University Park

Space Day 2003 lands at Penn State on April 12

University Park, Pa. -- The fourth annual Space Day at Penn State will be held for persons of all ages who are interested in space topics from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, April 12, at the HUB-Robeson Center on the University Park campus. A centerpiece of the program will be tours of Space Shuttle Blake, a 4/10 scale model replica of NASA's Space Shuttle, which will be parked on the new HUB plaza along Pollock Road.

Space Day 2003 also features a keynote presentation by astronaut and Penn State faculty member Jim Pawelczyk, who will share experiences from his Neurolab mission aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia in 1998 and discuss the future of the Space Shuttle program and the International Space Station.

Ann Schmiedekamp, a NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Solar System Ambassador and associate professor of physics at Penn State Abington, will give two multimedia presentations on "In Search of Water Worlds." NASA's exploration of the solar system has identified locations that are likely to harbor supplies of liquid water and possibly the conditions for life. Find out what is known and what unanswered questions encourage further exploration.

Also on the schedule are tours of Penn State's Star Lab planetarium; a workshop for kindergarten through 6th-grade educators about living and working in space; a session on how to use NASA educational resources in the classroom; and the opportunity to write condolences and thoughts in a journal that will be sent to the families of the Space Shuttle Columbia crew members who perished earlier this year.

Free tickets that will be available at the door or through advance registration (for large groups) are required for many of the activities. For a full schedule of events, applications and directions, visit http://www.psu.edu/spacegrant/spaceday/

Motorists should be aware that due to the Space Day activities, traffic on the HUB plaza (Pollock Road between the HUB and Osmond Building) will be restricted to thru-traffic from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. Westbound Pollock Road traffic from Shortlidge Road will be limited to those needing access to Yellow H parking; Eastbound Pollock Road traffic will be limited to those needing access to Brown G and Brown D parking. Student auxiliary officers and signage will be posted at both ends of Pollock to direct traffic flow.

Last Updated March 19, 2009

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