John Boyd
The morning of the launch of Mars Global Surveyor and moments after being drenched by a early morning Florida rain storm. I am the civilian in the middle. (PS That is NOT a pocket protector...it is my access badge : )
As stated on the Welcome page, my name is John Boyd and this web page is dedicated primarily to one of my favorite hobbies...Astronomy. I live in Central Florida with my wife of 36 years, Linda and our cats Duke, Boomer, and Sooner, Little Foot, Cera, Petri, and Spike.
I was an instructor at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station for about 17 years after my retirement from the U.S. Air Force. I had the pleasure of training Air Force space launch personnel in the 45th Space Wing and the Space and Missile Center out of Los Angeles, Ca. I have had the opportunity to work with many fine Air Force and contractor personnel on AF, NASA, and JPL launches from the Cape.
After retiring from Cape Canaveral, I enjoyed about a year and a half of doing very little. I fount that I did that quite well. Then I received a call from Kennedy Space Center wanting to know if I would be interested in coming back to work on the Shuttle Program. After thinking about it, they made me an offer I could not refuse so I went back to work in Sept of 08 as and Instructor. I taught Solid Rocket Booster Ordnance, Explosive Safety, Critical Hardware and several other classes. One class that I was particularly proud to teach was the Hubble Servicing Mission. All in all it has been great; After about a year and a half, my health (or should I say poor health) caught up with me and I resigned in Jan 2010 and re-entered the world of retirement. Hopefully I will get caught up and get the site updated soon..
My interest in astronomy began back on the plains of Oklahoma where I would spend hours frozen (sometimes literally) to the eyepiece of a small refractor. Light pollution was almost unheard of and other than a small amount of sky glow from the thriving metropolis of Lawton, the skies were very dark and generally clear. In 1962, my Aunt came to visit and brought along her 4 inch Newtonian reflector. I remember studying it as she set it up in the back yard and thinking that it was so strange to be looking into the wrong end of the telescope. I also spent considerable time trying to figure out how a mirror could make things look bigger. My first view through a telescope was of the object that is responsible for drawing a lot of people into this hobby...Saturn. AMAZING...you could see the rings. This, of course, was well before the high resolution HST images of today and, if I remember right Saturn only had 9 moons then : ) To make a long story short, I was hooked.
I mowed a lot of lawns and finally came up with enough money to purchase a small 50mm Japanese refractor and start my quest of the night sky. After a year or so, my family moved from Lawton to the small town of Indiahoma, Oklahoma. Heck...we didn't even have street lights there. I could walk about 100 yards behind my house and be in a dark sky location. I then saved up and "upgraded" to an equatorially mounted 60mm refractor with setting circles, and armed with a copy of Norton's sky atlas (sent to me by my Aunt), I continued my education of the night sky. Those days were instrumental in teaching me the night sky and allowing me to star hop to find objects not visible to the naked eye. I use those skills today and highly recommend that a beginner take the time to learn the basic constellations and get familiar with navigating the night sky.
After graduating from Indiahoma High School, I attended Cameron College for a short time, and (as was the case with many young people) grew eager to get out into the world and get started on my quest for ????...something. I entered the U. S. Air Force in 1970 and was trained as a missile systems analyst and served as a member of a Titan II Combat Crew. My first permanent station was Davis-Monthan AFB, in Tucson Arizona....more dark skies and Kitt Peak just a few miles away. The desert skies around Tucson were outstanding. The ultra low humidity and stabile air provided some of the best seeing conditions I have ever seen with consistency.
Me and my SP-C8 at the VAAS exhibit for Astronomy day at Vandenberg AFB, Ca.
A few years later I ended up at Vandenberg AFB, in California. There I had the opportunity to join up with a fine group of amateur astronomers and started the Vandenberg Amateur Astronomical Society. Starting an astronomy club from the ground up was a real experience, and also a lot of fun. We had our star parties in a National Forest on Mt. Figueroa. Excellent seeing conditions (most of the time).
Some of the VAAS gang at the base of Mt. Figueroa. Ice had closed the road, but we had permission to "take our chances" and go up for the star party.
We (VAAS) also had the opportunity to assist in the acquisition and construction of an observatory for the Western Space Port and Museum. This was a dome housing a computer controlled C-14. The club operated the scope a few nights a month for public viewing sessions.
After a short (1 year) tour in Germany and another year back at Vandenberg AFB, CA., I decided to retire after 22 years in the Air Force. My wife had a job offer at Kennedy Space Center working on the Shuttle program and I decided to join her and see if I could get a job here on the right coast. After finding work and getting settled in, I joined the Kennedy Space Center Amateur Astronomers. Although the central coast of Florida is not a very good location for astronomy, A LOT of rain, clouds and moisture, but I still spend a lot of time involved in the hobby.
A backyard star party in Florida. Matt Matias is in the background setting up one of his scopes. Matt has been a viewing buddy for over 30 years. In the foreground is Bob "I don't see no stinkin' Polaris!" Bash (another friend of 30 years but relatively new to Astronomy).
Setting up on "refractor row" at a Kennedy Space Center Amateur Astronomers star party at Shilo.
Callie & Cassie
In Loving Memory