an interesting barometer of space issues over time. Commercial space for example, was big a decade ago but has faded from the scene of late. SDI and NASP were major subjects some years back but are no longer with us. On the other hand, international cooperation and competition in space has remained constant and salient throughout, while space transportation is assuming a new and much needed prominence on the national policy agenda. But whatever it was, if it looked important, you heard about it in Colorado Springs. And now comes the 10th annual Symposium and I will definitely be there. If you are too, you say howdy, you hear?