By Robin Scott
NSS Board of Directors member Ronnie Lajoie (left) presents NSS Middle Tennessee Space Society (MTTS) President Chuck Schlemm with a well-deserved 2025 NSS Chapter Excellence award certificate in recognition of MTTS’ 2024 activities. Schlemm directly outreached to 3,200 people at events with over 20,000 attending guests. His outreaches included numerous exhibits, presentations, demonstrations, and other collaborations. Photo by Kerry Bumpass.
An example of their outreach activities includes a joint activity with NSS Huntsville Alabama L5 Society (HAL5) Chapter during the October 3 NASA International Observe the Moon Night held at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center (USSRC). Tables from the two Chapters are pictured below (photo by Ronnie Lajoie).
HAL5 and MTSS communicated to ~100 and ~120, respectively, of the ~900 guests at the event. Guests were interested in the slide show about HAL5 and picked up flyers about applications for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) grants displayed by HAL5’s Kerry Bumpas and Ronnie Lajoie. Guests thanked MTSS President Chuck Schlemm for his explanation about his spacecraft models, including three space stations, SpaceX spacecraft, Blue Origin spacecraft, Mars rovers and bases, Moon landers, Dreamchaser, Artemis II and more. Schlemm proposed a 5–20 person crewed Moon base and products made from lunar simulated minerals: tile, rope, rebar and cloth. This shows possibilities for required materials for settlement on the Moon to be manufactured from lunar materials instead of launching these materials from Earth.
