Houston (October 17, 2019) – Robert A. Heinlein’s continuing influence on space activities and education will be celebrated at the 70th annual International Astronautical Congress (IAC) next week in Washington, D.C. Throughout the week, the HPT will host special guests including NASA astronauts, authors, subject matter experts, representatives from HPT partner programs and international officials.

The Heinlein Prize Trust (HPT), a non-profit organization that honors the memory of Heinlein and reflects his vision and spirit for expanding human space exploration, is a silver sponsor of the IAC.  HPT’s participation includes an exhibit showcasing Heinlein’s works, memorabilia, education programs, and partner projects from around the globe. Four-time shuttle astronaut Dr. Don Thomas will be in HPT’s booth #295 during the IAC demonstrating flown space suits and explaining the trust’s educational programs.  

One of the most prolific, award-winning American writers, Heinlein’s works are available in 128 countries in more than 30 languages. The Virginia Edition, a 2,000-set limited edition of all of Heinlein’s works in a 46-volume leather-bound set, is one of the most important publishing events in modern U.S. history. The books will be on display at IAC and are available for a limited time only; click here for additional information. 

IAC participants will be able to see, first-hand, Heinlein’s impact on space and the variety of programs and partnerships that encourage and reward progress in commercial space activities that advance Robert and his wife Virginia’s dream of humanity’s future in space. 

These include: 

• Heinlein Prize: the $250,000 award designed to recognize, encourage and reward accomplishments of individuals in commercial space activities that advance Heinlein and his wife Virginia’s dream of humanity's future in space. Recipients to date are Peter Diamandis, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos.partnership with the Heinlein Society to provide science fiction books, including Heinlein novels, to active military personnel, their families and veterans. To date, more than 23,000 books have been donated. 
• Heinlein for Heroes: a partnership with the Heinlein Society to provide science fiction books, including Heinlein novels, to active military personnel, their families and veterans. To date, more than 23,000 books have been donated. 
  
  
  
  
  
• Heinlein Professorship at Naval Academy: the endowment of the Heinlein professorship in aerospace engineering at the U.S. Naval Academy. Heinlein was a Navy Academy graduate and retired from the Navy as an officer in 1934. 
• Partnership with the International Space University for the Heinlein Pay It Forward scholarship fund: To date, 223 students from all over the world have received funds and have voluntarily reimbursed the fund to provide grants for future students. HPT is conducting a campaign to endow and expand this fund.
  
  
  
  
  
• Have Space Suit-Will Travel: The program brings show real space suits to students that have reached more than 100,00 students in 15 countries. The program includes a space curriculum, visits from astronauts, hands-on experiences with flown space suits, posters and more. Heinlein’s book Have Space Suit-Will Travel is now a graphic novel available in print and digital formats.
• As part of Have Space Suit-Will Travel, HPT works with the Mexican Space Agency to show space suits to Mexican students in Mexico. The campaign includes educational programs for students including a variety of materials available in Spanish and a free science curriculum. The program serves as a major educational opportunity for students in Mexico to learn about science and space. An official of the Mexican Space Agency, Mario M. Arreola Santander, will work with the trust at the IAC to explain the program.
• New writing contest: HPT and the Commercial Spaceflight Federation are sponsoring a contest for 6th to 8thgrade students to write an essay, poem or create a piece of artwork inspired by Heinlein’s works and illustrating his relevance today. Submissions are due January 31, 2020. Winners will be recognized in conjunction with HPT’s first “Heinlein on the Hill” event in Spring 2020 that will bring together students, educators, policymakers, space industry leaders, contest winners, and others for an event on Capitol Hill. 
• International Institute of Space Law (IISL): HPT is a sponsor of the IISL Awards dinner at the Library of Congress as part of a student legal competition next week where NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine will be the keynote speaker. 
  
  
  
  
  

On Sunday evening, one of HPT’s trustees, Art Dula, will be awarded the Social Sciences Award by the International Academy of Astronautics. 

HPT and Phoenix Pick, an imprint of the Arc Manor publishing company, also announced a soon-to-be-published new novel by Heinlein, The new novel, The Pursuit of the Pantera, is based on a recently found Heinlein’s manuscript.  

