SpaceAlumni.com Launches Social Networking Website for Space Industry
New Website Features, Improved Community Tools, and Refined Layout
Houston, TX – December 13, 2006 – SpaceAlumni.com launched a new, interactive, online social networking site aimed at space industry leaders, professionals, enthusiasts, and students today. The innovative site, which enables members to share resources and collaborate on projects for the benefit and advancement of space, can be found online at www.spacealumni.com. SpaceAlumni is the first free, dedicated social networking site for the global space community.
SpaceAlumni was founded in 2005 by two International Space University alumni, who saw a need in the space community for an online network that offered free tools so that members could further their own personal, organizational, or professional goals. “We don’t want to be another space organization,” noted co-founder Nicholas Skytland. “Instead, we want to be a free tool to help the existing organizations and the aspiring new entrepreneurs, inventors, and enthusiasts spread their ideas and conduct their business more efficiently.”
The new SpaceAlumni website offers users a number of features to help them connect with the rest of the global space community. The new site emphasizes its community focus with the following tools and features:
- Member profiles with individual photo galleries and guest books
- Integrated private message service
- Advanced search to easily find other members
- Interactive world map to geographically locate other members
- Space calendar to view or post upcoming events
- Space forum to discuss important events and topics
- Member articles to post and review recent space news
- Website hosting for other space organizations
In addition to the community tools and methods for easy submission and browsing of user-generated content, the site offers several unique features of its own, contributed by the site’s dedicated volunteer team. The team posts a weekly “News & Notes” column, a light but broad-reaching recap of the previous week’s leading news articles from around the world. “Keeping up with current space events across disciplines and nations can be a daunting task,” explains co-founder William Pomerantz. “News & Notes is a good way for those who don’t have the time to sift through all of the excellent journals and online publications each week to get a top-level view quickly, with links to more detailed resources.”
The site also offers a popular “Live Interview” feature, a unique way for users around the world to interact with space luminaries in real time. The first interview hosted on the new site was held on Wednesday, December 6th with Dr. Michael Simpson, President of the International Space University, and was broadcast live over the web from the SAIC exhibit at the AIAA’s 2nd Space Exploration Conference.
To celebrate the release of the new site, SpaceAlumni has partnered with Sky Fire Lab to offer free premium apparel to users. For a limited time, users who sign up for the site or edit their user profile will be entered into a random drawing to win space-themed apparel. “We’re excited to offer this opportunity to our members,” said Mr. Pomerantz. “Sky Fire Lab offers distinct products that will give space a facelift -and we think it’s a good match for our members and for our website.”
In addition to the features already offered on the site, SpaceAlumni.com is planning on adding functionality to the site to keep up with the needs and requests of its users. Noted Mr. Skytland, “This project started as a hobby. We’re always happy to hear new feature requests. Being open to user suggestions gives us another way to engage our volunteers and expand our skill sets-and hopefully makes the space community a little better for all of us!”
About SpaceAlumni.com
SpaceAlumni.com is a free online community for space enthusiasts and professionals, enabling dynamic member-driven content creation and social networking through a variety of open-source tools. The site was founded in 2005 by International Space University alums William Pomerantz and Nicholas Skytland, and is managed as a project of the Space Generation.
For more information about SpaceAlumni, please visit www.spacealumni.com.
