Dr. Mindy Howard, Friday, 9-6-24

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blog. So

our guest today is a returning

guest. She was a guest a couple of years

ago, Dr. Mindy

Hauer and she has

set out passionately to

her chief of dreaming

which is to go to space

and

she works in 35

countries. She had a career

in the oil industry

and she

has a new

program and it is

CosmicGirls.org

and the Cosmic

Girls Foundation

which will go to CosmicGirls.org

as well. I have her

full bio and her vision

on the website.

It's also under

TeamMembership.

If you want to go to that.

We are happy to have Dr. Hauer

back with us. Mindy, welcome back

to the Space Show. How are you today?

Thank you very much. It's a pleasure

to be back. It's been a while, like

14 years or something like that.

No, come on. It hasn't been that long,

has it? It's been a while, but

it feels like a long time, let's say that.

So

when you were on before

Cosmic Girls didn't

exist, so introduce

us to Cosmic Girls to update

us. What are you doing now?

Okay, well, maybe I'll

give a little bit of a funny

story how we got to where we

are. From the last time you

heard

the inner space training stories

which is

you know, I have to say

that was my

astronaut training

business, but being the head of the

charity was never

my intention, but it's kind of a funny

story. When I left

you know, when I left

the space,

I was going to say, when I left

the

technical

I'm so sorry.

Let me start again.

When I left the corporate world

and started inner space training

that was back in

2010. The first

I would say it's the only mental training

for commercial astronauts.

I was invited and contracted

to train and go to space with a team

of other people who were set to go in

2023.

And because of that

and because I'm living in the Netherlands

I was sort of poised

to become the first

Dutch female astronaut, which

made our local Dutch

news here. It's a very small

country here and

you know, and that was going to happen

in 2023.

Then the pandemic happened and

plans changed and

now this group

is not going to be going. But out of the

blue, you know,

because I got a lot of press

because I could have been the first Dutch female

astronaut, I have a second nationality

as well as being American.

The Royal Dutch Mint

came into the story and

they said, hey, we heard about your

upcoming space flight

and we want to make a one euro coin

about the first Dutch female astronaut.

And I said, whoa, wait a

second. You know,

since my flight was uncertain

I felt a little bit funny about having to make

a coin, but I didn't actually have a date to

fly anymore. But I said

to them, you know, that the Netherlands

was one of many countries who didn't

have a female astronaut representing

them. And perhaps we could actually

change the theme of the coin to the

women to space coin

to bring about awareness to that fact

and get more women to actually

go to space. And then

the Royal Dutch Mint agreed to change

the theme.

The coin actually came out in October

of 2023.

And then I started thinking,

okay, now that we have a coin

to help get more girls into space,

how are we going to leverage that coin?

And then I thought

the idea of Cosmic Girls came to me.

It kind of all made sense

because, yeah,

in the past I've also experienced

plenty of non-welcome or

exclusionary behavior from the good old boys

space network. I know what it's like to feel like

an outsider in the business.

And I didn't want other girls

and women to go through what I went

through. So Cosmic

Girls was born and

I wanted to rewrite the

stories of other

space women to come so that they didn't

have to go through some of the things that I

went through. So it's kind of a

story that

I hadn't anticipated

would happen.

And when life gives you a coin,

I guess

you start a charity.

And you try to help other people with it.

So it's kind of a funny way

how I got here.

But now it's been in existence

for the last, you know, more than

a year. And now we're

trying to make it all happen and get more girls

engaged. And I can tell you a little

bit more about what we're doing.

That's kind of the start of

how things

started out 10 or

14 years ago, whatever it was.

Okay. So first of all,

to clear this up,

you were

a guest on June

10, 2013.

2013.

So that's a little more than

11 years ago.

Is your coin

a legal tender

coin or is it an

honorary collector's coin?

It's a collector's coin. It has a

one euro coin next to it.

So it had to be approved

by the Dutch bank

in order to have

this coin come out

with a

official one euro coin

next to it. So it's

actually, it's a bit more

than just a collector's

coin because of the actual

euro coin that's kind of encased

next to it. The

coins were sold

last year.

Up until the beginning

of this year, or

I guess in January, they

stopped selling them. So now they're collector's

items. So it's

hard to get them, actually. But

we do have that as

one of our claim to fame. And that

was the first

company that decided

to

endorse us and become a partner.

So

what are you

actually trying to do

with Cosmic Girls and

who is the market? So I

see on your website that

you're talking about younger kids in school.

So tell us about

your mission

and

who you're directing it to.

Sure. So our

vision is launching dreams and

girls and girls into space

in order to become multi-planetary.

And

to make that a bit more concrete,

the

how we're going to do this is our mission.

And it's really all about attracting

and keeping girls in the technical talent

pipeline for the long run

through space education

and astronaut training programs.

And so you say, okay, can you

be a little bit more concrete?

We're doing that in a number of

different ways. But essentially, if you look at

the talent pipeline

for girls, the Asana talent

pipeline, but you can say kind of the

same thing for the technical

talent pipeline, whether it's aerospace

or

computers or whatever.

