SpaceFest Report #1

I am in Phoenix at SpaceFest now, and it's been quite a day! I'm exhausted, and I still have to iron my shirt for tomorrow, so I'll keep this short. For me. 1) By coincidence, at the airport I met up with Carolyn Porco, who is the team leader for the CICLOPS camera on Cassini and who is attending the meeting as well. We sat next to each other and chatted for most of the flight, which was a lot of fun. 2) There was a Meet the Press type reception for guests, but I don't think there was much press there. However, the lineup was simply incredible. A half dozen Apollo astronauts showed up, including Charlie Duke and Al Bean, and I have stories about both of them which would take too long to relate here. However, when I introduced myself, they both knew of my website. HOLY HALEKALE! I am so cool. I had exchanged a few emails with Charlie years ago when I wrote my first anti-Moon hoax page, and he remembered. Al Bean signed, of all things, a wine label for me a couple of years ago (long story, to be related later) and he remembered that! 3) I wound up going out to get a late dinner with Carolyn, author Andy Chaikin (he wrote A Man on the Moon, the bible for Apollo which was used as the basis of the HBO series From the Earth to the Moon), his wife Vicky (who is very cool) and three time Shuttle astronaut Charlie Walker. That was a rollicking conversation that went on for hours, which is why I'm exhausted. And I've only been here a few hours! Tomorrow I give my moon Hoax talk, which had me a bit nervous before but now I'm itching to give. It'll be fun. And then I get to sit back and simply enjoy being in the company of men who have done something only a tiny fraction of humanity has done: live in space.