There is huge interest in the 50th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission in July 1969 and to this effect the IAA has two exhibitions running featuring memorabilia from the time as well as a talk on the subject by IAA Past president and IFAS Chair Paul Evans.

One exhibition runs over the weekend 6th and 7th July at Portballintrae Village Hall This is open from 10:30 – 16:00 on both days and there will be a talk “Navigation Through the Ages” in the main hall at 15:00 on the Sunday by IAA President Brian Beesley

The other exhibition is currently open and runs until 31st July in the Bangor Carnegie Library

On 18th July at 15:00 Paul Evans will give a talk on the subject “Apollo 11: To the Moon and back half a century ago”. This covers the story, starting in 1944, of why and how they went to the Moon.

Bell Lecture Theatre, Physics Building , QUB, 7.30pm

All welcome. Free admission, including light refreshments.

Wednesday 17th April marks the date of the 45th Annual General Meeting of the Association. The purposes of the meeting are to review the activities of the past year, elect a new Council for the coming year and for the Council to receive feedback from the membership on how they – that’s you – would like to see the Association develop.

This year there will be two additional features to add to the formal business.

Firstly, Past President Paul Evans will bring his Apollo at 50 series of talks up to date with a short talk about Apollo 11 – the mission that achieved President Kennedy’s goal of Landing a Man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth.

Secondly, Prof Alan Fitzsimmons will run tours of the Observatory on top of the Physics Building for those interested.

All are welcome, though of course only paid up members are eligible to vote on business matters. Doors open about 7.15pm. There is free parking available on the campus in the evenings. Admission Free, including light refreshments thelockboss. We are located in the Bell Theatre, Department of Mathematics and Physics, QUB – details here……

Over the past few decades, our knowledge of how to handle the threat posed by Near-Earth Objects has increased enormously. Astronomers surveying the sky find over 150 new NEOs per month. We understand the gross characteristics of that population; how many there are, what they are made of, their overall structure and how their orbits change. Now the final stage of threat assessment is under way. In three years time, humanity will test whether it can move a small asteroid for the first time. The NASA DART and ESA Hera missions are the first planetary experiment to significantly change the orbit of a celestial body.  This talk will describe the background to the missions, the preparations happening this year, and what we hope to accomplish in 2022–2026.

Prof Alan Fitzsimmons is an astronomer in the QUB Astrophysics Research Centre. His primary research interests are in performing observations of minor bodies in our solar system, comets and asteroids how to find water damage restoration san diego ca. These studies are generally based on observations performed on the UK supported telescopes in the Canary Islands (ING) and Chile ( ESO).

Doors open about 7.15pm. There is free parking available on the campus in the evenings. Admission Free, including light refreshments. We are located in the Bell Theatre, Department of Mathematics and Physics, QUB – details here……

Bell Lecture Theatre, Physics Building , QUB, 7.30pm

All welcome. Free admission, including light refreshments.

Tonight for a change we have three short talks as follows – order TBC….

Brian Beesley, IAA President – "Kenneth Edgeworth; soldier, engineer, economist and astronomer"

Paul Evans, IAA Webmaster and Past President – "Apollos 9 & 10 – Getting it all Together"

Terry Moseley, IAA PR Officer, Meetings Organiser and Past President – "The Kennedy Space Center – Americans in Space".

Doors open about 7.15pm. There is free parking available on the campus in the evenings. Admission Free, including light refreshments. We are located in the Bell Theatre, Department of Mathematics and Physics, QUB – details here……

Bell Lecture Theatre, Physics Building , QUB, 7.30pm

All welcome. Free admission, including light refreshments.

Hayden Geraghty, aspiring astronaut and one of the IAA's youngest members will be appearing with Rita Fitzgerald on UTV Life on Thursday 14th March. Tune in and enjoy!