ABOUT HPT

The Heinlein Prize® honors the memory of Robert A. Heinlein™, a renowned American author. The purpose of the Heinlein Prize® is to encourage and reward progress in commercial space activities that advances Robert and his wife Virginia’s dream of humanity’s future in space. More information is available on HPT’s website. Follow HPT on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Jeff Bezos Named Heinlein Prize Recipient

Seattle - The Heinlein Prize Trust announced today that it is awarding its prestigious Heinlein Prize to Jeff Bezos, founder of Blue Origin, for his vision and leadership in commercial space activities that have led to historic firsts and reusability in the commercial spaceflight industry.

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The Heinlein Prize honors the memory of Robert A. Heinlein®, a renowned American author. The purpose of the Heinlein Prize is to encourage and reward progress in commercial space activities that advances Robert and his wife Virginia’s dream of humanity’s future in space. In addition to the award, recipients receive a Lady Vivamus sword from Robert Heinlein’s novel, Glory Road.

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Under Bezos’ leadership, Blue Origin developed a number of technology firsts that are driving U.S. space competitiveness. The reusable BE-3, a liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen engine, is now being used in Blue Origin’s New Shepard spacecraft. New Shepard is the first rocket ever to fly above the Karman line into space and then land vertically upon the Earth. Furthermore, it has done so multiple times with the same rocket hardware – not even removing the engine between flights. In late 2014, Blue Origin reached a commercial agreement with a private launch company to develop the BE-4 engine which could be used to power the next generation of U.S. launch vehicles.

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“Under Jeff’s visionary leadership, Blue Origin has developed launch vehicles and a commercially-financed line of engines that pave the way to reusability in space transportation,” said Art Dula, Trustee of the Heinlein Prize Trust. “As a recipient of the Heinlein Prize, we recognize Jeff and the efforts of the Blue Origin team in its development of technologies that could revolutionize the industry and provide commercially-available launch capabilities to a variety of customers.”

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“Robert Heinlein inspired millions with his visionary—and incredibly entertaining—stories, and it’s an honor for all of us at Blue Origin to receive this award,” said Jeff Bezos, founder of Blue Origin. “Heinlein foresaw a thriving future with humans throughout the solar system. We won’t stop working to make that vision come true.”

Bezos is the third recipient of the Heinlein Prize. The first award was to Dr. Peter Diamandis in 2006 for the Ansari XPRIZE and SpaceShipOne, the first manned commercial vehicle to fly to space. The second prize was awarded to SpaceX CEO Elon Musk in 2011 for the Falcon 1, the first privately-developed launch vehicle to orbit the Earth.

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Announcement of the award was made today at the NewSpace conference in Seattle. This event attracts space industry leaders, startups, policymakers, the investment community and technology innovators. The Heinlein Prize is a sponsor of NewSpace, where it is exhibiting the Have Space Suit – Will Travel educational program that includes the spacesuit worn by former astronaut and current NASA Administrator, Charles Bolden.

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The Heinlein Prize will be awarded to Bezos in a ceremony in Washington, DC on September 14, 2016. For more information, visit the Heinlein Prize website.

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Read more articles on this topic at HPT News

CONTACT:
Diane Smiroldo, 703.819.1963
diane@smiroldocommunications.com

Have Space Suit will Travel at AIC 2015 Conference in Israel

Jerusalem’s International Convention Center was filled with thousands of people from the international space community last week, as astronauts, engineers, researchers, industry experts, and scientists converged together for the 66th International Astronautical Congress (IAC).

Among the attractions was the "Have Spacesuit Will Travel" program sponsored by the Heinlein Prize Trust who put on an incredible display of authentic space flown hardware and space suits. Amid the fantastic displays were space suits from former NASA director/astronaut Charlie Bolden, astronaut Michael Foale, and astronaut Ed Lu. Children of all ages and from all walks of life and beliefs came together for the mutual love of space flight. The Heinlein Space Suite were even featured on local and national news programs.

The Heinlein Prize Trust also featured Apollo astronaut 'Buzz' Aldrin who answered questions about walking on the moon and about his latest children's book; "Welcome to Mars: Making a Home on the Red Planet".

The IAC is the platform by which over 40 administrative and technical committees support the Federation in its mission to advance knowledge about space and to foster the development of space assets by facilitating global cooperation. At its annual International Astronautical Congress (IAC) and other thematic conferences, the IAF brings its multidisciplinary and international network to life. For more information in IAC 2015 please click Here.

