Meetings and Events

Red Star Over the Moon:

Apollo’s Soviet Competition

Michal Warzecha

January 7, 2026

During the Cold War, there was a Space Race between the USA and USSR to land the first man on the Moon. We are familiar with the American Apollo Program, but what did the Soviets do and achieve, and how close did they come to winning the race?  Aerospace Engineer and NASA Solar System Ambassador Michal Warzecha will give a presentation about the once Secret Soviet Lunar Program.  Engineering Information and photographs revealed since the collapse of the Soviet Union will be discussed.
 

Michal was born in Poland and immigrated as a child with his family to Southeastern Michigan. At age six, he became forever fascinated with space travel by watching the Apollo Soyuz Test Project. At age nine, he was given a refractor telescope and started learning astronomy. As a child and teenager, Science Fiction was his favorite reading, television, and movie subject. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering at the University of Michigan, a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Washington and holds a Professional Mechanical Engineering License with the State of California. Michal lives in Northern California with his wife and children. He enjoys mountaineering, amateur radio, long distance road biking, reading, and amateur astronomy. He has over thirty years of experience working in Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering.

Our January 2026 meeting WILL be held in the library as usual.  

** Note **

For the “Summer Season” (July and August) the NC Astronomers will sometimes meet on-line via Zoom for special programs. Club members will receive the keys to the Zoom conference in their email via Groups.io.

NC Astronomers Meets on the 1st Wednesday each month at 7pm in the
Madelyn Helling Library Community Room
980 Helling Way
Nevada City, CA 95959
(September – May)

** NC Astronomers “YouTube” channel **

Many of the presentations are recorded and posted to the club’s YouTube channel.

Please see https://www.youtube.com/@ncastronomers9981/videos