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potluck Well-Driven Cedar Rapids native Jim Kottmeier was only 19 when he worked with a team of Honeywell engineers to design the Stabilization and Control System for NASA’s Apollo command capsule. Their efforts resulted in many technological advances that took Americans to the moon and brought them home safely. One of those innovations was a guidance control stick that made it easy for astronauts wearing bulky space suits to steer the command module and lunar excursion module with precision. For that effort, The Iowa Transportation Museum recognizes Kottmeier as a Transportation Hero. (Gamers likely hail Kottmeier a hero, too, because that control stick is better known to them as the joystick.) — C.B. One giant leap: Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Buzz Aldrin in Apollo 11’s command module.
This year’s Transportation Hero inductees will be announced on May 17. Read the stories of more transportation heroes online at transportationheroes.org.
The 20th annual Solar Splash regatta is not your everyday boat race around the buoys. Over five days in June, a dozen or more solar-powered racing machines from around the world will compete on George Wyth Lake in Waterloo for trophies in seven different categories. Each boat has been designed and constructed by a team of engineering students during the course of one academic year. The competition exposes them to a variety of
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technical disciplines, teaches them the efficient use of energy and systems, and encourages teamwork. Most of the school teams come from the United States, but past races have included teams from Turkey (Istanbul Technical University was the 2012 champion team) and Mexico; India will be represented in this year’s race. — M.G.
The competition hits the water June 12–16. For information on the races and directions to the events, visit solarsplash.com.
Breakfast on the Runway Small airplane fans can check out one of the many fly-in breakfasts taking place at Iowa airports during the summer, often in support of local charitable organizations. Fly-in breakfasts are just what they sound like: Pilots from around the Midwest fly their planes to a scheduled Iowa airport, where they are served a free breakfast. “Pilots are gregarious by nature,” says Jeff Hutcheson, organizer of the 10th annual Great Plains Wing CAF (Commemorative Air Force) Pancake Breakfast in Council Bluffs. “We all love to look at, compare, talk about, and fly airplanes.” The pancakes aren’t just for pilots. Visitors are encouraged to chat with the pilots, talk to the airport manager, hang out with friends, and enjoy a hearty breakfast. Visitors to the Council Bluffs fly-in can also tour the CAF museum at the airport. — M.G.
For a schedule of fly-in breakfasts in Iowa during summer 2013, visit iowadot.gov > Search Aviation Calendar. COURTESy CAROLyN MASON
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