1. Featured Presentation Descriptions
July 2, 2015 (Thursday)
Welcome Keynote
9:00-9:30, IMAX Theater
Title: Celebrating the Past, Embracing the Present, and Inspiring the Future:
Human Exploration, the Journey Continues
Dr. Jeff Goldstein, Center Director [Bio]
Program Director, SSEP National Program
National Center for Earth and Space Science Education (NCESSE)
Abstract: We live in a moment in time. It’s the place where the accomplishments of those that came before us meet up with what will be undertaken by future generations. It’s a great place to be, especially if you’re part of the future generation. By learning about the past both in terms of what we know and how we’ve come to know it, and talking to those that work on the frontiers right now, you can choose to shape the future. It’s pretty powerful stuff. Standing on the shoulders of past generations, YOU are now the link between the past and future of human exploration.
Featured Presentation 1
11:30-11:45, Moving Beyond Earth Gallery
Title: What a Difference Microgravity Makes!
Dr. Valerie Neal, Curator and Chair, Human Spaceflight Collection [Bio]
Space History Department
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum (NASM)
Abstract: Researchers in the life sciences, materials sciences, and physical sciences explore questions in space that cannot be answered on Earth. Dr. Valerie Neal, Space History Department Chair and veteran team member for Shuttle-Spacelab science missions, will accent reasons for doing research in space and the flown experiment equipment on display in the Moving Beyond Earth gallery.
Featured Presentation 2
12:25-12:40, Moving Beyond Earth Gallery
Title: MESSENGER’s Exploration of Mercury
Dr. Thomas Watters, Senior Scientist [Bio]
Center for Earth and Planetary Sciences (CEPS)
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum (NASM)
Abstract: The MESSENGER spacecraft completed a mission to Mercury on April 30th. After three flybys and over 4 years in orbit, MESSENGER revolutionized our understanding of the innermost planet. The instruments on the spacecraft imaged the surface, measured the topography, determined the chemistry of the crust, mapped the magnetic field, and revealed the structure of the interior. In the final orbital phase of the mission, the altitude of spacecraft was lowered allowing more detailed images and measurement to be obtained. Some of the many discoveries of the MESSENGER mission will be highlighted.
July 3, 2015 (Friday)
Featured Presentation 3
10:15-10:30, Moving Beyond Earth Gallery
Title: The New Horizons Mission to the Pluto System
Dr. Jim Green, Planetary Science Division Director [Bio] [Meet Dr. Green up close and personal]
NASA Headquarters
Abstract: New Horizons is speeding toward the Pluto system at an amazing 16.7 km/sec (10.4 miles/sec) and will flyby this dwarf planet and its moons on July 14th. What have we learned so far and why Pluto is so important to understand will be discussed.
Featured Presentation 4
11:25-11:40, Moving Beyond Earth Gallery
Title: ISS U.S. National Laboratory – Enabling a New Era In Space-Based Research
Patrick O’Neill, Marketing and Communications Manager [Bio]
Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), SSEP National Partner
Abstract: The Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) manages the U.S. National Laboratory on the ISS and is responsible for brokering research capable of benefitting life on Earth. This presentation will focus on how CASIS works with the research community on developing flight projects, what types of payloads are on station now, and why microgravity?
2. Family Night Program – Thursday Night, July 2, 2015
Title: A Voyage that will Forever Change Your Perspective of Home
Dr. Jeff Goldstein, Center Director [Bio]
Program Director, SSEP National Program
National Center for Earth and Space Science Education (NCESSE)
Abstract: When we venture beyond our home and explore a greater landscape—whether it’s the town beyond our house, or a planet beyond the Earth—we gain a deeper sense of our own existence. It’s a fundamental principle of exploration. To truly know and appreciate our home, we must leave it. So to truly know and appreciate a place called Earth, we must venture beyond it, and recognize the breadth and majesty of a greater universe.
From another vantage point—we are integrally connected to the universe, and it to us—so to know the universe is to know ourselves. And while we may seem small in its shadow, beauty has nothing to do with size—for the universe is revealed with something the size of the human mind.
You’re invited to the story of our existence—a race of explorers, 7 billion tiny souls strong. It is a story that ignites wonder about the universe, and a sense of pride in our ability to reveal its nature through both human imagination and ingenuity. It is a story that humbles us, and brings a sense of humility to our lives. It is a voyage that will forever change your perspective of home.
IMAX® Film: Journey to Space
Narrated by Patrick Stewart
In the past half century, humans have punched through the stratosphere, walked on the moon, and lived continuously in orbit. In the coming decades, our unquenchable curiosity will take our species beyond the cradle of Earth to touch the face of another world. Strap in for the next giant leap. Next stop … Mars!
The Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP) is a program of the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education (NCESSE) in the U.S., and the Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Space Education internationally. It is enabled through a strategic partnership with NanoRacks LLC, working with NASA under a Space Act Agreement as part of the utilization of the International Space Station as a National Laboratory. SSEP is the first pre-college STEM education program that is both a U.S. national initiative and implemented as an on-orbit commercial space venture.
The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), and Subaru of America, Inc., are U.S. National Partners on the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program. Magellan Aerospace is a Canadian National Partner on the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program.