Hi all,
Nice board Fraser. When we were talking about message boards a couple of weeks back you said that you planned to start one some day. Looks like you bit the bullet. I like the smilies! :blink: :P

We need as many good space and astronomy discussion boards on the net as possible. People are increasingly turning away from science in droves. Enthusiasm amongst youngsters has hit an all time low. Those choosing to study astronomy and physics are insufficient to keep up with the demand for such skills as older already accomplished people retire and leave a void. Amateur rocketry in the U.S. and other countries is facing tougher legislation and that was a major generator of interest in rocket science. The space program needs an infusion of funding to give would be astronauts some inkling of hope for the future.

To help revitalise public interest and cure political disinterest the professionals who do know what it's like to work in a specialised scientific field can share their knowledge on a board such as this. Helping keep the dream alive for those budding young engineers, scientists and astronauts who are unsure of their direction in life. I have a feeling this board will be a great success.

My name is Carl Williams and I'm the sysop for SpaceDaily.com's new message board. Started a few weeks back but only promoted at the main website today for the very first time. I live in Sydney Australia and build model rockets in my spare time. I like to look at other planets through my home made reflector telescope. I'm obsessed with space and life and the possibility of 'space life'. I'm thinking about joining SETI@home soon and might be starting my own amateur rocket society for rocketeers to test their engines safely at a registered range.

I have been a regular visitor to UniverseToday for several years now. What impresses me most about Frasers website is its unbiased news gathering and his freindly attitude towards other space news websites. Not only does he get on well with the owners but he actively promotes their sites at his comprehensive directory. I'll be trying to emulate his mature attitude towards other space enthusiasts at my own forums.

We space fanatics are not many in number and those select places on the net which choose to concentrate around this extremely specialised area should learn to get along and not see one another as merely competition. Feel free to visit my own board and promote this new forum anytime Fraser. Any suggestions for improvements to my own board you might like to offer would be equally welcome. I like the format of this board and its sufficiently different from my own to warrant special mention when the forum directory is activated. Right now I'm just fielding visitors for suggestions on favorite websites relevant to each forum.

Take care,
Carl Williams
carl@spacemessageboard.com

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SpaceMessageBoard.com

Yeah, I did bite the bullet. :-)

And please, give Carl's message board a visit. And if you haven't already, check out Space Daily. It's more of an aerospace news site, but Simon somehow knows all the news out there. It's awe inspiring.

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Fraser Cain
Publisher
Universe Today - Free space news delivered by email every weekday.

Hi everyone,

My name is Stephanie Sanderson. I live in Ontario Canada, but Im a home grown Flroida girl whose fingers failed spelling!! (jus kiddin with the flroida, its actually spelled Flordia :P

I am a 36 year old beginner to space and im loaded with lots of questions!

I love the links provided as any info is good info. Although Universe Today is the #1 site (I'm suckin up here fraser)

I am married with 3 children, one is a rottweiler, one is a rottie/shep mix and one is a Lhasa Apso!

I just want to say welcome to all and thanks. I enjoy havin my coffee with all of you!

Well... hi there, fanatics!

I'm Richard Pea, from the boiling state of California... boiling from heat and from politics in general...

I live within the belly of the valley here in Sacramento, and have been enthused about space forever... being that I'm 28 now, i will be enthused for a very long time henceforth!!

I enjoy this website & forum immensely, mainly becuz of its ease of use, and the email notification you can recieve to let you know the newest goodies & when others have replied... just perfect to a good morning's wake up.. stimulating the mind with new and fresh ideas and thoughts from others around the world...

yea!! there are others who care as much as i do about places other than here...

Good job on the selected info you display, Fraser!!

I hope to see many more join this forum, and hope that one day, other forums could come together to form a webring of space related forums..... expand.... expand... and expand.... just like the good ol' glory above us =)

I look forward to hearing from not only educated enthusiasts, but from the newbies who see more than just lights twinkling above them.. but the extension of our own personas as we gaze into the history of our life cycle...

