Intrepid Museum
Virtual Astronomy Live
Headlined by Astronauts Bolden, Massimino & Stott
Past Event
Friday, April 24
On Friday, April 24, the Intrepid Museum will present its first-ever Virtual Astronomy Live. Join us as our star-studded guests celebrate 30 years of the Hubble Space Telescope and discuss the parallels between isolation in space and the conditions many are experiencing during the current pandemic.
Hubble is the first major optical telescope to be placed in space, providing an unobstructed view of the universe. Scientists have used Hubble to observe the most distant stars and galaxies as well as the planets in our solar system. Hubble's launch and deployment in April 1990 marked the most significant advance in astronomy since Galileo's telescope.
Thanks to five servicing missions and more than 25 years of operation, our view of the universe and our place within it has never been the same.
The guests will also discuss the importance of the James Webb Space Telescope, the planned successor to Hubble. After a virtual Q&A session, the conversation will shift to how astronauts dealt with isolation and how their experience can help the rest of us to manage the current situation.
Participants
Charles F. Bolden Jr
General Bolden is a former astronaut and retired United States Marine Corps Major General. He flew on four Space Shuttle missions and piloted STS-31 in April, 1990, the mission that deployed the Hubble Space Telescope. As the 12th NASA Administrator, from 2009 to 2017, General Bolden oversaw the retirement of the Space Shuttle fleet and set the groundwork for human spaceflight initiatives for the future. He is a member of the Intrepid Museum's board of trustees.
Mike Massimino
Mike Massimino is a former NASA astronaut, and currently a professor of mechanical engineering at Columbia University in New York City. He has flown in space twice, each time making two spacewalks on repair and servicing missions of the Hubble Space Telescope. Massimino appeared as himself on five episodes of the hit show, The Big Bang Theory. His autobiography Spaceman was recently adapted and released for young readers. Massimino is the senior advisor of space programs at the Intrepid Museum.
Nicole Stott
Nicole Stott is an engineer and retired NASA astronaut. She flew as a Mission Specialist on two space shuttle missions and as a Flight Engineer on Expedition 20 and Expedition 21 on the International Space Station. In total she has logged more than 104 days in orbit. Nicole was also an aquanaut crew member on a NASA NEEMO training mission on the undersea laboratory called Aquarius, where she lived and worked with a six-person crew for 18 days. Today she is an artist and uses her talent to inspire creative thinking about solutions to our planetary challenges. She is the founder of the Space for Art Foundation.
Frank Summers
Frank Summers is an outreach astrophysicist who illuminates and elucidates the awesome beauty and intricate wonders of our universe. For two decades, he has contributed to all aspects of the Hubble Space Telescope press, education, and outreach through news media, web sites, educational programs, social media, museums and planetariums. Frank is renowned for his work in scientific visualization, and has worked on several IMAX films. In addition, he once held the Guinness World Record for “Largest Astronomy Lesson.”
Summer Ash
Moderator
Summer Ash has been both a rocket scientist and an astrophysicist. She is a freelance science writer and communicator whose work has been published in The Atlantic, NBC News, Smithsonian, Now.Space, Scientific American, Slate, and Nautilus.
John “Das”Galloway
Host and Producer
“Das” is a science outreach communicator who specializes in live, interactive video content. He is the creator of the Kerbal Space Academy, where he uses video games as a tool to start science and engineering conversations with viewers of all ages, and VECTORS Virtual Field Trips, which brings real-time interactive video to museums, events, and historical locations. “Das” also serves as a host and producer for NASASpaceflight.com.
This event is produced by Intrepid Museum in partnership with Kerbal Space Academy and Egress Productions, LLC.
The Intrepid Museum’s Astronomy Nights are generously supported by New York Space Grant Consortium.