Heinlein Resonates with Younger Audience

In an article out this week at Fanboy Comics, Citizen of the Galaxy has been categorized as Young Adult Science Fiction. Fanboy Comics contributor/critic writes:

Robert Heinlein is one of my all-time favorite sci-fi authors. I used to devour his works voraciously, from the undisputed classics to his more questionable later works. Somehow, though, I’ve never read Citizen of the Galaxy. I have no idea how faithful this comic adaptation is to the original, or whether or not it does justice to the novel. What I do know is that it’s a very entertaining read.

This was originally a Young Adult novel—or a “Juvenile” as they called it back then. It follows Thorby, a young slave boy, sold at auction on a distant planet to an old beggar named Baslim. Baslim has a very strict moral code, which includes the wholehearted belief that people should not be sold as slaves. So, instead, he raises Thorby as a son, educates him, and gives him a life that’s meager, even squalid, but also free, loving, and ultimately happy.

Over time, it becomes apparent that Baslim is more than just an old, crippled beggar. He knows things and does things that aren’t befitting of his status, and he keeps all sorts of secrets. One thing is certain, though: he’s a good man in a world that’s sorely lacking in good men.
This first issue covers a whole lot of ground, seeing Thorby grow from boyhood to young adulthood and setting up quite a bit of plot in the process. Heinlein’s stories always have a rather sweeping scope, though. They take us through quite a bit, but it’s always a fun ride.
Heinlein fans will recognize several other familiar themes, as well, such as the use of hypnosis and eidetic memory. The way they’re used can be a little silly at times, and they definitely strain credulity, but they make for convenient plot devices to advance the rest of the story, which is the important thing.
The artwork here is great, as well, vivid and colorful, bringing the world of the distant planet on which the story takes place to life and adding depth to the story. Between the two, I was hooked right from the beginning and was held in rapt attention all the way through. I can’t wait till the next issue. If you’re a fan of Heinlein, YA sci-fi, space travel, or just really cool and compelling stories, you’ll want to take a look at Citizen of the Galaxy.

New Heinlein Story?

Robert A. Heinlein wrote a humorous cyborg story in response to a cyborg anthology that was dedicated to him and now this rare find is finally appearing in a magazine, the May issue of Galaxy's Edge. The Heinlein story is titled; “Field Defects: Memo From a Cyborg”.

What makes this story so rare? 

In 1975, Random House/Vintage published an anthology of stories about cyborgs called Human-Machines, edited by Thomas N. Scortia and George Zebrowski. The editors dedicated the book to Robert A. Heinlein, “who taught us both.” When Heinlein received a copy of the book, he wrote them both a letter, thanking them. However, that personal message to them was in a postscript. The actual text of the letter was a short fiction piece showing a truly whimsical and entertaining side of the Heinlein where he pretended to be a Cyborg – in keeping with the theme of the anthology – complaining about certain defects.

The story has only been published once before: in the Virginia Edition, a set of volumes (limited to 2,000 sets and selling for $1,500 each) containing Heinlein’s complete fiction and non-fiction. For the vast majority of readers, this will be a “new” Heinlein story.

“Field Defects: Memo From a Cyborg” will appear in the May issue of Galaxy’s Edge Magazine.

Bringing Heinlein's Lunar Revolution Home

Producer Thor Halvorssen talks about the forthcoming Fox movie based on Heinlein's Moon is a Harsh Mistress.

by Brian Doherty at Reason.com

"Message movies," film producer Thor Halvorssen says, "are didactic, trying to educate about an ideology, a philosophy, instead of telling a story about characters and their struggles."

Halvorssen is talking to me about a film he’s producing based on Robert Heinlein’s classic 1966 novel of a libertarian revolt on the moon, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. (It's the book that popularized the libertarian catch phrase "There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch," or TANSTAAFL, as a slogan for its revolutionaries.) "If what you are looking for is a message movie, you will be disappointed. This is an amazing story of struggle against government tyranny by a group of people who want freedom and the right to determine their own futures. You can call that ideological if you want, but I just call it a great, great movie."

Fans of science fiction writer Heinlein and libertarians—two circles with a large overlap—were simultaneously excited and unsettled at the announcement two weeks ago that 20th Century Fox intends to make, with Bryan Singer (most famous for his work on various X-Men movies) attached to direct, a movie version of Heinlein’s The Moon is Harsh Mistress. (In 2007, I wrote a Reason feature about Heinlein’s complicated, multi-level appeal to libertarians.)

