SCHEDULE OF EVENTS: (PLS SEE SURVEY ATTACHED)

Aug. l2, 2003      GRAA Regular Luncheon - ll:30 am - RecCenter - Pls call Alberta 30l-937-7762 for reservations

Sept. 9, 2003      GRAA Regular Luncheon - ll:30 am - RecCenter - Pls call Alberta 30l-937-7762 for reservations (IUE REUNION ATTENDEES WILL JOIN THIS LUNCHEON)

Aug. 3l, 2003      NASA Day - Six Flags (Largo) - Tickets on Sale at GEWA Store - for Retirees, their Families and Friends - All-Day Parking - All-You-Can-Eat Classic Picnic Lunch (l:30-3:30pm) of fried Chicken, hot dogs, pasta salad, tossed salad, plus sodas/iced tea & ice cream. BUY YOUR TICKETS EARLY - Cost until August l9th: $30 (ages 4 & up). Prices go up $3/ticket on August 20^th. FREE ages 3 & under. For season pass holders - meal cost is $l2. Parking costs $6/vehicle. For further information, pls call GEWA Store - 30l-286-8498.

Sep.25-29,2003  BRANSON, MO - 5 DAYS - This is a "GO"-20 seats available call Alberta 30l-937-7762 for details. Cost $820 per person, RT air, bus, 6 shows, breakfast and dinners, tips, 4 nights motel

Oct.l0-l2, 2003    NACA Reunion - Cleveland, OH - If interested, pls contact Marty Eiband, GRAA Member, ASAP -30l-474-7693. (Details were included in April's GRAA Newsletter)

Oct.ll-l2, 2003     NY, NY - Join GEWA - Visit Favorite Museums/Central Park Walkthru/Broadway Show/Party etc. Includes R/T Bus Transportation/light breakfast/4-Star Hotel Accommodations/Trip to Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island on Sunday/dinner/all taxes/gratuities. Cost $249pp (based on double occupancy). Deposit - Due By 8/l2/03 - Balance Due by 9/l2/03 - No Refund after 9/22/03 - Call 30l-286-8498 -

Oct. l4, 2003      GRAA Regular Luncheon - ll:30 am - RecCenter - Pls call Alberta 30l-937-7762 for reservations.

Oct.26-Nov.       Switzerland/France/Italy/Austria/Munich (Germany) - $2409 pp (Includes air transportation, tour 2003 director, hotels, hotel service charges, tips, baggage handling, local taxes, motor coach, etc.)A $300 deposit due now - Final payment due 7/l5/03 - Call Pat GEWA Store 30l-286-8565.

Dec. 9, 2003      LANCASTER, PA - One-Day Bus Trip - Shopping/Christmas 2003 at American Music Theater, Back Stage Tour, Tips, Round Trip Bus Fare - $75.00 Per Person - Pls Call 30l-937-7762 for reservations.

Dec. l3, 2003     RADIO CITY MUSIC HALL CHRISTMAS SPECTACULAR - New York City, NY - Full Course Dinner, R/T motor coach, tips. taxes. gratuities. - $l69 Per Person - DEPOSIT $75 due w/reservations - Balance Due ll/2l - (NO REFUNDS AFTER 10/24) Bus Departs Visitor Center at 6:30 am and return approximately ll pm. Tickets sold as long as seats available. Pls call GEWA Store 30l-286-8498.

COMMENTS FROM GRAA'S PRESIDENT, DR. PIEPER: At our July GRAA lunch, we had the pleasure of the company of  18 members and two instructors from the NASA Academy. The Academy is operated for all of NASA BY Goddard; its members are selected from well over l00 applicants from all over the country plus some from abroad. They are all upperclassmen or beginning graduate students in science and engineering from prominent schools and universities. They were a delightful, charming group who seemed to enjoy our stories of the early days of NASA and Goddard, and who in many cases seemed to know a lot about esoteric subjects like dark matter and dark energy that some us of wish we knew.

We have two requests for inputs from GRAA members: One is from Jay Liebowitz, who is performing a research project as part of an IBM Endowment concerning the Business of Government. The thrust of the project is to look at creative ways for tapping the expertise and experience of federal retirees in order to address an anticipated human capital crisis in the federal government. As part of Jay's research, he has prepared a survey for members in GRAA to complete if they wish to do so. The survey and how to deal with them are appended to this Newsletter. (PLS NOTE!!)

