(This is for the non-backers visiting Kickstarter. I discovered that I can't update the project itself with this information, so it goes in the updates.)

The date is set! SpaceUp San Diego will be held at the San Diego Air & Space Museum on February 27th and 28th, 2010. The Museum is a great venue; imagine having a discussion under the wing of a Ford Tri-Motor, with a Mercury capsule hanging nearby, or sipping a drink next to Amelia Earhart's plane. Exciting!

Registration is open now: http://guestlistapp.com/events/4224

The registration fee includes both days of SpaceUp sessions, food and drink, parking, the SpaceUp t-shirt and patch, and admission to the museum both days, including special admission to the Science of Aliens exhibit. Not bad for $75, right?

Attendance is limited to 200 people in order to keep things cozy, so be sure to register soon. More information on what we'll do during SpaceUp is available at the website: http://spaceup.org/agenda/

Cheers,
~chris

Freeow! That was quite a kick in the pants. Just as I was getting ready for a final push, Ravi Komatireddy came along and pledged enough to rocket us past our Kickstarter goal.

That means that in just four days, this first stage will be done and we'll start that final push into orbit. Over the next few weeks all the maybes will drop away, leaving our definite venue, a specific date, and a whole lot of specific plans to get on with.

Thanks to all of you who pledged; this quite literally couldn't have happened without you. Thanks also for spreading the word about SpaceUp. We still need you to get this idea in front of as much of the space community as possible.

If you haven't pledged yet, you only have until Friday to get patches and t-shirts as rewards. After that they're just for attendees, and those sweet Launch Crew shirts won't be available at any price.

(Can you tell that I've been reading Moonshot and building a Saturn V model with my son? Hello, rocket metaphors!)

~chris

The optimist in me says, "As of this morning we're halfway there!"
The pessimist in me says, "Only 13 days left and halfway to go!"

Yesterday was a very good day for SpaceUp. We doubled our pledge amount in a single day. That was pretty cool, and I hope to see more of it.

Even better, some amazing people talked about SpaceUp: Ariel Waldman from Spacehack, Jimmy Wales from Wikipedia, lots of Space Tweeps on Twitter; we were even mentioned on Spacevidcast!

Best of all, have you seen the awesome people who are backing this project now? They're space advocates, rocket scientists, BarCampers, everyone we hoped would come to SpaceUp. Every new person who signs up gets me more excited about going.

It all happened because we rolled up our sleeves and contacted all the awesome space people we know. Individually. Personally. Twitter's great, Facebook has its charms, but nothing beats an old-fashioned conversation.

Do you know awesome space people? Please tell them about SpaceUp. I can almost guarantee they haven't heard of anything like it yet, and I can almost guarantee they'll like what they hear.

(And yes, that was in my best Bilbo Baggins voice. Carry on.)

~chris

One tenth. It's still just a fraction, but it's a pretty amazing number for our first official day of promoting the SpaceUp project.

Better yet, we've gotten that far due to the support of just 5 awesome people. All math aside, that should show you what we already know: every single one of you will be crucial to making SpaceUp as awesome as it can be.

Thank you for your support so far!

Color me seriously impressed by Kickstarter. They've made exactly what we need to get SpaceUp past the chicken-and-egg problem, all wrapped up in a site so pretty it would make Taylor McKnight envious.

With the launch of our Kickstarter project, pre-registration for SpaceUp San Diego is officially open. Pledge $50 or more through Kickstarter and you'll get priority registration to SpaceUp and my undying gratitude.

Mad props go out to SpaceUp organizer Patrick Crowley, who first suggested we look at Kickstarter. Once again, his insight has made this little shindig possible. Thanks, Patrick!

Further updates to follow, both here and over at the SpaceUp blog.