posted 04-20-2020 08:59 AM               

Intrepid Museum Virtual Astronomy Live Headlined by Astronauts Bolden, Massimino & Stott

Friday, April 24, 2020, 2-3:30 p.m. EDT (1800-1930 GMT)

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.

This event is produced by Intrepid Museum in partnership with Kerbal Space Academy.

The Intrepid Museum's Astronomy Nights are generously supported by New York Space Grant Consortium.

• 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: 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: Stott is an engineer and former NASA astronaut. She flew as a Mission Specialist on two space shuttle missions and as a Flight Engineer on Expedition 20 and Expedition 21 to the International Space Station. Altogether, she has logged more than 103 days in orbit. Stott was a crew member on NASA's underwater training laboratory called Neemo, 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.

• Frank Summers: Dr. Summers is an astrophysicist at the Space Telescope Science Institute at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Using research data from the Hubble Space Telescope and supercomputer simulations, he develops dynamic animations and renderings of the cosmos. He presents his work to the public through educational programs, museum exhibitions and through the news media and websites.

posted 04-29-2020 10:05 AM               

The Intrepid Museum hosted a star-studded virtual panel that celebrated 30 years of the Hubble Space Telescope. Former NASA administrator Charles F. Bolden Jr. shared stories from piloting STS-31, the mission that deployed the Hubble Space Telescope, joined by Mike Massimino, a veteran of Hubble servicing missions.

Massimino and former astronaut Nicole Stott then related their experience dealing with isolation in space and its comparisons to social distancing.