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About Us
Gary Streeter and Diane
Earhart have teamed up to
form the General Aviation Space Group
(GASG),
an
organization with not-for-profit status pending, to
demonstrate that general
aviation can compete in space commercialization and
growth.
General aviation is defined
as all facets of aviation distinct from commercial and military flying or government flight
operations.
The St. Louis-based General Aviation Space Group (GASG) plans to prove that a group of enthusiasts and professionals in general aviation can launch a satellite into space. To promote space research and continued space exploration by general aviation enthusiasts, GASG was established in March 2007. The organization will show that the future of space travel and indeed colonization on other celestial bodies will be possible and affordable. GASG will demonstrate that space can be accessible to those who are not millionaires and that a Congressional mandate is not necessary to make it happen.
Our mission is
to:
With primary attention to safety, static testing is ongoing with various rocket motors. Results (positive and negative) will continue to be carefully documented with subsequent improvements made based upon those results. A rocket motor designed by the Executive Director of the General Aviation Space Group, using innovative techniques, will carry a satellite into space. The satellite will be smaller than the Prosteshyy Sputnik satellite that launched the space race in 1957. Yet the GASG satellite, known as Astra, will carry telemetry to record its location in space, and it will be tracked by ham radio operators all over the world. As the hams report Astra's signal strength to GASG, the information will be posted on this website. In much the same manner as Sputnik, Astra's radio transmitter will relay inside and outside temperatures at its locations in space. Astra will carry a solar-powered battery charger to transmit the information, and it will orbit the earth indefinitely.
Astra will also carry a DVD bearing the names of those who have elected to be part of the General Aviation Space Group by purchasing a commemorative certificate.
click here to purchase certificate
Some of the areas in which you are invited to volunteer include these committees:
Gary Streeter and
Diane
Earhart have teamed up to form the General Aviation Space Group.
Gary is a life-long space enthusiast
and an educated rocket
scientist. Gary
left South Carolina to
fly freight with an on-demand air charter company.
Gary transferred to the St. Louis base of St. Louis
Downtown
Airport, where he met Diane working as an air traffic controller.
Diane, who learned to fly as a teenager, has long been
involved in sharing her message of "Dare to Dream," especially to
young people and particularly young girls.
As a flight instructor and air traffic controller, she is
dedicated to
aviation education and aviation safety.
She is a member of the FAA Safety Team (formerly known as
Aviation
Safety Counselor) in the St. Louis district.
Diane's website can be found at www.DianeEarhart.com.
Together they have created General
Aviation Space Group
(GASG), a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization to bring math & science
to at-risk students and for scientific research. GASG will
demonstrate that general aviation has a place in space and can share
that place with commercial space travel. GASG will show that
there is room for everyone. GASG will build the foundation for
future space travel growth and will demonstrate that general aviation
has a place in space growth.
General aviation is defined as all facets of aviation
distinct from commercial and military flying or government flight
operations.
As a pre-teen, Gary became interested in rockets when Mike who lived across the street got a rocket launching kit for a birthday present. Gary thought that was pretty cool and asked his mom to take him shopping at the local department store. His mother said they were dangerous and wouldn't buy him one. Gary figured out how to build his own model rocket launcher like Mike's, using parts from Radio Shack and paper towel rolls. Gary's dad had always been supportive of Gary's scientific and electronic interests and would buy him chemistry kits for experiments and electronic parts to build short-wave radios. At age eight, he had success with his electronic devices when he built an eavesdropping apparatus to spy on his teenaged brother and his dates. In his late teen years, Gary had success building and launching high-power rockets to heights of 5,000-10,000 feet. He designed and built his first liquid rocket motor at age 20. The intervening years have been spent teaching high school chemistry, math, and physics and flight instructing as well as designing the rocket that will launch the Astra Satellite into space.
Diane and Gary have both been
licensed pilots since they
were teenagers and have become flight instructors.
They are dedicated to aviation and space education, and
they hope
to bring aviation and rocketry to the youth of today who will become
the next
generation of space adventurers. They
are looking for the right people to join General Aviation Space Group
to make
this venture a success and the sponsorships to make it a reality.
Diane and Gary are active in the local aviation community. Diane is a member of AOPA and a charter member of Women in Aviation, International. Gary is a member of the Society for Amateur Scientists and a ham radio operator. They are both members of the Gateway Area Ultralight Association, where Gary is vice president. They are both members of EAA, local EAA Eastside Chapter 64, where Diane is the vice president. They live in the St. Louis area with the housecat Artemis; the house dog Indiana, and Diane's husband, Steve, GASG's Chief Drafter.
They would be thrilled to tell your club or organization about the project.
click here to make a presentation inquiry
