NASA astronaut to speak at 2011 Astronomy Day in Bozeman, April 2

NASA astronaut Richard Arnold will be visiting Bozeman on April 1 for school visits and April 2 for a public presentation at 2011 Astronomy Day.

NASA astronaut Richard Arnold will give a free public lecture for Astronomy Day at 1 p.m. Saturday, April 2, at the Museum of the Rockies on the campus of Montana State University.

Arnold, a science teacher in Maryland, was part of NASA’s “Teacher in Space” program. He will talk about his mission aboard the space shuttle Discovery as it traveled to the International Space Station in March 2009. His presentation will be in the museum’s Hager Auditorium, which has approximately 220 seats. It will be followed by an autograph session with Arnold.

Arnold’s visit is part of a day of events that include a lecture on NASA’s mission to Pluto and its “Living with a Star” program.There will also be solar observing – weather permitting – planetarium shows, kids activities, space and science-related exhibits as well as an evening star party.

Arnold’s visit is sponsored by the Montana Space Grant Consortium and the Project WET Foundation. For more information about Astronomy Day, visit http://eu.montana.edu/AstronomyDay/

Contact: Joey Key, Montana Space Grant Consortium, (406) 994-1753, jkey@physics.montana.edu