'til next time!

. ..-={Arramon}=-.. .

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. ..-={A}=-.. .

Hey Fraser, Great site! I've been with you for a long time and enjoy the emails. They're short and to the point with a link if one wants more. This suits me fine because I don't always have the time for a long read, but enjoy it when I do.

My name is Bill and I live in Titusville, Florida so I get to see a lot of rocket launches. In fact, if it's still on, I'm waiting anxiously for the Atlas 5 launch tonight.

This forum is a wonderful idea and I'm looking forward to participating often as I can. This is a great way to hear from other space buffs and those that have space related web sites themselves.

Talk to y'all soon!

Hello...

My name is Kevin Milburn, I'm a 40something paralegal living in Toronto, Ontario and I'm married and have a 7 year old daughter (who's also an avid sky watcher)....

Fraser's forums are a great addition to a great web site. they are very informative and stimulating...

I'm a long time space nut (from the very first GI Joe Astronaut as a child to my first of many issues of Sky & Telescope as an adult)...

From what I've read so far, I think I'll be checking in here on a regular basis...

Thanks Fraser

I took you're advice and checked out Carl's Spacedaily.com - what an excellent web site with loads of interesting articles...

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Truth - Honour - Integrity

Hi Everyone! My name is Mike Brayton and I am from northern Michigan. I am 31 and have been absolutley loving this website for quite awhile! And Fraiser, I just want to add my thanx for all the time and effort you put into the webpage and now this forum!! I appreciate it so much!

Hi! My name's Nathan Mayer and I come from and live in London, England. I'm probably one of the younger people here at 16. I use this website to get all the news from around the world and I'd like to thank Frasier for creating such a brilliiant website

My name is Michael, 33Male.
I am an electrician in the US midwest.

I have been an ametuer astronomer since I was shorter than a minute. I was lucky to have a dad that could accurately answer all my questions about space and science.

I wish I would have become an astronomer, but when I was a teen, I thought there was nothing major left to learn about the universe.

This newsletter proves me wrong every weekday! O, I wish the internet was around twenty years ago!

Sorry!
I am Michael -- I forgot to log in! :unsure:

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If the Universe is expanding, that should help with traffic.

The Earth is bi-polar.

Thanks Michael. It's never too late to get involved in space and astronomy. I'd always wanted to be an astronomer too, but for some reason I took engineering at university because I thought it would be more practical.

I began retuning my career back in 1999 (when I was 28), with Universe Today being my first step, and I'm still at it.

An astronomy degree would only take a few years, and there are all kinds of ways that amateurs can contribute to the field of astronomy. If that's your passion, make it happen.

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Fraser Cain
Publisher
Universe Today - Free space news delivered by email every weekday.

Hi everybody

My name is Martha Herrera. I'm from Cartago. Colombia.
I'm a Teacher in a Public High School, I teach my classes
using the Fraser's web site to my students, in two ways,first
as an English lesson second to create some interests to
the astronomy science. But personally I love to search
about the space, mars and a very interesting moon, like Io.

Thanks you,Frazer for the Forum and for Universetoday

Hi everyone,
I'm a new member. Just kind of checkin stuff out still... but looks really cool so far. I hope to get in on some indepth discussions with some of ya's soon!

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<span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'><span style='color:red'><span style='font-family:Optima'><u>fracturedbryan@yahoo.ca</u></span></span></span>

Hello to ALL !

"Great Site Frazer"

I look forward to contributing to your forum.

Two (2) Thumbs Up!

Here is my Background:
Click Here

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From the N. Shore of Lake Livingston TX.
&quot;Aloha&quot;

Visit LIFE-SIGNS.COM & Download The &quot;Virtual International Space Station&quot;... Its FREE ! ! !

