Oct 6 – 8, 2023 | Huntsville, Alabama
Click here to register for the 2023 Fall SE Section Meeting
The Alabama Chapter is excited about the SE Section members visiting North Alabama for the 2023 Fall SE Section Meeting in October.
The weekend will include a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Rocket Facility tour, an evening at the 56th Annual Tennessee Valley Old Time Fiddlers Convention, two exceptional speakers, and an optional tour on Sunday of the U.S. Space & Rocket Center.
Our host airport is Pryor Field Regional Airport (KDCU) in Tanner, AL. Pryor Flight Center is waving the tie-down fees and providing full-service fuel at self-service prices. They are also allowing us the use of their classroom for our Friday night speaker/dinner, our Saturday morning business meeting, and our Saturday speaker/lunch. With Pryor Flight Center’s support, we are able to keep the cost of this amazing weekend down.
Talking about keeping costs down, our host hotel is the Hampton Inn Madison/Huntsville Airport. They have offered both King and Double Queens rooms for $149.00 plus tax. If you decide to stay Sunday night, the price drops to $129.00. Hampton Inn is located 14 miles from Pryor Field and just 2 miles from Huntsville International Airport (KHSV). Please book by Sept 21, 2023. Cancellation of the room is available 48 hours prior to arrival.
Here is what to expect when you join us in North Alabama.
If you come in on Thursday, we plan an evening trip to Bridge Street Town Center for dinner and shopping. Bridge Street Town Centre is a creative hub of style and taste in North Alabama. Bridge Street Town Center is the place to visit for food, fashion, events, movies, and anytime-style inspiration in North Alabama.
On Friday morning, we will be touring the United Launch Alliance (ULA) Facility in Decatur, AL. ULA is the nation’s most experienced space launch company with more than 150 consecutive launches and a 100% mission success rate. ULA brings the utmost precision, passion, and purpose to one of the most technically complex, critical American needs: affordable, reliable access to space. You can learn more about ULA on its YouTube channel. The facility is large, so please wear comfortable walking shoes.
99s member, Tara Sweeney, will be our Friday Dinner guest speaker. Tara has done some cool things in her lifetime, such as graduating from the US Air Force Academy, being a Flight Attendant on Zero Gravity Parabolic Flight Aircraft, and being the Vice President of Space Camp at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center, but none of these stand up to her latest adventure! She will be telling us about her 3-month scientific expedition to Antarctica as part of the Thwaites Interdisciplinary Margin Evolution (TIME) Field Team. Their research was a part of the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration (ITCG). We have some amazing women in our organization!
Friend of the 99s, Sarah Lincoln, will be our Saturday Luncheon guest speaker. Sarah will be discussing NASA’s flagship program, Artemis. Artemis represents a new era of pioneers, star sailors, and adventurers. Learn how NASA is inspiring the world through exploration and discovery, which benefits all humanity. Sarah is the entrepreneurial leader of Accredited Consultants, a marketing and management consulting business. Since 2002, she has supported Jacobs Engineering, the largest engineering contractor at NASA, on their Marshall Space Flight Center contract in Huntsville, AL. A confessed “engineer whisperer”, Sarah translates the technical accomplishments of rocket scientists, engineers, and astronauts into presentations the average consumer can understand. As a Friend of the 99s, Sarah is a willing wingman on many friends’ lofty excursions.
We will be spending Saturday evening at the 56th Annual Tennesse Valley Old Time Fiddlers Convention at the historic Athens State University campus in Athens, AL. It’s a musical and cultural experience that will thrust you into a simpler time when families were bound by the music they created and the stories they told. Food vendors will be on-site, along with booths with local art and crafts.
You can’t visit Huntsville without visiting the U.S. Space & Rocket Center (USSRC). The USSRC is a Smithsonian Affiliate and the Official Visitor Center for NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. They have one of the largest collections of rockets and space memorabilia on display anywhere in the world. The tour of the USSRC is optional on Sunday and is not included in the registration price. We can get a group discount if we have 15 people on this tour. There is just so much to do in Huntsville that we had to extend the weekend!
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