Girls are leaving

at different stages from

they're interested in technical stuff

or space. And then

between 5 and 25,

little by little,

they sort of get out of, they

drop off the pipeline. They get out of the pipeline

and by

different peer pressure

with other girls or sometimes

it's hormones or

sometimes it's

not cool anymore to be a

technical girl. And so

we're trying to keep them sort of

in by

offering them exciting training

programs that are free.

And

essentially, so that's, and it's not

just for American girls, but it's also

for girls worldwide between

the ages of 14 and

19.

And so

together, we

are working with our

international

program partners who

are providing

the education programs

to the girls. And some of the program partners

are

local only. So,

it will be a face, like a girl

will show up and it will be a face-to-face

program with other girls

that they will experience. And then some of

our program partners have international

online programs where

girls from all over the world will be

able to call in and get

you know, like webinars

where they can participate and go

into groups with other girls to learn

certain things. So, some of them are

local and some of them

are international

online. And essentially,

that is sort of

the first big takeaway that the

girls can get by joining our program.

And the second

way is that we have the Cosmic

Forum, which is

everybody who's going to sign up

with us has to join the forum.

And it's kind of where we're building

and how we're building our community.

Through our website, girls

will register and

it's like they'll be able to

talk with one another, but they're also

here

and

, you know, they'll engage with each other on

different questions that we might pose to girls

or girls will ask other girls

for advice, like, hey, who's had

an issue with this and have you tried

that? And some girls will say, yeah,

I'm looking for a research topic,

you know, or a project,

you know, what does someone suggest?

And they start talking to each other because a lot of

these girls don't know any

other girls who even

like space or

STEM. And now they're finding

a world full of girls that,

you know, that they're not alone.

And it's all of a sudden, you know, they feel

solidarity and support

by like-minded girls.

But then, once the

girls sign up with a program partner,

and so this is, by the way, going to be

happening

during World Space Week coming

up the 4th of October,

our doors are opening

officially. And so

that is when the competition will

officially start. Our

worldwide competition will be,

so the girls will have to

fill out an application form through

our website and send in

a video, which

later on will be judged

by judges from each

continent. So if you're a girl,

let's say in

Africa, you'll have, there'll be an African

continental judge who will judge the

video. And essentially

one girl from each continent

will

become a finalist. And

those six finalists

will actually get

the astronaut, the commercial astronaut

training, where they'll receive

the mental preparedness training

of inner space training.

They'll receive a parabolic flight

where they're not just going

to do

what a lot of parabolic flights

have on them, which is people, you know,

kind of bumping into each other and, you know,

playing around, but will actually

be doing astronaut training in the parabolic

flight. And then the centrifuge

that

the girls will go in and see what it's like to experience

high G-forces

like on launch

and re-entry. So

they will then get the

feeling of that and do some training there.

And then one out of the six

girls will be the sort of the

grand prize winner to win a suborbital

space flight. So

it's super exciting.

We're the only

charity, we're the only group that

has, you know,

this as a grand prize.

And it's

really a way for girls

to, you know, get

excited about space or the prospects

of, you know, winning astronaut training

and even a space flight. And, you know,

can you imagine a girl from,

you know, somewhere, the slums

of somewhere, whatever part of the world

it is, who doesn't feel like she's

got any kind of hopes or

dreams in life.

Here's about this competition

from their school. We're also,

by the way,

emphasizing this to the United Nations

who will hopefully

spread the message that these girls can join.

But they hear about it, let's say, from their school

and then they all of a sudden

you know, just

fill out an application. You don't even have to own

a phone because many

girls don't have phones

in the world. They borrow

their friend's phone, they send in the videos,

they fill out the application, and then

all of a sudden there's a whole new world

which is exposed

to them where they can,

you know, they can meet other girls

in the same way and even

potentially even get to space.

So it's really exciting

to, yeah,

to have these girls

experience, you know,

things that they never would have thought

was possible. So we're trying to,

you know, even though the space flight

and the astronaut training is,

you know, is the

sort of exciting gimmicky part,

you know,

it hopefully

will be an attractor

to other girls to say, wow,

this is, you know, this is really

exciting and this is showing me

that space is also for me.

It's not just for the boys.

So, yeah, that's what

it's all about.

You have an initial several

part email from Todd

in San Diego, California

and Todd

says,

number one, what is the video

about? And

number two,

have you noticed

or is it too early to notice

where you seem

to get the most

applications from? What part

of the world? What countries?

I'd be interested in knowing

where there is probably more

awareness and more interest

than other parts. And do you

think that difference is based

on lack of awareness or

just not interested in space

and STEM products?

Good questions.

So, we haven't

started the competition yet

officially. It starts

October 4th, so I

don't know exactly, you know, to answer

that question, but we are seeing

girls already showing up in the

forum, Cosmic Forum.

They need their parents' permission

to be able to join.

And by the way, also enjoy the competition.

And we're seeing that girls

are coming from all over.

So, you know,

we're having girls from all

the six continents join in places

that I would think like, wow, Papua New

Guinea, okay. How did you

hear about this?

