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Sandhills Senior Squadron members conduct outreach at Lumberton Rotary Club!

April 21, 2022

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Lt. Col. David Gilchrist, Commander of Sandhills Senior Squadron, NC-171,  gave a presentation of Civil Air Patrol and the activities of the squadron to the Lumberton Rotary Club on April 6, 2022.  There were approximately 40 people in attendance.  The Rotary Club is a world-wide group of people who get together to help create lasting changes for the good of the community. Lt. Col. Gilchrist states, "With my enthusiasm of my twin loves for flying and teaching, the attending Rotarians learned how the core values of INTEGRITY, RESPECT, EXCELLENCE, VOLUNTEERISM mirror those of the United States Air Force, and identify with the altruism well known of the Rotary International organization itself."

Major Don Piasecki, Sandhills Senior Squadron Aerospace Education Officer and Assistant NC Wing Director of Aerospace Education (Internal),  provided an updated Aerospace Education presentation of the Artemis Moon Space Launch System( SLS) rocket due to launch from Kennedy Space Center( KSC) launch pad 39B very shortly.  The rocket will be on TV news almost daily until launch for a three -week unmanned test mission, Artemis I,  around the Moon. If successful, Artemis II will be a manned mission with four astronauts for a three-week mission around the Moon, but no landing until all systems are proven to be functional.  This will be the first rocket launch to the vicinity of the Moon in fifty years since the final Apollo 17 Moon walks in 1972.  Major Piasecki informs, "I worked as a project/test engineer on many components of the original Apollo spacesuit.  The latest version of the original suit is the new Artemis spacesuit, only modified to have more joint mobility.  There are only 4 suits available for the Artemis program, some suit components are 50 years old!"  He went on to say: "Congress had to authorize recently emergency funding of $250 - $300 million dollars to build spacesuits for Artemis."  In a unique turn of events, Major Piasecki's younger son, Glenn Piasecki, worked on the Artemis program at NASA-Langley, VA for six years. They both follow the NASA Space developments daily since both worked on these programs.

Both presentations were well received by the audience.

For More Information:

1st Lt Glenda Engstrom, CAP

E-mail: Glenda.Engstrom@ncwgcap.org

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