The program for the August 13 General Membership Meeting will cover American Crewed Space Missions: 2018. The talk will be delivered by Tom Benson, a retired NASA aerospace engineer.

On July 8, 2011, the final Space Shuttle mission was launched from Cape Canaveral.

For the last six years, the United States has paid the Russian Space Agency to deliver crew members to the International Space Station (ISS). That process is about to end as Americans will once again ride on American spacecraft launched from U.S. soil!

The Commercial Crew Program of NASA has contracted with SpaceX and Boeing to each develop a spacecraft which can deliver and return astronauts to the ISS. The first flights are scheduled for this year. Tom Benson, retired from NASA Glenn Research Center, will report on these missions and share with us any breaking news from the “high frontier!”

The CAA’s monthly meetings are held on the second Monday of every month (except December) at 7:30 PM at the Rocky River Nature Center; 24000 Valley Parkway; North Olmsted, Ohio, in the Cleveland Metroparks.

Following the presentation and a brief social break, the club will conduct its membership business meeting.

Illustration: Falcon 9 booster with Dragon crewed spacecraft. Credit: SpaceX