From Space Expo and Space Congress to Meeting Astronauts Part One

I am almost done with my Krikalev New Year's resolutions because 3 are down. I did them in last September and October. I attended Space Generation Congress and International Astronautical Congress in Valencia, Spain. But before going there I decided to do little European trip starting with Germany. Landing in Frankfurt am Main and Alex was waiting for me, I met Alex last year at Space Generation Congress in Fukuoka, Japan. We took a train with a fantastic view of Rhine River through Braubach, Koblenz, Bonn, and Cologne. My favorite place was visiting Marksburg, a castle from Middle Ages. And climbing the 509 steps in Cologne Catherdral was worth it because of the wonderful view from above. In Bonn I visited Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy since Alex works there and he was my guide the whole European trip. And I saw a street named after Wernher von Braun, the famous racketeer.

Then I went to Space Expo in Noordwijk, Netherland where my ham radio friend Cor (PD0RKC) was waiting for me there and gave me little wooden Dutch shoes. I never met him before and he is the one who helped me on how to contact the International Space Station (ISS) via radio. In the exhibit there was a big Zvezda module of ISS. Of course I played a short roll of being an astronaut: using a glove box, and sitting on the toilet, it was a bit fun hanging out in fake Service Module. Then we went to Amsterdam and took a boat trip on Amstel River.

Kuwait National Radio Observatory

Kuwait National Radio Observatory project is finally approved by Kuwait Science Club. I am happy for Jasem, the project director. I met Jasem through my blog on which he contacted me to help in the project. Since then we start to improve the astronomy department and having new activities for astronomy and space. And I am happy to see the first radio telescope in Middle East will be finished in next year.

"Congratulations, Jasem!"

To read more visit our official website.

Official Website of Kuwait Astronomy Launched

Finally it worked out and we were able to launch the offcial website for Astronomy Department of Kuwait Science Club. Check it out more often to know astronomical events, and space activities that I do and space related events. The website has many features such as "Ask Astronomer", "Memebers profile", "Gallary" and so on. In the future, we plan to have the website in English as well.

Astronomy Department, Kuwait Science Club