I'm really surprised

sometimes because I can

see the girls

where they're coming from

when they log on

to the Cosmic Forum and I get a little bing

on my phone like someone

from Papua New Guinea is looking

at this page.

And then I think, wow, okay.

So based on that is where

I'm surprised so far

about the reach.

But I think,

you know, I don't know yet the answer to the

question in terms of who's joining the

competition and where they're coming from.

I would imagine, though, that it has to

do with

the

connectedness, typically, you know,

how well connected people

are, the girls are,

and their parents, because I think it's

often the parents who are,

telling the girls, like, oh, I heard about

this thing. You might

check it out and think about joining.

And so, you know,

that's why we have a presence

on LinkedIn, because

we want, you know, people all over

the world, you know, to tell

their children to come and join

us, you know, and this is

available. So it's not,

you know, we basically have to reach the girls,

but we also know that, you know, we're

reaching them through their teachers,

through their parents,

and so

you know, we have

several target groups that we want to let

know that, you know, that this is coming

up in the coming

you know, in the coming

month. So in terms of what

is the video about,

still a little bit top secret what the question

is, is because we don't want to

we don't want to have the girls already

starting to prepare something

ahead of time before other girls,

but so we're not

actually giving the question,

not

going to tell you today what the question is about, but

it's about their hopes, their dreams

and, you know,

and how that helps the earth

essentially

and what, yeah, maybe I'm saying

too much already.

Is that kind of a, that's kind of a video

and how, yeah, go ahead.

I was going to say, do you, do people

have to work in English or

because you have regional

judges, they could do it in their

own language possibly?

Well, yeah, so what we're seeing

is because, you know,

the finalists will

have to get their training in English

and, you know, for

emergency instructions and things that might

happen, which is where,

you know, it's happening in the U.S. and Europe

this astronaut training.

So we're saying, we're making it

mandatory that the girls have

to understand

English and, of course,

they will be ambassadors,

you know, by

being part of this program, especially,

the six finalists.

So, you know, it is

challenging for other girls in other

places to have to,

you know, have decent English. We're not saying

it has to be perfect, but it has to be good enough

that they're speaking

in English and

they're understanding,

you know, the English that's going to be given to them

during the training.

So, in that sense,

English-speaking girls do

have, let's say, an advantage,

but they're, you know,

slightly,

but they're also going to be

competing with other girls from

their region,

from their continent,

which probably also speak more or less what they

speak, but not always.

So, you know,

of course, you know, the judges

are going to be from the different

continents, so they will also take

these factors into account. It's not

only going to be about how a girl

speaks English, in terms of

how she's going to be selected.

You have a phone call waiting.

Good morning.

Good morning, West Coast Time caller. Who are you?

Where are you? Thank you for your call.

Yes, hi. This is Bill

calling from Raleigh. Hi, Bill.

Go ahead. Hello.

Yes, hi. Good to speak to you.

I applaud your efforts

and I'm very interested

to learn about this.

I am curious. I don't think I heard

how long

it's been an ongoing effort.

I'm sorry.

I didn't get the beginning of your question.

Say, how long have we been

in the business?

How long, yes, how long

has Cosmic Girls been an ongoing

effort? Okay.

We just got incorporated

in the States in July

of 2023 and in May

in the Netherlands. So we have

two 501c3s

sort of set up in each of the different continents.

So it's, you know, it's just been

kind of one year on the map

essentially. And, you know,

I would say this year,

you know, or let's say

from October 2023

is really when

you know, we've just sort of

started to launch ourselves

out to the world. Let's say

we're here and there's a coin

and then this year

is the year we're kind of like building

more momentum, getting more people interested

and supporting us, trying

to get the word out to the girls. So

it's fairly new as a charity.

Very good.

Okay.

And how long have you personally been

in the Netherlands at this point?

Oh, it's been 34 years

for me.

I never thought

that I would be here for such a long time.

But it's, you know,

how life leads you. It's like

you get a coin and all of a sudden you're starting

a charity. For me, it was

I wanted

to go, I wanted to be an

astronaut and I thought I had

to get a quick and dirty PhD

because it would take,

you know, less time than in the States

in the Netherlands. And I thought,

let's move to the Netherlands. And then 34

years later, I'm still here.

So it's, yeah,

it takes only four years, by the

way, in the Netherlands to get a PhD

as opposed to six to ten years

here in the States. So for me, it was

a time to an end.

And then, yeah, and then

I guess back, you know, back

in the day, as soon as I got my PhD,

I applied to NASA and I got

pretty far on that, on the

NASA's list, down to the last

200 people, considered

a highly qualified astronaut candidate.

But then I'm lucky enough to then get

selected for the

next stage, which was the training

and the medical stuff. So,

you know, it never left

my blood. I always

thought about it and I thought, I'm going to be

coming back to this at some point. But then

all of a sudden, a corporate career

happens and all,

you know, when 20 years later

you're kind of,

yeah, you're here for a long time.

But funny to see.