Devoted book fans often rightfully fear Hollywood’s rough, leveling hands wrecking what’s unique and delightful about their literary loves. Heinlein heads tend to react with a shudder to Paul Verhoeven’s 1997 Starship Troopers, widely seen as more a burlesque of Heinleinian ideas than a skilled instantiation of them. Fans of the pure Heinlein jolt sniff the leeching of its unique qualities already in the film’s bland announced working title of Uprising.

Last week I met with Halvorssen, one of the film’s producers, who got the option from the Heinlein estate in 2009 and found a home for the project at major studio Fox. We talked by the pool at the Hollywood Standard Hotel about the film, the fans, and the philosophy.

Halvorssen wants to get some things on the record "before things get out of hand with fanboys or anyone else who has already decided their own view on a project they know nothing about." (He seems well aware of the two-edged sword of a built-in enthusiastic audience for a property, particularly one whose enthusiasm is at least in part based on ideology.) "It's important to be open and not allow for doubts to cloud people’s perceptions. We do want all the goodwill we can get [from the book’s existing fan base] and don’t want people doubting our commitment to make a big, fun, entertaining movie that captures the essence of Heinlein."

He considers cavils about the prospective title Uprising silly, noting it exactly describes what the plot concerns—an uprising against tyranny, that happens to be on the moon. Heinlein’s title, he says, might be a bit too "odd and bizarre" for the mass audience a big budget studio feature needs to capture beyond the book’s fans. He believes those fans will find the movie under whatever title.

Halvorssen is experienced with bringing libertarian-beloved science fiction classics to screen; he produced in 2009 a short film based on Kurt Vonnegut’s anti-egalitarian fable "Harrison Bergeron," under the title 2081. He founded the Moving Picture Institute (MPI) in 2005, an organization dedicated to helping build and support movies that, in the words of their slogan, "promote freedom through film."

Halvorssen has no official link with MPI anymore, but he honors its role in giving him experience in making various previous documentaries, all essentially "about revolution against tyranny, against totalitarian systems" set in worlds from Estonia to Russia to American universities. "MPI was my film school as a producer, and while MPI is not involved in this production in any way, they were so central to my development as a producer that I can say this is not just my credit, it’s their credit."

Halvorssen knows that in film industry terms, he’s on a different level than his production partners. He’s amused how the announcement in the movie trades listed the three producers as Bryan Singer, one of the biggest adventure/thriller directors of our time; Lloyd Braun, former chairman of ABC; and Thor Halvorssen. “Who?” he imagined many thinking.

Halvorssen’s avocation is unusual among Hollywood players: full-time human rights activism, via the Human Rights Foundation and the annual Oslo Freedom Forum. The latter is a yearly confab known to some as the "Davos" (or "Woodstock") for human rights activism, a place for people to tell direct stories of their oppression under some of what Halvorssen considers the world’s worst tyrannies, from Angola to Pakistan to Saudi Arabia to Venezuela (his family’s native land, whose government illegitimately imprisoned his father and shot and wounded his mother) to Iran to Bahrain to North Korea to Equatorial Guinea ("one of the worst tyrannies on the planet, and no one hears about it"). The event provides a place to hear from and celebrate "real live heroes, not just symbols of survival and the nobility of the human spirit but actual active Mandelas in the making, Solzhenitsyns in the making."  

Halvorssen realizes his filmmaking team has to walk a fine line adopting this most libertarian of Heinlein works; libertarianism so-called (he stresses "libertarian" is not how he self-identifies, preferring "classical liberal" or "anti-fascist") is not Hollywood’s favorite ideology. Still, he is sure that his Fox/Singer team is on board with what’s really key to the Moon story.

Still, "anyone expecting quotations from political tracts in this movie will be sorely disappointed," he says. Even though one of the book’s central characters, Bernardo de la Paz, does have a tendency toward political lectures in defense of "rational anarchy," I ask?

Halvorssen detects I’m trying to get him to get specific about what elements of the novel will or won’t be in the finished product. But its screenplay, being written by Marc Guggenheim (currently an executive producer on the CW show Arrow, the writer of the Green Lantern movie, and someone who, Halvorssen says, "has a perfect understanding of what the book is and he is a brilliant writer") is still being perfected, Halvorssen says.

