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Commissioner Macht noted that he and Commissioner Tippin had been invited to <br />participate in a program 6 or 8 weeks ago which included a tour of the facility and a <br />presentation of the SERPL program. The Space Center is setting aside 400 acres as a park <br />and inviting people from all over the world to put in their own facilities for experimentation. <br />He believed the benefits will be incalculable as to more research dollars, the educational <br />facilities and industrial spinoffs. <br />Jan Heuser, Program Manager for the Kennedy Space Center Space Experiment <br />Research and Processing Laboratory (SERPL) gave a brief presentation and referenced the <br />partnership between the university systems and Space Center. The International Space <br />Station (ISS) currently under construction, should be assembled by 2004 and will be the <br />brightest star in the sky. It will represent a new era with laboratories in space for the first <br />time. ISS will be considerably larger and more sophisticated than MIR with 16 nations <br />involved in providing various modules. SERPL will process experiments before and after <br />sending to ISS with timesharing of laboratories and facilities. There will be magnet facilities <br />to draw top scientific and industrial figures as international partners. $4,000,000 has been <br />approved to fast track the project and the Senate and the House are both providing good <br />support. <br />Commissioner Macht asked that the Board, as a body, ask the Legislature to support <br />the project as he has done, as an individual. <br />Commissioner Stanbridge commented how exciting it is that the County is celebrating <br />its 75'h birthday as we go forward into the space age. <br />March 14, 2000 <br />-42- <br />I <br />