Hi all,

My name is Ed Samplonius, I'm thirtysomething, and I currently live in Winnipeg, Manitoba. I am an extreme amatuer to astronomy and so, after stumbling in to the Universe Today site one day, I had to subscribe. Gives me all sorts of news bits and interesting links right to my inbox. So, thank you Fraser!

I've been a Seti@home member since 2001, and if I hadn't of lost my first account I would have had credit for chuggin' out almost 1000 work units but, alas.... I don't have much of a profile done but, if you want to check it out click here.

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Ed.

Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint...
(Mark Twain)

Hi from Nancy Atkinson. I currently live near Springfield, IL, but have lived most of my life in Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota. I'm a free-lance writer (guess what I write about?!!) and also teach classes to young people about space exploration.

I've enjoyed Universe Today for the past couple of months (thank you, Fraser!), and have really enjoyed the forums. Since our move, I haven't had many people to talk space with, (I used to work at a science museum), so this has been great.
Keep talkin' everyone!

I just had some articles published about the Mars Exploration Rovers, if anyone would like to read them:

http://www.ledgersentinel.com/article.asp?num=2176


http://www.ledgersentinel.com/article.asp?num=2105

Hi all;
My name is Erin, I currently reside in Toronto, ON - but soon to move back up to Ottawa, ON >>> 20-something Aero. Eng. and active Mars Society of Canada (MSC) spokeswoman ....
Some of you may have seen Fraser's post in the Space Robotics Forum about the MSC petition to save our contribution to the 2009 Mar Science Laboratory Mission --and Philip's reply to it - Thank you much guys.

Look for updates on the petition and new ideas in that forum ---> also I am curious what other members of this forum, who seem to be well spoken on these issues, think about the intrinsic unbalance in the Canadian government's support of basic research vs. other countries around the world.

Check out the MSC site and the petition www.marssociety.ca ---> This is a call to all the Canadians to make themselves heard. We cannot miss this opportunity.

Talk to you all soon~

Welcome to the Universe Today forums smallfri. :-)

Visit their site and if you're Canadian, sign the petition and then get everyone you know to do it. Now!

__________________
Fraser Cain
Publisher
Universe Today - Free space news delivered by email every weekday.

Hi all! I'm Beth P. I'm a 30-something stay-at-home mom/wife with two daughters (and one hubby ) and I live in Mid-Missouri. My love of astronomy and spaceflight is only on the hobby level, and the technical stuff is waaay over my head, but I love reading about this stuff anyway. I've been getting Fraser's e-mail newsletters for at least four years now...I can't even remember how I first found out about Universe Today! And I'm trying to do my part by doing all I can to get my girls interested in those beautiful twinkly lights in the night sky!

Hola a todos! (Hi everyone!)

My name is Antonio, was born and raised in Mexico, now live in Milwaukee, WI.
I am 36 years old and work as engineer for a well-known motorcycle manufacturer.
I have been watching at the sky since I was 8 yrs old, do not think I will ever be tired of doing it !. I just love anything that has to do with astronomy.
I am also interested in mathematical models that describe how the universe works (in theory, anyway), and space travel. So, I am looking forward to having some discussions with people interested in the same topics.
I believe that some day, we, the human race, will evolve and realize that there is no need for setting boundaries, neither in the earth nor in the universe.

Great Website Fraser!

by the way mi user name is bknight63 !

I couldn't help but grow up interested in space. My father, stuck with us 3 girls, must've given up on waiting for a boy to show his interests to- he worked for the Navy inspecting radar and took us on site tours. My sister worked for North American Rockwell, where the Apollo capsules were made, and got to see them after splashdown (charbroiled to well-done). I spent many nights in the wee hours awaiting Apollo launches, and one of my favorite places to go in L.A. where I lived was the Griffith Park Observatory. Now I live in rural Tennessee, and every night the sky is chockful of stars, still an incredible sight after growing up lucky to see 3 stars overhead at night. I really enjoy the astronomy updates from the Universe Today, and am looking forward to the discussions with this group.