Quite a while back I wrote about Max Ary, co-founder and former president of the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center being indicted on 17 counts of fraud, theft, and money laundering.
I’d lost track of the case, but just this evening noticed a couple of hits coming from Kansas, searching the site for Max Ary (hello to whoever you are if you’re still here). I did a quick google search and learned the bad news. He’s been convicted on 12 of the 17 counts (found not guilty on 2 and 3 were ruled moot by the convictions).
While I never personally met him in all the years I went to the Cosmosphere (including a week of space camp back in 1991), I did, as I’ve mentioned, hear him give a tour and heard him speak about the space program and I can’t believe that the wrong doing in this case was intentional. He’s quoted in this Sci-Tech Today article as saying to the jury:
At no time while employed at the Cosmosphere did I ever intend to cheat or do anything improper for the Cosmosphere
and I trust him in that. That article also quotes one former astronaut, Eugene Cernan, who gave artifacts to the Cosmosphere because of his trust in Ary and who still trusts him enough to have testified for the defense. That plus this letter from the Hutchinson News written by a couple who’ve known Ary and his family for nearly 45 years leave me convinced that while, yes, he sold items that were not his to sell, it was an honest mistake.
I just hope that at the conviction hearing on January 19th, the judge accepts that view as well and is lenient with someone who I’ve long held in high esteem. Someone who I’d still wager has done more to positively impact this nation’s space program and people’s appreciation for it than just about anyone else out there.