Spaceships Over LAX
OASIS Invades the Loscon Convention

Steve Bartlett and Bob Gounley at OASIS LonCon table. Photo Seth Potter

By Steve Bartlett

Continuing its tradition of promoting space development amongst the science fiction community, OASIS provided a full range of activities and events at this year's Loscon convention over Thanksgiving weekend. The annual gathering, held at the LAX Marriott, featured a space-themed party, out-of-this-world programming, a children's craft project, and a large and busy information booth.

Serenity Party a Big Hit

Local space enthusiasts used the popular sci-fi movie Serenity and the TV show Firefly as the basis for this year's rocket-powered shindig. Board member David Bliss played host to the celebration, decking out the party room to look like the office of a not-so-reputable space cargo shipper. Bliss brought a hand-cranked apple peeler, much like the one in the TV show, which had many attendees asking, "What IS that?!?!?!"

Rachel Steinberger cautiously approaches Badger's lair. Photo Seth Potter.

Guest greeter Tina Beychok gave away space- and Western-themed stickers to guests as they came through the door, while videos of the Firefly show ran in the second room. The OASIS trivia contest, held every half-hour, featured a wide range of prizes. The highlight of the evening was the giveaway of a complete set of videotapes for the HBO miniseries, "From the Earth to the Moon." Dr. Jim Busby generously donated the set and worked on the series as a technical consultant.

Cosmic Programming for the Masses

Besides the party, local NSS members also participated in several of the convention's space panel discussions. These talks included such topics as

• Rocket Science in the Post-9/11 World
• Neat Space Places in L.A. Area
• Space Projects on a Shoestring
• Entrepreneurial Space Programs
• Mars Exploration Rover Program
• Cassini Mission to Saturn

In addition, OASIS members helped to put on a fencing demonstration and participated in talks on the Serenity/Firefly universe.

Building Spaceships with Kids

Chapter members again put on the popular children's activity, "How Would YOU Build a Spaceship/Space Station?" where youngsters created model spacecraft from craft foam. (See the accompanying article on this event.) OASIS supplied the materials and some guidance in using the foam cutters and glue guns and let the children do the rest. As always happens with this project, the participants showed great imagination, inspiration, and talent.

One Booth to Teach Them All

Lisa Kaspin at the OASIS Information table at LosCon.

The OASIS education/information booth gave conventioneers and staffers hours of fun with space videos, rocket models, space-themed candy (eg, Milky Way bars, Starburst fruit chews, and the now-rare Mars Bars), and giveaways. Chapter members gave away large numbers of Odyssey newsletters and Ad Astra magazines to the attendees, while enthusiastic model builders brought copies of SpaceShip One, Canadian Arrow, and X-43/Pegasus to display at the table. In addition, booth staffers donated blood at the annual Red Cross blood drive at the convention.

OASIS would like to thank the following people for helping out with this year's convention activities: Bob Gounley, Paula Delfosse, Diane Rhodes, David Bliss, Dr. Seth Potter, Dr. Lisa Kaspin, Dr. Jim Busby, Tina Beychok, and Rachel Steinberger, and Michael and Brandy Grote. We urge all members to participate in our work at LosCon and other events throughout the year.

Copyright © 1998-2007 Organization for the Advancement of Space Industrialization and Settlement. All Rights Reserved.