I would think there is a

I'm sorry. I would think there's a great

deal of interest in space in general

in the Netherlands. And I know, for instance,

that Artemis

Westenberg is a huge advocate

for women in space

with Explore Mars,

the European branch of Explore

Mars.

I know Artemis well, actually, and she's

a supporter of us.

I'm not surprised.

That's great.

And I have one more question for you.

I have no doubt

that you did encounter

sort of a good old boys

network as you were coming along.

I'm curious about

now, and you must

interface with a good number of

young people.

Bill, we lost you.

Bill, are you still there?

Yes.

Bill, we lost you.

Are you still there? Hello?

I think we lost him.

I don't speak Garbled, do you?

I do not.

You didn't get that in your Ph.D. training.

Bill,

we think you're trying to talk,

but all we hear is a Garbled

trance.

It's Garbled. We don't know what you're saying.

So I beg you.

I beg you.

Is it better now?

Yeah. What did you do?

Yeah. I have a

headset in my pocket that came

on accidentally.

So apologies for that.

Shame, shame, shame.

It's much better.

It's much better now.

By the way, I've been playing

with your website as we've been talking

because I can multitask.

Wow.

That's great. Now who did we lose?

Bill, are you there?

Bill?

I think that was him.

Okay. Bill,

we disconnected from you somehow.

But can you put a picture

of your coin up on your website?

I can.

Can my website write this back anything?

No, no, no. At some point, I think it would be nice

if you had a picture of your coin on the web.

We did, but after we stopped

selling it, or after it was

people said, how do I get a coin?

And then,

it's like, it's the Royal Dutch Mint.

I can send you

a link where

it's on the Royal Dutch Mint's website

to see it.

Why don't you put that link on your website

for other people to see it and promote it?

I mean, I know they can't buy one anymore,

but... Okay, yeah.

It's a good thought.

It's a good idea. I wondered if

we should do that because then people

will say, well, how can I buy it?

And I'm like, you can't.

Well, go to the

collector market. Maybe someone's selling it.

Go to eBay.

Let's see if it's Bill who called back.

Bill, is this you?

Yes, it is. And I

apologize for that. In the process of turning

the thing off, apparently, I managed to

go to call. But anyway, it's off now.

And my question

is this.

As you're dealing with a lot of

young people now in this role,

I'm curious whether

you're seeing in today's

group

of young people, are you seeing

the kind of disconnect or the kind

of difference between interest

and space and STEM activities

between

boys and girls that

was existing when you were coming

along? Yeah.

I think it's...

I mean, the girls that are

already talking to me through

Cosmic Girls are totally switched on.

I mean, especially the ones

that have already come to us.

Before the competition, they want

to join the forum. They want to get any sort of

summer training.

These are girls that are sponges

that are desperate to

learn. And I mean, some of

them that I'm

encountering, I'm just like, oh my god, these

girls are thinking about things that

I never thought about when I was 15.

Wondering about the state of the

world and sustainability and how do we

combine sustainability with space.

So a lot of these girls are

unbelievable.

They've matured beyond

their years and they have...

These are also girls between 14 and 19

so they haven't encountered

the workplace. They haven't

sort of felt

I think

negatively influenced

and some

of these powerhouses are just so

strong-willed anyway. It wouldn't

make a difference. But I am

also coaching

or mentoring a number

of girls through the

UNOSA, which is the United

Nations Office of Outer Space

Affairs. They

have a space for women program

and trying to

get more girls

connected to mentors.

And through that program, and these are

girls that are between

20 and I would

say 35

typically, I'm

hearing these things starting out in the

space industry or

you know,

when they just start work

that they're, you know,

some of the space companies, you know,

that they're a

minority and it's

kind of like the same thing I also heard in the oil

industry, to be honest. You know,

if you're working in a technocratic

kind of company,

you're typically going to be

the one female in a

group of men around you

and sometimes people know how to act.

And so

I think some of the comments

that I, I mean, those comments are more

from the, what I say, older

20 to 35

group and not these cosmic girls

who are yet not

cynical or damaged

or anything, you know. For them

the world is still their oyster and

we hope to keep it that way. But

you know, it's

a good question

because, you know, you would hope

that things are changing. But I mean

it's so, I mean, and

a lot of women sort of, or girls

get uninterested in STEM

for different reasons, you know, throughout

that pipeline. So luckily

the younger ones that are with us

are totally switched on

and I hope they stay that way.

But, you know, that's

the group we're initially dealing with

but I am, you know, kind of connected

in the rest of the women in space world

and I'm hearing other stories. So

yeah.

All right.

Well, thank you very much and I certainly

wish you the best with your conversation.

Thank you, Bill, for your call.

Thank you.

Listeners, Bill has opened up

our line. If you too would like

to call, it is 866

687

7223

You have

Jerry in Salt Lake City

with a short email

and he says

who are you planning

to have the girls fly to space

with? I hope it's not Virgin

Galactic.

Did he say why he hoped it was not

Virgin Galactic? No, he didn't, but

he probably suspects it's going to go

bankrupt and disappear.

