6. That state motto—and, in a way, the Ad Astra
Kansas Foundation—began 150 years ago when
a young lawyer from Massachusetts saw an ad
promoting Kansas as a , so he moved here.
His name was John James Ingalls
8. • Born 1833 in
Middleton, Mass.
• Moved to Kansas in
1859 at age 26
9. • Born 1833 in
Middleton, Mass.
• Moved to Kansas in
1859 at age 26
• Participated in the
1859 Wyandotte
Constitutional
Convention
10. • Born 1833 in
Middleton, Mass.
• Moved to Kansas in
1859 at age 26
• Participated in the
1859 Wyandotte
Constitutional
Convention
• Was the secretary of
the senate at the
first session after
Kansas was admitted
to the union
11.
12. A single star rising from the clouds at
the base of a field,
13. A single star rising from the clouds at
the base of a field,
A constellation above it representing
the number of states then in the Union
above
14. A single star rising from the clouds at
the base of a field,
A constellation above it representing
the number of states then in the Union
above
The motto, "Ad Astra per Aspera."
15.
16.
17. In 2001 Steve proposed the creation of an
initiative supporting interstellar R&D… the Ad
Astra Kansas Initiative.
18. In 2001 Steve proposed the creation of an
initiative supporting interstellar R&D… the Ad
Astra Kansas Initiative.
From the beginning, the initiative had the goals
of:
Promoting the state motto to its full 21st century
potential
19. In 2001 Steve proposed the creation of an
initiative supporting interstellar R&D… the Ad
Astra Kansas Initiative.
From the beginning, the initiative had the goals
of:
Promoting the Kansas state motto to its full 21st
century potential
Serving as a hub featuring space and technology
research, development and commercialization
projects in Kansas for networking and
educational purposes.
20. In 2001 Steve proposed the creation of an
initiative supporting interstellar R&D… the Ad
Astra Kansas Initiative.
From the beginning, the initiative had the goals
of:
Promoting the state motto to its full 21st century
potential
Serving as a hub featuring space-tech
research, development and commercialization
projects in Kansas for networking and
educational purposes.
Recognizing cutting edge research being done in
Kansas and elsewhere.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30. Founders meeting held Nov. 4-5, 2011in
Topeka
Created a board of directors
Built a consensus about the initiative's future
Began the development of bylaws and
resolutions
Started the process of certifying Ad Astra
Kansas as a 501(c)3 corporation
Hinweis der Redaktion
Welcome to the Ad Astra Kansas 2013 Galaxy Forum. I’m Ken Moum and here to briefly tell you about the Ad Astra Kansas Foundation.
What is the Ad Astra Kansas Foundation?
Well, it began with our state motto, do you know what it is?
Yup, it’s Ad Astra per Aspera. Do you know what it means?
That’s not a lawyer joke, Ingalls was a young lawyer from Massachusetts who read an ad about the state in his local newspaper.
When he read it in 1859, he was only 26 years old
He moved here that year
Perhaps what’s most remarkable before the year was over, he was a member of the 1859 Wyandotte Constitutional Convention. In fact, after 21 days, the constitution was practically complete but in an effort to get every word exactly right it was referred to a special committee headed by Ingalls for final revision. In another three days his committee delivered a hand-written, 21-foot long document.
As important as that was, when the state legislature He also had an idea for a state seal.
Talking about his proposed seal, Ingalls said "I was secretary of the Kansas state senate at its first session after our admission in 1861. A joint committee was appointed to present a design for the great seal of the state and I suggested a sketch embracing a single star rising from the clouds at the base of a field,
with the constellation (representing the number of states then in the Union) above,
And the motto Ad Astra per Aspera
Ingalls concept would have been a simple and elegant seal, but like a lot of other things done by committee, it sort of got out of hand.
Said Ingalls -- "If you will examine the seal as it now exists you will see that my idea was adopted, but in addition thereto the committee incorporated a mountain scene, a river view, a herd of buffalo chased by Indians on horseback, a log cabin with a settler plowing in the foreground, together with a number of other incongruous, allegorical and metaphorical augmentations which destroyed the beauty and simplicity of my design.“So the state motto was the genesis our little initiative, but how did we get from there to 2013 and Ad Astra Kansas Foundation?
It’s happened because of the passion of a Californian – Steve Durst--who loves Kansas and is intrigued by its place in American history, as midway USA, and America's breadbasket.But our state motto was a real attraction, because it points to the past, current and future. Perhaps even more importantly its modern implication is that someday, some how, man will travel to the stars.I’d say that Steve believed in Kansas just as Ingalls did. As Ingalls wrote, "the aspiration of Kansas is to reach the unattainable; its dream is the realization of the impossible." Ingalls chose to live in Kansas because he believed the state had a bright and promising future.
So,in 2001 Steve proposed the creation of an initiative supporting interstellar R&D. It would be the Ad Astra Kansas Initiative.
From the beginning, the initiative had the goal of Promoting the state motto to its fullest 21st century potential
Serving as a hub featuring space-tech research, development and commercialization projects in Kansas for networking and educational purposes.
Recognizing cutting edge research being done in Kansas and elsewhere.
For the first several years, the initiative was run in Kansas native Kansan, Jeanette Steinert, who lived in Hutchinson and now lives in Wichita. In 2009 I began working with her and Steve, maintaining the initiative's web site writing, editing and doing various promotional tasks.What we hoped for was to have Kansas known nationally, and internationally, as the Ad Astra state.And for Kansans to see the motto as more than words on a flag—to make it meaningful, relevant and personal
We want everyone to see that Kansas isn’t just a rural state, or the sunflower state. To understandbut that there are many facets to KansasBecause young people are the future, we feel that one of our most important programs is the advancement of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics education
To that end, Jeanette and Steve began publishing a semi-annual newsletter in 2002
And a very important part of that newsletter is the Interstellar R&D department. In it twice a year, we have documented current state of research and development of humanity’s greated adventure—travelling to the stars. The real-world Ad Astra per Aspera.
We created Ad Astra Kansas Dayto commemorate the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope which was deployed by native Kansan Steve Hawley.The last fouryears we have commemorated it with this science event at Washburn University. This year we combined fun activities like the Space Ice Cream samples handed out by the WU chemistry club, with presentations like the one later tonight by Fundamental Technologies founder Tom Armstrong, who is collecting and analyzing data from the Voyager and Cassini Spacecraft missions to the outer planets.
We have held Galaxy forums for four years nowat the Cosmosphere
For the Sesquicentennial Year, we selected 150 super scientists, and created a set of trading cards for use in the classroom and elsewhere. Each of them highlights one scientist with a Kansas connection, offering a photo of the scientist on the front of the card and a list of biographical and career details on the back. They cover a wide range of scientists, from historical figures like George Washington Carver, and this one---Clyde Cessna one of the fathers of general aviation. To the more modern ones such as Samantha Wisely…
Who is a member of the recovery team for the blackfooted ferret, one of the iconic mammals of the prairie.
We have participated in the Kansas History and Environmental Fair at the Kansas Museum of History where several thousand elementary-school students come each spring.
We did the groundwork required to establish Ad Astra Kansas as a 501(c)3 corporation under the name Ad Astra Foundation
We will continue to hold events that promote STEM education such as this event and Ad Astra Kansas Day.Most importantly we intend to create an Ad Astra Center. That Center could be realized as an actual building, or it could be a virtual center. Today that would take advantage of the Web, social media and shared media technology like cloud computing.But one of it’s most important missions will be the preservation of the archive of Interstellar R&D that we have compiled over the last twelve years.