Such questions, he warns me, are a "non-starter" at this stage. (The film does not yet have a set date to start shooting.) "What will, what won’t happen, what’s in, who's out, what we are redacting" are things he’s not going to discuss now. He doesn’t want to worry about fans out there starting to take notes on, "Oh my, they eliminated the plot element of sexual liberation which in the 1950s might have been an amazing plot point but nowadays would be, yawn….that sort of thing is not the issue, the issue is capturing the essence of the story."

Halvorssen is thrilled to have Bryan Singer on board. "He could have just been a producer, so that he chose to direct too is huge. This is his next movie after the next X-Men movie." (His 2014 X-Men film was number 6 for the year in worldwide gross.) "Getting him was like throwing a dart and hitting bull’s-eye the first time. His [production company’s] guys are like warriors of story, obsessively focused on story, story, character development, character development. I don’t think there has been a single discussion on politics in the entire time I have been on calls with them, which has been dozens of hours."

While Halvorssen grants that open classical liberalism isn’t something you find in a lot of Hollywood power players, he says he’s gotten no bad reactions or pushback based on his Human Rights Foundation or Oslo Freedom Forum work. "If people want to I.D. us as anti-dictatorship, looking to overthrow, using peaceful resistance and education, overthrow foreign powers that oppress their people, they are at liberty to take that interpretation because it happens to be true," he says, though he stresses amid this revolutionary talk that "I’m a non-violence fanatic."

Whether or not his colleagues on this film project agree with all his political goals is irrelevant, he says. Though he’s never had occasion to talk politics specifically with Guggenheim or top Fox execs, he says the "words 'libertarian ideas' have been used by the writer several times. We are not unaware of what the book is and certainly not unaware of the reason why we are doing this." Love for Heinlein runs deep among Hollywood storytellers; "the number of studio executives who have called Lloyd [Braun] and said, 'Oh man, that’s what I wanted to do,' have been several."

Halvorssen is proud one of his recent human rights endeavors, in alliance with one of his earliest financiers and a co-producer on the Moon movie project, venture capitalist Alex Lloyd, is featured this month in Wired magazine: sending balloons over North Korea with anti-regime propaganda, U.S. dollars, and copies of the regime-mocking controversial film The Interview.

"The guys taking on the North Korean government also happen to be making a Heinlein picture," Halvorssen says, proudly.

"Is a movie about fighting tyranny conservative or liberal or libertarian?" Halvorssen asks. "It’s quintessentially American, that’s what it is. This is not going to be a film about politics. This is going to be a great big entertaining movie about the struggle for freedom on the moon by a group of devoted idealists who have an amazing story fighting against tyranny.”

Bryan Singer to direct The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

Bry me to the moon. Photograph: Alberto E. Rodriguez/WireImage

Bryan Singer is to adapt Robert Heinlein’s classic right-wing libertarian science-fiction novel The Moon is a Harsh Mistress for the big screen, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The X-Men director will work with 20th Century Fox, which produces the long-running mutant superhero saga, on the project.

Heinlein’s 1966 Nebula award-winning book has been called one of the three or four most influential libertarian novels of the last century. It centres on a lunar colony with old west overtones which decides to fight for independence from Earth with the help of its protector, a newly-sentient supercomputer named Mike.

Hollywood has attempted to bring the story to the big screen twice before, most recently via Steven Spielberg’s DreamWorks, but to no avail. Singer will reportedly work from a screenplay by Green Lantern’s Marc Guggenheim on the new version.

Heinlein is known as one of the “big three” science-fiction writers of the 20th century, along with Arthur C Clarke and Isaac Asimov, but has suffered a chequered history on the big screen. The most notable adaptation was the 1997 space romp Starship Troopers, but director Paul Verhoeven chose to subvert the original novel’s patriotic-militaristic leanings by painting a future controlled by bug-hunting fascists. Heinlein, who died in 1988 at the age of 80, would not have been amused.

Singer is currently Hollywood hot property after his return to the X-Men franchise, last year’s Days of Future Past, scored an impressive $748m worldwide at the global box office and benefited from strong reviews.

He’s set to direct the follow-up, 2016’s X-Men: Apocalypse, which once again stars Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy as mutants Mystique, Magneto and Professor X.

Source: The Guardian