So, well,

we are

sort of dependent on

who's ever, you know, who's out there

and what the price is and the money

we can raise. And so

I mean, what I'm aware of is

the Delta

airplanes or space planes that they're

creating now and

who knows when that will be

developed, if it will be developed on

schedule or not.

So

I don't know if it's just

if it would be both them

and Blue Origin or just Blue Origin.

We are open

for both possibilities

but for us

because we are very much

dependent on the donations that we get

we want

to pay for our flights

and so

you know,

we're not able to pay

what's been paid so far

for flights. So we're

back with the regular

commercial prices and that's what

we're sort of planning on in our budget

to be able to

pay those kind of

prices. So at the moment

Blue Origin is the only one that's

available to

fly and maybe

who knows in the next year

Virgin might

come

back online but

I don't know if I'd want to be on that first flight

of Virgin

but I'm assuming everything will be tested by

then and

everything will be fine.

Don't forget they

tested the Boeing's

Starliner capsule that's stuck up at the

space station so

keep in mind testing's not always the answer.

No, it's true.

That is true. And of course

we're very open for

orbital flights as well

as a

possibility if we were to

you know

we're also

our vision is all about

launching dreams and girls and girls into space

in order to become multi-planetary.

The whole multi-planetary

piece is what SpaceX

has been kind of saying

all along that they want to get

people to Mars in the next 10 years

and quite frankly

I happen to think that

women going to Mars

maybe make for better

astronauts because

they're more efficient,

cheaper, lighter, they eat less,

they sweat less, they use less

oxygen and

I think

they might build better

communities which is

something that I can imagine people

wanting to go direction Mars

would need to think about

and I

see cosmic girls as

being part of that future

space force

to, you know,

of capable space and tech-savvy girls.

I mean, it starts with us, and I think, you know, also,

I mean, if Elon is serious about, you know, getting these people to space,

I think you should seriously consider, you know,

especially if you want to talk about, you know,

having the possibility of giving birth in space.

You know, there's a lot more research that has to be done with female astronauts,

and there needs to be a lot more investment

in the whole female astronaut talent pipeline.

And these girls are the start.

So I'm not saying all of the cosmic girls want to go to Mars,

but I totally see, you know, us being a real sort of, you know,

the backbone of where worldwide girls who are interested in space,

who are starting to get, you know, educated and getting astronaut training,

can certainly be, you know, the backbone of these people eventually going to Mars.

So we would accept a flight from SpaceX or VASP, you know, for sure.

But we don't yet have the pockets to pay for that.

You do have an email from Charlotte in Kansas City,

and she says,

I'm curious if you're also targeting,

and working with the girls who are interested in science and engineering,

astronomy, aerospace engineering, astrophysics, et cetera,

but don't particularly care about going to space.

Are those STEM interests being served by cosmic girls?

Yes, they are.

Yeah, no, we really see that, you know,

those jobs are really the backbone of the space and tech industries.

You know, these are, you know,

there's just the tip of the iceberg who are the astronauts,

and let's face it, even those who are qualified, you know,

are not getting selected.

I mean, it's just a very few number of people who are selected to become astronauts.

So, you know, the rest, you know,

we understand that these people are the same people who are interested in other,

you know, very important jobs in, you know, in the space industry.

And so, you know,

what we're teaching the girls is really basic engineering,

flight dynamics, building, you know, building and launching rockets.

That's kind of what a lot of the program partners that we're working with are teaching.

It's not about how to be an astronaut.

It's about, you know, understanding these basic engineering and science principles.

So it starts there, and, yeah,

and it's,

it's,

so that is essentially the backbone,

and the majority of the girls are really, you know,

starting always with, you know,

that kind of technical background even before becoming an astronaut.

But a lot of the girls I've heard of don't want to become astronauts,

but they want to join our program anyway,

and they are more than welcome.

We need everybody.

You have another email.

This is Ben in Tucson.

And a few minutes ago, you mentioned childbirth in space.

David has done programs with Egbert of Space United,

who is in Holland,

who is studying reproduction in space.

Do you know him?

I do.

Okay, so you're aware of it.

We've talked about it.

Yeah, so you're aware of the work that he's doing.

He's doing, he's doing great work,

and we have talked about also, you know,

the idea about how important it is for the, you know,

the female space generation, you know,

not just as, you know, baby makers in space,

but there's also other reasons of, you know,

of having getting women into space as well.

But, yeah, if you're talking about habitating Mars

and living and working in space, you know,

eventually the reproduction question is coming into play.

And, you know, we really don't know next to anything about,

you know, conception and the whole reproductive cycle

with microgravity conditions.

So what I've heard is that NASA and ASA doesn't want to really touch that

with a 10-foot pole.

You know, if you're talking about some kind of space tourism,

going to space hotels for a week,

you can imagine that some things like that are going to be happening.

But, you know, maybe it starts there.

In terms of learning, like, can people conceive in space?

But, yeah, there actually is very little information in that area.

So Egbert is one of these brave souls who's touching the subject

when a lot of, you know, these big space agencies are not touching the subject.

Are you planning a big launch ceremony on October 4th

when you start to become really active?

What are the plans when you actually formally launch Cosmic Girls?

