BIS Belgium: First meeting on 3 May 2014in “De Ploter”, Ternat
Present:Arthur Schoeters, Martin Senechal, Bart Hendrickx, Kris Goedemont, Lieven Roesems, Danny Van Hoecke.
Apologies for absence: Philip Corneille, Philippe Cosyn.
Original agenda of the first meeting:
- Introduction of participants.

- Potential activities of BIS Belgium.

- Cooperation with other space societies in Belgium such as the spaceflight section of the Flemish Astronomical Association. Recruitment of new members.

- Content of the BIS Belgium website (and, possibly, digital newsletter)

- Distribution of tasks.

- Other topics.

Minutes of the meeting:

1)Introduction.

All members present introduce themselves. Several of them are well acquainted, others are newcomers to the group.

2)Existing space societies in Belgium
A list was made of existing space societies in Belgium:

  • Euro Space Society ( aims to introduce youngsters to spaceflight by means of space classes, presentations by Dirk Frimout (chairman of the Euro Space Society) and the Odissea award. Promotes the Euro Space Center ( in Redu in schools.
  • Spaceflight section of the Flemish Astronomical Society ( : organizes an annual “space day” with presentations on spaceflight (this year on 10 May), publishes spaceflight news ( of
  • COSMOS ( : the Belgian space philatelic society.
  • Mars Society Belgium ( the only known space-related society in Wallonia, not very active yet.
  • The Dutch Spaceflight Society in Holland (

(Thanks to Arthur for helping to compile this list. Anyone aware of the existence of other societies is kindly asked to contact us)

3)Activities and recruitment of members

Since events organized by other spaceflight societies in Belgium are usually not very well attended and because of the absence of financial means we have decided :

  • not to actively recruit BIS members
  • not to organize events on a regular basis (although we can use our website to announce events organized by other space societies)
  • to organize one event per year on a Saturday afternoon. All Belgian members of the BIS are invited to do a talk in Dutch or English. Members can alsoexchange or sell space-related books or artifacts. This year the event will take place on 24 October

4) The website (

  • Lieven will run the website, but any help will be appreciated. Currently the site is not yet active, but the minutes of this meeting, the group photo and a list of Belgian space societies will be published on it soon.
  • Danny proposes to publish a “space photo of the week” on the website. Lieven will contact Danny as soon as the website is active and pictures can be added on a weekly basis.
  • Bart proposes to make articles that he and others have published in BIS publications available on the website, but will first ask permission from the BIS.

5) Distribution of taks

  • Not much enthusiasm shown, but few tasks to be distributed if there are no regular events.
  • Most of the work will go into the website, including translations into English and French.Any help will be appreciated.

6) Other topics

  • Lieven will ask the BIS to provide a complete list of e-mail addresses of Belgian members, making it easier to contact Belgian members and not just those who responded to Lieven’s original e-mail.

7) Group photo

A photo was made of all members who attended the first meeting. You will find it on the next page.
From left to right : Martin Senechal, Lieven Roesems, Bart Hendrickx, Arthur Schoeters, Kris Goedemont and Danny Van Hoecke.