WHAT: Briefing about the arrival of two Hubble Space Telescope artifacts and press preview of the first stage of the new permanent gallery “Moving Beyond Earth”
WHEN: Wednesday, Nov. 18 (Breakfast: 8:30 a.m. Remarks: 9:15 a.m.)
WHERE: Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, Seventh Street and Independence Avenue S.W.
WHO: Gen. J.R. “Jack” Dailey, director, National Air and Space Museum
Valerie Neal, curator, Space History Division
David DeVorkin, senior curator, Space History Division
Edward Weiler, associate administrator for the Science Missions Directorate, NASA
John Grunsfeld, NASA astronaut who participated in three servicing missions to HST
The National Air and Space Museum will host a press event with a dual purpose: the arrival of new artifacts and the opening of the first stage of a major new gallery.
The museum welcomes the arrival of two instruments that were brought back from the Hubble Space Telescope on the latest servicing mission: the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 will be on display in Space Hall and the Corrective Optics Space Telescope Axial Replacement will be featured in the new “Moving Beyond Earth” gallery.
The first stage of “Moving Beyond Earth,” an exhibition about human spaceflight, will place visitors “in orbit” in the shuttle and space-station era to explore recent human spaceflight and future possibilities. Museum visitors will experience aspects of spaceflight through computer kiosks, advanced interactive displays and state-of-the-art projection and audio technology.
In association with the new artifacts and gallery, the museum is presenting two public programs focusing on the Hubble: “The Significance of the Hubble Space Telescope” lecture by John Grunsfeld (Nov. 17 at 8 p.m.) and “The Hubble Legacy Symposium” (Nov. 18—all day event). Media tickets are still available.
Interested media must RSVP to larai@si.edu or mullenb@si.edu.
Opening events are made possible by the support of Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp.
Support for Moving Beyond Earth is being provided by NASA.