On this eve of my leaving to attend the Space Studies Program 2012, I can’t help but think about how many people helped me get to this point. There were colleagues and mentors who wrote my reference letters, and a new friend who practiced French with me to help me make myself a little more scholarship-worthy. There were grant-application writers advocating on my behalf. There were administrators known only by telephone voice, encouraging me to apply. There were young students, old friends, family members, and daring strangers who donated to help me buy medical insurance and pay bills while I am busy learning about space. There were wildly supportive roller derby girls and theatre directors who encouraged my space interests without question. I wish I could take them all with me (my suitcases are already bursting).

I promise to take them with me in my heart and mind when I head into any discussion on Space and Society that is carved out in the 9-week schedule. Because it takes a society to get to space, and these strange and complicated journeys into the sky change us all. That includes the people you don’t see. It includes artists, athletes, managers, and lovers. It includes me. And it includes you.

It also includes the following people, whom I would like to thank for their financial support. Most of them, by the way, are not scientists. But they are kind, and broad-minded.

This is how we get to space.

Thank you:

Anonymous (yes, there is some privacy left, if you ask for it)

Kristen Stieffel

Anne Goodwin

Sean Stewart Birdsell

Christian Luethen

Aki Ino

Kendrick Mauser

Tammy Dollimount

Morten A. Salvesen

Dana Dillon

Sarah Watton

Marilyn Smith & Joe Cutler

Wendy Vey

Leslie MacLeod

Daniel Payne

Sarah Polkinghorne

Alicia & Andrew Vocke

Kayla Young

Deidre Gillard-Rowlings

Linda Humphries

Cliff Makinson

Renee & Richard Holloway

James Diggs

Randell Dodge

Sam Watkins

Kellie Cullihall

Carol Nelson

Heather Goodwin

Renee Pilgrim

Chris Vatcher

Sandy Gow & Rory Lambert

Cliff Makinson

Jen & Bob Parsons

Narda McCarroll

The Twilingate Observatory

Susan Jennings

Peter & Kay Mehren

George & Daphne Cutler

Janet Moulton

I’ll see you at Space Camp.

Blast Off!