Well, launching the competition is basically saying, like, you know,

now you can fill out the application.

So, yes, we're trying to get as much PR and media on that day.

You know, I would love to get on, you know, a morning show in the U.S.,

you know, just to let people know about it,

and let the girls know that, you know, it's open.

They can start applying.

And, you know, I would love to have that.

But during World Space Week, which is October 4th through 11th,

so that's one of the reasons why we are doing this.

So World Space Week is a United Nations branch,

which is kind of like UNICEF is a branch of the U.N.,

and World Space Week is a branch of the U.N.

And, you know, it's essentially like an online festival of what's going on,

you know, in the space world worldwide.

And so people are going to be hosting different events during that week.

And, you know, lots of people will be visiting that website and seeing what's happening.

But we are also going to be having a webinar on World Space Week

because we have a different approach of how we would like to eventually,

when we fly to space, in terms of the whole sustainability angle,

and that together I will be working with a person here in the Netherlands

who used to be from the Climate Neutral Group.

The name has changed to Antithesis.

And he's going to be going through an example of how not only can we offset our emissions

of a future space flight, but how we can create positive environmental impacts,

so, you know, let's say, you know, a space flight would have a certain amount of emissions.

You might need to build 100 trees.

What if we built 1,000 trees?

And what if we supported projects, you know, that were about, you know, solar heating

and power and things like that, things that actually kind of say, like,

our space flight has made, you know, a lot of progress, you know, in terms of, you know,

the environment better than it was before the space flight and trying to sort of inspire

the space community to say, you know, that's how we can think about going to space in the future.

Because a lot of the cosmic girls have already sort of had their concerns about space

and sustainability and that, you know, they love the idea of exploring space, but they, you know,

it keeps them up at night about how do you do that without, you know, not harming the Earth.

And so, you know, that's kind of what we're trying to do.

And so, that's kind of a theme of the youth that we are going to be addressing during World Space Week.

So, we also have that webinar that's going to be happening on October 4th.

If people want to go to that webinar, is it going to have an ad or a link on your website?

Or how do they find out about it?

Yes, we'll definitely, we'll have a link on our website about that.

But also, we'll...

Basically, we'll have, I'm sure, very soon, an ad about people joining, and it's free.

You don't have to pay anything to hear the webinar.

So, that will also be happening.

But we'll be making some PR about that as well.

You, a few minutes ago, mentioned space planes.

So, just to let you know, Las Vegas is planning a spaceport based on those space planes.

So, it's...

It has been permitted and approved by the Clark County.

That's the county of where Las Vegas is located.

And they've already got approval for a really, really long, huge runway out in the desert

for horizontal, takeoff, horizontal landing.

And they have a corridor in a very busy airspace corridor in Las Vegas because of the air forces here.

And also, the Las Vegas air traffic is growing by leaps and bounds all the time.

But they have a secure corridor where their space plane could operate.

So, if any of these horizontal takeoff planes come to fruition,

and I know one is trying to do single-staged orbit, so we'll see about that.

I don't know what the...

I think there's two of them.

But...

Maybe your Cosmic Girls will get a flight to space out of Las Vegas, so...

Wow.

That would be cool.

And they'd probably enjoy it a lot here.

So, just...

I think they're a little too young for the casinos, but yeah.

Well, it depends on how old they are when all of this comes to happen and you have...

That's true.

And you have the funds to go...

If you have 18 and 19-year-olds, great.

Yeah, so that's underage.

It's interesting.

You can't carry a gun at that age, but you can't get into the casino.

So, go put that one on.

But probably by the time all of this is ready, I'd imagine the girls will be in their 20s.

I have no idea of the timeline of development for these space planes,

but I do know that they're working on it.

But they've been working on commercial sonic boom private jets for, I think, more than a decade.

And those are still not flying.

So, maybe this takes a lot of time.

I don't know.

But just something to think about.

Sure.

And you could be their escort or their guide or whatever.

Their coach.

Absolutely.

So, you can bring them down and make sure they don't get straight into the casino.

So, but I hope it happens.

I think it'd be a really good...

It will happen.

And I'd love to see...

In Las Vegas.

Yeah.

And I'd love to see horizontal takeoff and landing become a reality

because I think it'd be a lot more appealing than rocket launches.

And it'd be a lot more accessible to people.

So, that's...

Well, I don't know what Virgin's new plan was,

but their old plan was horizontal takeoff and landing.

Yeah, but they had to be boosted to get to...

to the Air Force definition of space,

not the von Kármán line definition of space.

So, and they had to be carried up there in a carrier plane.

So, these new planes are all in one.

Like, you get into a passenger jet,

and instead of flying to Los Angeles,

you're going to go to space for 30 minutes.

So, we'll see if they come to pass.

I hope they do.

I hope so, too.

Say again?

I hope so, too.

Yeah, that'd be great.

Are there any European opportunities to fly to space?

Are you seeing that develop with all this excitement of space?

Well, there are.

There are European spaceports coming up.

Sweden and Spain.

I think Portugal's also thinking about developing one.

