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A-OK For SpaceFest Launch At Museum This Week
Cernan, the last man to walk on the Moon during the 1972 Apollo 17 mission, will maneuver a lunar rover across the Rose Center to kick off the event. Museum President Ellen V. Futter and Hayden Planetarium Director Neil deGrasse Tyson, will be on hand, as well as more than 100 New York City second and third graders, who will add to the festivities as they wave their drawings of outer space created especially for this event. SpaceFest is a three-weekend-long series of public programs — May 8–9, 15–16, and 22–23 — offering exciting space activities and events for families in the Rose Center for Earth and Space. Visitors can hear lectures, see demonstrations of a NASA Mars Exploration Rover (MER) on display, and join in "egg drops" in the Cullman Hall of the Universe. SpaceFest is free with suggested museum admission. Families may also participate in model rover races on the Arthur Ross Terrace, weather permitting. In the pre- show area outside the Planetarium, visitors can see the latest Mars images sent from the rovers currently active on the surface of Mars, and then continue indoors to view the current Space Shows, The Search for Life: Are We Alone? and Passport to the Universe. SpaceFest features an array of programs and exhibits on NASA’s latest Mars missions: • The AstroBulletin in the Cullman Hall of the Universe will display new images from the two NASA rovers on Mars, Spirit and Opportunity and computer monitors in the Hall will allow visitors to view mission images in greater detail. • It offers visitors a number of exciting, hands-on educational activities including solar-powered model races and "egg-drops." The rover races, which will be held on the Arthur Ross Terrace, weather permitting, show children how the sun’s energy powers these models just as it does the real rovers currently on Mars. The "egg drop" challenges kids to drop an egg 21 feet from the Rose Center’s first floor down to the floor of the Hall of the Universe, without breaking it, displaying the same landing technique used in the NASA MER missions. To do this, children will have to devise protective "airbags" for their passengers, wrapping them with various materials such as bubble wrap, cardboard, packing materials, and balloons. • On May 22, at 1:30 p.m., the mu-seum will present the second episode of its new interactive theater-style series for the entire family, Dr. Nebu-la’s Laboratory: Wind and Water. Fea-turing Scooter, the enthusiastic young apprentice to Dr. Nebula, a mysterious scientist who is usually absent, the program introduces visitors to the often puzzling natural phenomena that surround us, from light and optics to ocean waves and tornadoes. This program, recommended for families with children ages 4 and up, will also explore whether there is water on Mars.
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