The second request is from Nick Short, who retired from Goddard in l988 and later (l995) from teaching at Bloomsburg University. Since then he has been producing as a NASA Web site a huge Internet and CD-ROM "compendium" called The Remote Sensing Tutorial (http://rst.gsfc.nasa.gov). Nick believes it to be the most complete overview of much of what NASA has done, plus other space programs, anywhere on the Net. The trouble is that Nick's work is not being properly reviewed by anyone in NASA. He has asked for help in evaluating its content and accuracy but to no avail. Nick feels that no document of this magnitude and complexity should be unreviewed if it is attributed to a NASA sponsorship. He says, "Since there is a rich pool of knowledge and experience in the large number of NASA retirees who read the GRAA Newsletter, perhaps there are at least a few who would read those parts where the subjects are known to them and they possess expertise, and, maybe several who would examine the whole document. Anyway, the Tutorial has much of general interest to past NASA personnel and should be worth reading if only for the updates it provides." I (GP) have taken a look at the Tutorial on the web and it is large and impressive work, covering much more that the narrow field of remote sensing, all generally at the level of the Scientific American. It's well worth your while to take a look. Instructions on how to submit comments are included there. If you'd like to apply your knowledge to relevant sections of the Tutorial, please volunteer using either the Web site or the CD which he will send you at no cost provided you agree to critique a significant amount of its contents. Contact him by email at: nmshort@nationi.net. We hope to get Nick to come to a future GRAA lunch to talk about all of this.

TREASURER'S REPORT:  A donation was received from Wilber B. Huston

MAIL STUFFERS FOR JULY: George Abid, Rose McChesney, Bob Wigand, Marge Gustafson, Agnes R. Smith. Mary and Bob Wilson, Eloise Tarter, Elaine Montgomery, Frank Wrigley, Hugh O'Donnell and Bill Shields.

LETTERS WE GET LETTERS !!!
McGANN, TOM & LOIS of Holmes, Beach, FL. - "We have been retired from Goddard for 25 years. I am now 80 years old and my wife and I do a lot of traveling. We have been to many countries and really enjoy them. This year we will go to Bermuda in September and to Bulgaria in October. Thanks for the Goddard News."

ITEM OF INTEREST; After a slight problem with Security recently, Herman LaGow, visiting from Nevada, received his new Retiree Badge - picture and all - and attended the July luncheon - now, no excuse and come again.

OBITS:
MASKALERIS, CHRISTOS of Annapolis, MD - died after a long struggle with heart problems on August l4, 2003. The home address is 8ll Midship Court, Annapolis, MD 2l40l - Tel. # 4l0-798-5527 - Ms. Chris would enjoy hearing from old friends of Mr. Chris who retired from Code 500.
IRBY, ABRAM C. of Takoma Park, MD - died May 09, 2003. In a note from Ms. Irby, Mr. Irby retired from POMD after many enjoyable years with fellow employees and later was employed at NASA by several contracting companies and that both enjoyed receiving the informative newsletter.
JOHNSON, (DICK) RICHARD of Arizona - died June, 2003 - joined the Field Facilities Branch (Code 532) in l964 - was involved with the high precision surveying for the antennas for STADAN and the MSFN during the 60's and also was resident engineer for several large Network construction projects, notably in Alaska. He left GSFC in l977.
UNDERHILL, DR. ANN B. - died July 5, 2003 after suffering a heart attack. Dr. Underhill served as senior scientist for the Lab. for Astronomy & Solar Physics (Code 680) from l978-l985. Prior to becoming senior scientist at Goddard, served as Chief of Lab. for Optical Astronomy (Code 670) and oversaw the development of a satellite carrying a telescope and spectrographs for observing stars from space and measuring their ultraviolet spectra and analyzed ultraviolet spectra of stars.
WHITE, DR. RICHARD A.: Passed away June 20, 2003 - worked in the Space Data & Computing Division.
KINGWOOD, HENRY L: Died January 9, 2003 at the Washington Adventist Hospital in Takoma Park, MD.

GRAA MEMBERS: Approval has been received for Luncheon attendees to pass through the Soil Conservation Road Entrance -- however you must call Alberta at 30l-937-7762 for reservations. You must be on this list and have the newest Retiree ID Badge.

(Note: Dr. Liebowitz' survey questionnaire is attached to the hardcopy of the Newsletter, distributed by postal mail.)