David Leaphart entered the space age at the time of the Mercury astronauts by founding and leading the Lockheed Model Rocket Society. He arranged group viewings of the first Saturn V launch (Apollo 4) as well as Apollo 11 and 14 for club members. He obtained two degrees in physics and did research in planetary orbits around binary stars. He taught astronomy in graduate school and was student director of the Melton Observatory in Columbia, South Carolina. His professional career was mostly computer networking, but he did work at one point with MIT and NASA to use his physics training on aviation safety and early GPS for small airplanes. He is partnering with the Spartanburg SC Public Library system, in particular the new Planetarium Learning Center at the library's downtown location. He works to engage many in discussions on astronomy, space exploration, astronautics, and NASA activities, as well as supplementing the planetarium shows.