To confine our attention to terrestrial matters would be to limit the human spirit.
-Stephen Hawking

SpaceTalk Activities

If you are interested in getting involved with any of these activities, please contact Kate Harris.

SpaceTalk Seminar Series

The SpaceTalk Seminar Series is a novel student initiative to promote the exploration of space at the University of North Carolina. In collaboration with the Morehead Planetarium and Science Center, SpaceTalk brings distinguished speakers, scientists, and other prominent figures in space-related fields to the UNC campus.

Rather than being pedantic lectures on a variety of obtuse subjects of interest only to rocket scientists, the seminars will appeal to a much broader audience of a variety of ages and education levels. Above all, the seminar series are designed to inspire, englighten, and kindle interest in subjects related to space exploration.

Past speakers have included:

  • Robert Zubrin, astronautical engineer, bestselling author, and president of the International Mars Society
  • Astronaut Nancy Currie, four-time shuttle mission veteran
  • Nobel laureate and astrobiologist Christian de Duve
  • Astrophotographer Johnny Horne
  • NASA critic and historian Alex Roland
  • Six-time Space Shuttle crew member Story Musgrave
  • Astrobiologist and NASA scientist Chris McKay

Educational Outreach


SpaceTalk gives presentations at local secondary and high schools to educate students about both the seminar series and space exploration in general.

Night Sky Observing Sessions


These are held at the Morehead Planetarium telescope observatory on a regular basis. Subscribe to the SpaceTalk listserv to be notified of upcoming sessions.


Movies and Discussions


Every month or so, SpaceTalk members hang out, eat junk food, watch a space-related movie, and discuss the movie afterwards. Past movies have included Carl Sagan's Contact and Star Trek: First Contact. Subscribe to the SpaceTalk listserv to be notified of upcoming showings.



Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise.

Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life
and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before.
- Captain James T. Kirk, 'Star Trek'