But it's all about the space operator,

I guess.

They need the transportation of, you know,

who's going, you know, what...

Yeah, the transportation to get there.

So, that's kind of like you need both.

And so, you can make a nice spaceport,

but who's going to be flying out of it?

So, I think that's the...

We need more space operators.

Yeah.

Is Holland thinking of a spaceport?

I don't think so.

I think it's too densely populated here

to make things safe, you know,

even if the North Sea is around.

I mean, England's right across the North Sea.

It's all pretty close here.

So, it's not a great location, I think,

you know, to have all the regulation to do that.

Listeners, there's still time.

If you would like to make a phone call at 866,

687-7223,

and you can still email us, of course,

at drspace at thespaceshow.com.

So, what...

You're speaking to a global audience,

especially when we go to archives on the program.

What is it you want to say?

What is your inspiring...

I'll use the word pitch,

but I know it's more than that.

Make it here on the Space Show

for what you're doing.

And for space and for girls to come into this field.

Let's see.

Well, you know, I think, you know, for sure,

I just want your listeners, you know,

to tell girls worldwide that they're, you know,

that they're very welcome to be in the space community

and especially to join Cosmic Girls

and joining our Cosmic Forum and our competition

and getting involved,

learning with our programs,

our program partners.

I mean, we're doing this for them,

but they need to hear about it.

So, you know, I would love it if, you know,

everybody who's listening could please

to sort of tell a handful of people, like,

or if you know a teacher at a school, you know,

go and tell the teacher to look us up

and to make sure that they tell their, you know,

their talented female tech-interested girls

about joining us, as well as the girls.

And especially, you know,

the corporate and individuals who are inspired

by what we're doing.

We are also a 501c3.

We would love to get any kind of financial support

or donation to make sure that these big plans of ours

become a reality.

And so, you know, that information is, you know,

people can contact me,

people can make donations from our website.

We also have Silent Donor,

where people can make donations on behalf of us

if you don't, if you wanna be anonymous.

So there's several, you know, there's many ways,

many ways to donate, but we're all, you know,

we would love to make this happen.

Oh, and one thing I totally forgot,

which is the, that what we would like to do

is immortalize everything in terms of making sure

that people hear about, you know, what the girls,

who these girls are, how they're joining that competition,

and we'd like to have a documentary.

Like a Netflix, Netflix-like documentary

that's going to be happening on, you know,

alongside so that, you know, this story can be told

and heard, you know, of how some girl from, you know,

somewhere in the middle of, you know, the South Pacific

managed to get herself astronaut training and to space.

I mean, I just, just imagine, you know,

how interesting it's gonna be when these girls

are gonna be doing this.

So this story will be told in a documentary,

and I think it's, that's really something quite exciting.

So we also, you know, for sponsors who are, you know,

who are interested in helping us,

there will be some, you know, lots of benefits

that the sponsors could get from, you know,

their logos and their name, not only on our website,

but, you know, in the documentary itself,

as well as credits in the documentary.

So, yeah, it's kind of exciting for this first,

this first round anyway, when we have this documentary

that there's a lot of sort of perks

in being a sponsor with us.

You have an email, Melanie is in New York City,

and Melanie says for the younger girls

that win in your competition, what do they do?

If they're not of the age for either astronaut training

or going to space, do they win something else,

or do they just wait until they get older?

Yeah, good question.

I mean, this is something that we've been thinking about,

and there could be a couple of options for that,

but what we're saying, I mean, unfortunately,

so two out of three of our astronaut training,

programs are, you can be under 18 years old,

so to do the inner space training, the mental training,

as well as a parabolic flight,

you just need a parent's signature,

and you can be under 18 and do that.

The centrifuge has an age limit,

and the space flight has an age limit of 18 and above,

and so, you know, one thing that is a possibility is that,

you know, the girls, you know,

by the time we actually get around to flying,

which, you know, might be another year later from now,

or a year and a half from now,

which is kind of our intended timeline,

you know, the girls might have become of age,

so that's, you know, and we're saying that those girls

who are 19, who would normally be sort of aging out,

once they're in the program,

you know, if they win, we're not going to kick them out

because they become 20 years old.

So, you know, a lot of the thing is still kind of up in the air

because we are dependent on when we can get a ride,

essentially, and so, you know, that is a possibility.

You know, if somebody is 14 and, you know,

a year and a half from now is still underage,

you know, the beauty is that they can still, you know,

be part of the Cosmic Forum, they can get,

you know, get their space training, you know,

from their program partners, and they will be getting

two out of three astronaut training experiences,

but they will not be able to actually win the space flight.

So, yeah, that is, that's just the way it is.

Okay, so the 14-year-old is eligible

for the two out of three, but is not eligible

for the grand prize, because you wouldn't let them win

the grand prize, and then they have to wait

five or six years for it.

No, unless we have to wait five or six years for it,

but yeah, but I think we're gonna be determining

the grand prize winner, and then we're gonna be waiting

for the space flight, or we know when the space flight

will be, hopefully, you know, within six months

after the training happens.

Are you gonna do this every year?

