Extended Hours and Free Parking for Space Day, May 5, at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center

Press Release

April 20, 2005

Media Only: Peter Golkin 202-633-2374
Walton Ferrell 202-633-2473
Public information: 202-633-1000

Extended Hours and Free Parking for Space Day, May 5, at the Steven F.
Udvar-Hazy Center

The public is invited for a cosmic adventure as the National Air and Space
Museum again hosts the Space Day global launch celebration, to be held
Thursday, May 5, at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center.

To encourage families to attend, the Smithsonian facility in Chantilly, Va.,
will have extended hours for the day, 10 a.m. until 9 p.m. The program will
offer hands-on exhibits, astronaut appearances, live performances, tours,
curator talks, stories for children--even the chance to race balloon rockets
and drive Mars rovers.

Participants also will have the chance to win an array of prizes, including
a Bushnell telescope, round-trip tickets on Independence Air and all-expense
trips to Space Camp in Huntsville, Ala.

Space Day was created in 1997 by Lockheed Martin Corporation, which sponsors
the event with more than 70 partners and associates including the museum and
NASA. Parking at the Udvar-Hazy (pronounced OOD-var HAH-zee) Center, usually
$12 per vehicle, will be free all day.

Space Day is designed to encourage students to consider careers in space
exploration as they study math, science, engineering and technology. A
satellite broadcast of activities at the center, combined with historic NASA
footage, will be distributed to 140,000 schools across the United States and
Canada. The theme of this year's Space Day is "Return to the Moon," based on
the latest presidential goals for the U.S. space program.

"As the baby boomer generation looks toward retirement, the demand for young
scientists and engineers is expected to increase at almost four times the
rate of all other occupations," said Bob Stevens, Chairman, CEO and
President of Lockheed Martin. "The Space Day initiative seeks to inspire the
next generation to enter this vital career pipeline."

For the first time, Space Day visitors to the Udvar-Hazy Center will be able
to explore the recently launched James S. McDonnell Space Hangar, whose
centerpiece is the refurbished Enterprise--the only NASA space shuttle on
display to the public.

"The McDonnell Space Hangar shows in unique detail the scope of space
exploration history and that captures the imagination of young people," said
museum director Gen. J.R. "Jack" Dailey. "The future engineers, designers,
technicians, astronauts and educators who come out for Space Day will be the
ones to write the next chapters of the story our museum tells."

The hangar is also home to the Gemini VII spacecraft, an instrument ring
segment from an unflown Saturn V rocket, a space shuttle main engine, the
mobile quarantine trailer that housed the returned Apollo 11 crew, and
scores of cruise missiles, satellites and space telescopes. Among its
hundreds of smaller artifacts are a human-sized NASA android used for
spacesuit testing and research crystals formed in orbit.

More than 1,500 sixth-graders from Northern Virginia schools will take part
in the Space Day program at the Udvar-Hazy Center, which kicks off with an
opening ceremony featuring remarks by former senator and astronaut John
Glenn. Also taking part will be the crew from future space shuttle mission
STS-116, which will focus on continued construction of the International
Space Station.

The satellite broadcast of the activities at the Udvar-Hazy Center is
available as an electronic lesson program for students in grades 4 through
8; it is produced by the museum and the Fairfax County (Virginia) Public
Schools Department of Information Technology.

Admission to the Udvar-Hazy Center and the museum's flagship building on the
National Mall in Washington, D.C., is free. The museum operates a shuttle
bus between the two locations from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with a round-trip
ticket costing $12. Group discounts are available.Both facilities are open
daily with the regular hours of 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. (Closed Dec. 25.)

The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center is located off Route 28 near Washington
Dulles International Airport.


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Jacques :-)

www.spacepatches.info