The Tranquility Base Rendezvous event seems to have sold out, as tickets are no longer available.

It’s a shame Neil Armstrong wouldn’t let the Space Center eke out a meager amount of money from the event.

Nevertheless, Neil Armstrong is coming and that in and of itself is a very special, rare thing!

Regarding the event, I received the following message today and was asked to pass this along:

This Thursday evening marks a very special night for the U.S. Space and Rocket Center and for Space Camp. Dr. Georg von Tiesenhausen will be receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award for Education for all he has done to inspire and educate our camp trainees over the years. We are asking for our alumni to assist us in honoring him by forming a processional line as he enters the Davidson Center for Space Exploration. Volunteers will need to be available from approximately 5pm to 6:30pm and willing to be in blue flight suits. Unfortunately, volunteers will not be able to stay for the actual ceremony. Space is limited so we are asking for a confirmation by close of business Tuesday. Please email [email protected] or 256-721-7105 if you are interested and for more details.

If you weren’t able to get tickets, you can still help out the Space & Rocket Center by volunteering for the event!

I first saw this over at Sprocketeers, but the Huntsville Times has an expanded story about the recent layoff involving USSRC curator, Irene Wilhite and her son, Jamie.

The rumor about those two was, it appears, true.

If nothing else, the comments at the foot of the article are interesting.

There are some big shake-ups over at the USSRC.  Rumors currently circulating say that three pink slips have been handed out.

The first two are to U.S. Space & Rocket Center curator Irene Willhite and her son, James Willhite, exhibit coordinator at the USSRC.

Finally, Mike Kelly, Vice President of Domestic and International Licensing, has been rumored to have been let go.

Sprocketeers is reporting that a layoff that could affect as many as sixteen USSRC staff members is in the works.  Word has it that layoffs could start as early as today, and reach into next week.

Between some financial struggles going on as well as the natural reordering processes that comes when a new CEO enters the picture, this should come as little surprise.  My only hope is that the right people get dismissed.

The USSRC has come back with a $150 per ticket cost for the Tranquility Base Rendezvous.

If you want to see Neil Armstrong, this is a wonderful opportunity!

Tickets are back on sale at the Space Camp Store.

As of this writing, there are 119 tickets left, and they can be purchased at up to four at a time.

Hurry!

It has made the rounds that the annual Gala dinner, originally scheduled for February 18, has been cancelled.

Who cares?

Neil Armstrong is coming instead!

The original moonwalker, himself, will be at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center on February 3, 2011.

An email originally went out this morning (you are a member of the museum and on the email list, right):

Come join us as we honor Dr. Georg von Tiesenhausen with the Lifetime Achievement Award for Education and we welcome the U.S. Space & Rocket Center’s new Executive Director and CEO, Dr. Deborah Barnhart.

Dr. von Tiesenhausen, one of the original German Rocket Members, has been teaching the Advanced Space Academy trainees for 23 years. He retired this past year at age 96! Neil Armstrong will be presenting this very special award to him.

New exhibits will also be opened, and old exhibits relaunched at the event.

Tickets in the email were priced at $250 before January 24, and $500 after, with 200 tickets available, but another email went out about an hour after the first stating:

We have just been informed that it is against Neil Armstrong’s wishes for us to sell tickets to this event. Therefore, tickets are no longer available. We apologize for the misunderstanding and will send a follow up email with more information early next week.

If/When tickets to become available again, you can check back here.  But act fast.  Neil Armstrong is the J.D. Salinger of astronauts and tickets to see him in the Rocket City are sure to sell out fast!

It is official.

The U.S. Space & Rocket Center has a new CEO in Dr. Deborah Barnhart.

Wes Lyons was once again on hand to document the event, with his notes of today’s meeting available at sprocketeers.org, specifically these posts.

Local news station WAFF also has a brief overview of Dr. Barnhart’s credentials.

Welcome (back) to Space Camp!

The Huntsville Times is reporting that the Executive Committee of the Alabama Space Science Exhibit Commission (ASSEC) Executive Committee voted unanimously to submit a job offer for the position of Chief Executive Officer of the U.S. Space & Rocket Center to Dr. Deborah Edwards Barnhart.

Dr. Barnhart was the director of the Space Camp programs from 1986 until 1990, working under Ed Buckbee, Space Camp’s founder and first CEO.

I also want to note that Wes Lyons, a former USSRC employee and ardent supporter of Space Camp, has been dutifully attending all of the board meetings since a new sunshine act went into effect in Alabama and all of the ASSEC meetings became open to the public. He’s posted those notes at the site, sprocketeers.org.

I’ve often criticized Space Camp for having no memory of its past. If the whole of the ASSEC approves the offer when they meet next week, and if Dr. Barnhart accepts, perhaps she’ll bring some of that history back with her.

It has been an interesting day today.

This morning, there was an article on al.com revealing that when it was announced in August that U.S. Space & Rocket Center CEO Larry Capps would be retiring, that wasn’t quite true:

When the meeting was over, then-chair Dorothy Davidson and Capps met with a reporter. Capps announced he was resigning, and Davidson said, “We just spent two-and-a-half hours trying to convince him not to.”

Not really, said then-commission secretary Daniel Wilson, in an Aug. 16 e-mail to Davidson. “As you know, that was not what happened in the meeting,” Wilson wrote.

This afternoon, the Alabama Space Science Exhibit Commission, the board of directors that oversees the USSRC, convened to discuss the situation.

As it turns out, the board voted to fire Larry Capps in August, but this vote was quickly rescinded, giving Larry the chance to retire. An agreement was somehow struck for him to stay on while the search for a new CEO was on.

Tonight’s meeting opened with a current state of finances at USSRC.  In short (and I think I have this right), thanks mostly to some licensing revenue coming in for Space Camp India, the financial situation isn’t horrible, but the USSRC has just about maxed out their line of credit.   A fee due from the Space Camp India is expected to pay down a great deal of the money owed on the line of credit, but…well, I’m not a finance guy.

After that, a motion was brought forth to set Larry’s retirement date at February 28, 2011, at which point he will formally retire from the USSRC.  The hope here is that a new CEO can be found soon (my vote is for Hoot Gibson) and brought on with Larry still around to ensure a smooth transition.

Then the board proceeded to go back and forth with each other over the situation for the better part of two hours while they argued the finer points of who would be CEO if there were two CEOs, would Larry be entitled to enact a “No Fault Termination” clause that would entitle him to one year of pay after February 28, etc.  At one point, they tried to go into an “Executive Session” so that the public would not be able to witness the proceedings (it was becoming very clear that there isn’t a great deal of peace and harmony amongst board members), so some time went by while they figured out if they legally could…it was decided that they probably couldn’t, and eventually the motion was carried with an amendment that they clarify that, when a new CEO is hired, Larry will officially be in the role of a consultant until February 28, 2011 at which point he will retire.

The session broke while the lawyers wrote up the paper work.

Never a dull moment at Space Camp!