Aero-Linx!

Scouring the information super airways can sometimes be a tough, if educational, task for the Aero-News staff... but it also allows us to check out some truly neat and exciting sites, so it's not that bad a gig. On any given day, we may check dozens (and often hundreds) of different sources for story ideas, and facts confirmation. And, as is the nature of our business, much of this is done on the Internet.

The ANN gang decided we probably shouldn't keep some of the neat sites, info resources, and organizations we've discovered to ourselves... so we decided to bring you Aero-Linx. These are the sites that WE check out -- when we need added perspective, a new spin on a day's topic... or just want to escape into cyber-aero-space for awhile.

Look for some of our favorite sites, coming each day to ANN via Aero-Linx. Suggestions for future Aero-Linx segments are always welcome, as well.

Aero-Linx: Astronaut Scholarship Foundation

The Astronaut Scholarship Foundation was established originally in 1984 as the Mercury Seven Foundation by the six surviving members of America's original Mercury Seven astronauts, Mrs. Betty Grissom, widow of the seventh, Virgil (Gus) Grissom, William Douglas, M.D., the Project Mercury flight surgeon, and Henri Landwirth, an Orlando businessman and friend of the astronauts. The founding astronauts were Malcolm Scott Carpenter, L. Gordon Cooper Jr., John H. Glenn Jr., Walter M. Schirra, Alan B. Shepard Jr., and Donald K. (Deke) Slayton. Currently, Apollo astronaut Al Worden is Chairman of the foundation's Board of Directors. The original Mercury Seven Foundation began on a shoestring, and the first seven scholarships, at $1,000 each, were awarded in 1986. As more money was raised the amount and number of scholarships increased gradually. The foundation now awards annually 19 scholarships each worth $10,000, for a total of $190,000. To date, the foundation has awarded nearly $2.5 million in scholarships to 226 deserving students. The foundation is building a scholarship fund for perpetuity.

FMI: www.astronautscholarship.org/index.html