Proposed location
|
Spring or fall
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Upsides
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Downsides
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Denver, Colorado, USA
(or Boulder, Colorado, USA)
|
Spring
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- Great air connectivity, both domestic and international
- Near nature
- April is shoulder season when the skiers leave and the mountain bikers/hikers haven't arrived yet
- Direct train link from the airport to downtown (RTD Line A)
|
- Limited community familiarity
- Not many attractions
- Not great for people who are particularly sensitive to high altitude sickness
|
Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA
|
Spring
|
- It's where our colleagues who serve in the Space Force are based
- Community familiarity
- Pretty town
|
- Not many air connections
- If flying to Denver, still need 1 hour drive to get to Colo Springs
- Limited public transit
|
San Luis Obispo, California, USA
|
Spring
|
- Beautiful town
- Community familiarity
|
- Very few air connections
- Limited public transit
|
Atlanta, Georgia, USA
|
Spring
|
- Excellent air connectivity, Many direct flights to ATL, both domestic and international
- Low cost of attendance
|
- Not many attractions
- No community familiarity
|
Phoenix, Arizona, USA
|
Spring
|
- Nice weather before May
- Community familiarity
- Low cost of attendance
|
- Gets too hot after April
- Bad public transit
- Not many attractions
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Orlando, Florida, USA
|
Spring
|
- Very suitable for conferences
- Great for family fun—Walt Disney World, Universal Studios Orlando, and the Kennedy Space Center, among others
- Near to Kennedy Space Center, which facilitates NASA employees to attend more easily
- Good (but not great) domestic and international connections
- Great weather during this time of year
- Low cost of attendance
|
- Limited community familiarity
- Small nit: MCO Airport is overcrowded and is operating over its designed capacity
- Bad public transit
- Not well-known for fun social activities for adults
- In extreme southeast of the contiguous United States
|
Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
|
Spring
|
- Well-known tourist destination
- Well-known conference city
- Las Vegas Strip is walkable and transportation to/from LAS is streamlined
- Good (but not great) domestic and international connections
|
- Might not be family friendly
- Not a great location for people battling addiction or for those who are sensitive to tobacco/cannabis smoke
- Limited community familiarity
- Far away for East Coast folks
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Los Angeles, California, USA
|
Spring
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- Large city
- Great for family fun—Disneyland, Universal Studios Hollywood
- Near to Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which facilitates NASA employees to attend more easily
- Excellent air connectivity. No elaboration needed; it's LA
|
- No community familiarity
- Somewhat high cost of attendance
- Bad public transit
- Far away for East Coast folks
|
Dallas, Texas, USA
|
Spring
|
- Excellent air connectivity. Many direct flights to DFW, both domestic and international
- Relatively central location in the United States
- Low cost of attendance
- Community familiarity
|
- Not a very fun or interesting place
- Bad public transit
|
Seattle, Washington, USA
|
Spring
|
- Great air connectivity. Many direct flights to SEA, both domestic and international
- Excellent public transit system
- Community familiarity
- Decent amount of fun things to do, such as Pike Place Market and the Space Needle
|
- In extreme northwest of the contiguous United States
- High cost of attendance
- Rainy/cloudy in April
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Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
|
Spring
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- Good public transit system
- Great air connectivity. Delta Air Lines hub.
- Relatively central location in the United States
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- Might still be too cold in April
- No community familiarity
|
Chicago, Illinois, USA
|
Spring
|
- Good public transit system
- Great air connectivity. United and American hub.
- Relatively central location in the United States
- Many things to do
- Somewhat high cost of attendance
|
- Might still be too cold in April
- No community familiarity
|
Reykjavik, Iceland
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Fall
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- Centrally located for both North Americans and Europeans, with relatively great air connections
- In the Schengen Area
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- High cost of attendance
- No community familiarity
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