Outer Space Book
By Brian von Konsky
Third Grade, 1967

The Outer Space Book was written while a student in Mrs. Fujimoto's Third Grade class at Noddin Elementary School in San Jose, California. The year was 1967.

In the school report, the statement that "telescopes are very helpful" appears several times. My parents must have agreed, because later that year I received a small refractor for Christmas. It was a tremendous gift for a young boy. It allowed me to see the craters of the moon, the rings of Saturn, and my favorite, Jupiter and its four Galilean moons.

I'm still interested in astronomy, but my scope has improved a bit since then,.

In Semester 1, 2000, I'll be studying the History of Astronomy in the Swinburne Astronomy On-line program. As part of the unit, we'll be expected to write short essays and complete a project. While I don't think this web page containing my Third Grade report will be of any interest to anyone but me, nor of any significance in the course, it's part of my personal history of astronomy. So I ask for your indulgence as I walk down memory lane presenting my first, best effort at an essay on the subject to astronomy.

"The Outer Space Book" was lovingly preserved by my Grandmother, and later my Mother and Father, who have always supported me in my quest for knowledge. Thanks to them, I can now share it with you. I offer it in this format not as a statement about astronomy, but as a testament to the love and nurturing they provided a growing boy.

Just follow the Next link at the the bottom of the page to continue!

Brian
bvk@cs.curtin.edu.au

Click on the image to see a higher resolution version. In the interest of bandwidth, a scanned copy of the table of contents is not included. You may also visit Brian's astronomy page.