dipper@utastro.UUCP (Debbie Byrd) (10/17/86)
Young Astronauts -- after this. October 17 The Young Astronaut Program It's something that people have wondered about for centuries -- what is it like to travel through space and visit other worlds? Our understanding of outer space has grown in the past few decades as space travel became a reality. But the dream remains the same. What is it like in space? The Young Astronaut program capitalizes on this age-old curiosity. Its goal is to encourage youngsters to study science and math by appealing to their interest in space. Jack Anderson, a Washington newspaper columnist, originated the idea for Young Astronauts. Anderson suggested that students need to be better prepared to handle our "high-tech" world. Two years ago on today's date President Ronald Reagan officially launched the Young Astronaut program and asked that corporations help support the project. Now over a quarter of a million schoolchildren are Young Astronauts. Most of them belong to individual chapters. Anyone can start a Young Astronaut chapter -- schools, businesses, science museums. The national Young Astronaut Council in Washington, D.C. provides space-related materials for chapter leaders to use with students. A decade before real astronauts walked on the moon Arthur C. Clarke wrote "...somewhere in the world today, still unconscious of his destiny, walks the boy who will be the first Odysseus of the Age of Space." Years later, after Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon, Clarke added, "But who could have dreamed, back in 1959, that the 'boy' was then already nearing his thirtieth birthday? But there will be other Odysseys to come...." Young Astronauts -- founded two years ago on today's date -- clubs for children who may someday explore beyond the moon -- in the solar system at large. Script by Diana Hadley. (c) Copyright 1985, 1986 McDonald Observatory, University of Texas at Austin