Is there gonna be a grand prize every year?

So, you know, I've had a lot of girls

who are kind of 20 and above saying to me,

like, are you gonna, the same question,

and I'm not, we're not saying for sure,

but we will, I think we will be expanding

our age groups to include more later on, you know,

but after this first round, it's 14 to 19,

and I think if things go the way that we hope they will,

things will be expanding age group-wise.

Age group-wise, after that, yeah.

But then, next year, you do another one

with another grand prize winning?

That is the idea, yes, yes, to have, you know,

round after round, because, like, for us,

if we're, you know, the whole point of becoming,

sort of, being a workforce to become multi-planetary

is that, you know, we want, it's not, for us,

it's not just about getting a ride.

It's about actually, you know, building our knowledge,

you know, from biometrics, monitoring in space,

you know, female bodies, getting the data,

you know, contributing to the much, much bigger picture,

so it's, you know, and having an experience of, you know,

like a suborbital flight leads to a lunar flight,

leads to a, you know, a space, another space,

or an ISS flight, different locations further and further

and further away from Earth, all of these are kind of training,

for the next, for the next distance further away,

or for the next type of gravity being experienced,

and not just like, you know, a flight, like,

oh, here's your gift bag, here's your, you know,

here's your iPod, as a grand prize winner.

It's actually more in the name of, sort of,

becoming multi-planetary and working together with,

you know, agencies and other organizations

that are also working towards that.

We have a workforce, you know, that can, you know,

can be of use, you know, for the much, much bigger picture,

so it might seem like one space flight if you zoom in,

but if you zoom out, you see, you know, where, you know,

where it's going, it's going to the much bigger picture,

Cosmic Girls, and not to, you know,

the winning girl, actually, but of course,

the attention initially will go to the winning girl,

but it's, you know, Cosmic Girls is much, much bigger

in terms of where we hope this will go.

Probably the last question of the program,

Marilyn is in Chicago, and she says,

do you have a newsletter that we can sign up for

to continue to get progress reports on what you're doing,

or will you have a newsletter in the near future?

We will have a newsletter in the near future.

I mean, we're an organization built about volunteers of,

I have to say, you know, any of the volunteers listening,

like, thank you very much for all that you've done for us.

Thank you.

Thank you, Marilyn.

Thank you for helping us and getting us to where we are.

You know, but in order to make a newsletter,

we need more, we need more volunteers to help us with that.

But, yes, the intention is definitely to keep people posted.

You know, people can follow us on our social media handles,

you know, LinkedIn, you know, or Instagram, Facebook,

TikTok, YouTube, there will, you know, be updates

about what we're doing and where we're going.

But the newsletter is still in place,

letter is definitely something

we just need to get the

people power in order

to help us make this

work, so good question

and hopefully we'll be doing it

soon. For

LinkedIn, is your

you go for

Cosmic Girls, is that

what you search for to join you? No, no, it's

Cosmic Girls Foundation

on everything

on Instagram or Cosmic Girls

underscore foundation, Facebook Cosmic

Girls Foundation, LinkedIn

Cosmic Girls Foundation, TikTok

Cosmic Girls underscore foundation

and YouTube Cosmic Girls Foundation

so it's a foundation because

Cosmic Girls, funnily enough, is also

a Korean

K-pop

group

so unfortunately they're

getting top billing so far

if you type in Cosmic Girls in Google

you'll get this Korean

pop group of girls

but hopefully

we'll be coming quickly behind

and getting top billing very soon

when we launch in October

Okay

so

listeners follow the

website but do let

us know or send me a note

that I can read on air or

something as you

come up with a newsletter or

if you have more to say on this

let me know so that I can

either put you back on

the show or make some announcements on your

behalf. Sounds good

This has been

great. I hope you have

great success and I will

get you the URL

for the archive show

which will probably be posted and podcasting

later today and

I do have

a program on

October 4th but if you

want me to make an announcement

like at the front of the show

or something like that and you

send me something I'll be happy

to include that in program

announcements. The guest for that day

is Dr. Sarah Seeger

so I will say

that probably 60%

of my guests are women

and that includes

all of the sciences

and engineering

I'm just

You're an equal opportunity employer

I'm just saying that this is

really quite different than what it was

23 years ago when I started

the program because then it was

mostly men but I

think I probably have

overall more women guests than

men guests now

Well thank you for your service

there. We appreciate it

We appreciate being included

They are finding

their way into

the sciences and the engineering

and

into the research field

This has been

interesting. I wish you a

lot of luck and do keep me

posted and I'll be happy to

continue to promote

Cosmic Girls and

we'll talk to you down the road and see how things

are going. Sounds good

Thank you very much. Thank you for having me

Yes and

I'm glad it was

recommended to me too

to bring you back on the show

Listeners for Sunday are

our favorite space attorney

Michael Lissner is the guest

so do come back for that

and then Colorado School of Mines

Dr. Kevin Cannon about

water uses on

the moon and more will be

our guest. Everybody have a

great weekend. Thank you for

your call, your listening, your email

and

goodbye from Mindy

David and

the Space Show