Dr. Armstrong visits Intrepid Air & Space Museum

Neil Armstrong was a speaker at 'Legends of Aerospace' at the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum.

Talk about star power.

The Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum seized on a visit by the first man on the moon Sunday to ramp up its bid to bring a space shuttle to New York.

The museum collected signatures for a petition in favor of bringing a shuttle to the Intrepid from the hundreds of schoolkids and their parents who showed up for a talk by Neil Armstrong.

Read the full story HERE.

Space exploration on the plains

Members and leaders of Louisburg Boy Scout Troop 101 visited the Kansas Cosmosphere in Hutchinson on Oct. 16-18. They are (front to back, left to right) Ryan Cottrell, Jerod Bond, Spencer Rogers, Willie Cardwell, Tristen King and Eric Aye, leader Frank Burrow, Chase Green, Tyler Burrow, T.J. Smith, Tyler DeForest, Spencer Bowman, and leader Steve King. Following their tour, the Scouts visited the area’s expansive salt mines, where they camped for the night.

Aaron Cedeño
Louisburg Herald

Marisa Honomichl knows that most people probably don’t expect to find one of the world’s premier air and space museums lying in the heart of central Kansas.

But, to her mind, that just makes the Kansas Cosmosphere in Hutchinson all the more unique.

“It is a surprise, it’s a big surprise,” said Honomichl, the Cosmosphere’s vice president of marketing and development. “And it’s an escape. It’s a place where (visitors) can go and have their imagination take off for them for a day, and it’s a totally unexpected experience.”

Recently, local Boy Scout Troop 101 engaged in that experience for a weekend, with a camping expedition to Hutchinson. Leaving on Oct. 16 and returning on Oct. 18, the collection of Louisburg youth – and several parents – toured the Cosmosphere, launched model rockets, and spent the evening of Oct. 17 camping in the region’s famous underground salt mines.

Read the Story, HERE.

Grand Opening Columbia Memorial Space Science Learning Center this weekend, in Downey, CA

The Columbia Memorial Space Science Learning Center will have its opening celebration Oct. 23 and 24. [Stephen Carr/Press-Telegram]

Phillip Zonkel
Press-Telegram

The launch date for the Columbia Memorial Space Center is set. The Space Center's primary mission is a space-science learning and activity center developed as a launching pad for young people to consider careers in space exploration, says Space Center executive director Jon Betthauser.

"We're trying to inspire kids to consider futures in engineering and space exploration," Betthauser said, during a Tuesday afternoon interview at the sprawling facility.

"Math whizzes and rocket engineers aren't the only ones who study space," he said. "It starts with painters, model makers and artists who make the initial sketches that help scientists imagine what is feasible."

Read the full story, HERE.

Libraries hosting lunar programs

TONY GRAF tgraf@scn1.com
Joliet (IL) Herald Sun

"Return to the Moon," a program on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, will be presented this month at the Lockport and Crest Hill libraries.

The orbiter is the first mission in the Vision for Space Exploration, a plan to return to the moon and then to travel to Mars and beyond, according to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Michelle Yehling, master educator at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago, will describe the orbiter mission during two visits to the Des Plaines Valley Public Library District.

The program will be presented in:

• Lockport: 7 p.m. June 10 at the library branch, 121 E. Eighth St.; and

• Crest Hill: 7 p.m. June 17 at the library branch, 1298 Theodore St.

The event is free, and reservations are not required, said Karyn Goldstein, adult services professional for the library district.

Check the Article HERE.