[sci.astro] StarDate: October 17 The Young Astronaut Program

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