Montgomery Star-gazers to travel among the stars with NASA’s interactive space exploration exhibit
Residents of Montgomery, Ala., will get a chance to walk on the surface of the moon next weekend.
NASA is bringing the Vision for Space Exploration Experience – an interactive traveling exhibit allowing visitors to slip the confines of Earth — to the W.A. Gayle Planetarium in Montgomery at 1010 Forrest Ave.
The Experience uses holographic and 3D imagery to show “explorers” what it might be like to visit the surfaces of the moon, Mars and destinations beyond. Visitors can manipulate their environment and explore simulated lunar and Martian landscapes as well as travel to one of Saturn’s moons, free of charge.
The exhibit will be open for tours from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. CDT, Friday, April 14, and Monday, April 17. On Saturday, April 15, visitors can tour the Experience from 3-8 p.m., and on Tuesday, April 18, from noon-7 p.m. The exhibit is closed Easter Sunday. The exhibit will be located outside the planetarium.
A special guest from NASA will accompany the exhibit for one day during the visit to the planetarium. Mitzi Adams, a NASA engineer and solar scientist at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, will speak to several groups April 15 — Astronomy Day. Events on Astronomy Day include a telescope clinic and a tour of the night sky, in which visitors can learn about constellations and planets. On that day only, the planetarium will waive its admission charge.
The exhibit’s visit to Montgomery is part of a month-long, multi-city state tour, which began in Mobile April 6. The exhibit also visited Tuskegee April 10-12, and will visit Birmingham April 20-23.
NASA experts will be on hand at each of the tour’s stops to answer questions and discuss some of the 30,000 technologies used on Earth as a result of NASA’s years of space-based research and development. Visitors can learn how tomorrow’s lifestyles will change as NASA develops advancements in power, computer technologies, communications, networking and robotics. Visitors also will see how other advanced technologies will increase safety and reliability of space transportation systems, while also reducing costs.
Touring the exhibit, which is wheelchair accessible, takes approximately 15 minutes and can accommodate up to 128 visitors each hour. It enables NASA to spread knowledge of the Vision for Space Exploration at up to 50 events annually, reaching millions of Americans nationwide.
For more information on NASA’s Vision for Space Exploration, visit: http://www.nasa.gov
