[meteorite-list] Museum of Flight Hosting Mars Meteorite

From: Mike Bandli <fuzzfoot_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri, 25 Jan 2008 14:30:59 -0800
Message-ID: <20080125223105.797371066B_at_mailwash5.pair.com>

Museum of Flight hosting Mars rock, NASA display
Seattle Times 01/25/2008
Author: Christina Siderius
(Copyright 2008)

When Jim Hull flew into Seattle-Tacoma International Airport this week,he
was toting an unusual item in his carry-on bag: part of a meteorite from
Mars.

Hull, manager of exhibits and artifacts for NASA, was in charge of making
sure the sample made it safely to the Museum of Flight as part of a four-day
exhibition there accompanying a NASA forum.

The exhibition, which opened Thursday and shows visitors NASA's plans to
explore Mars and the moon, features a model of a next-generation rocket, a
virtual tour of the international space station and a spacesuit display.

The meteorite piece, to be on view for about a month at the Museum of
Flight, was found in Antarctica in 1980. Scientists concluded it was from
Mars by comparing the rock to data obtained by the Viking Mars Lander.

Today, NASA will hold its Future Forum, an invitation-only conference for
space-industry professionals. Attendees include representatives from Boeing,
Google and the University of Washington.

Seattle is the first stop in NASA's forum series. In February it will head
to Cincinnati. St. Louis, Miami, Boston, Chicago and the Bay Area are also
on the schedule.

The idea is to "reintroduce NASA" to communities and talk about the work it
is doing, according to Mike Green, a senior manager for strategic
communications at NASA.

NASA, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, has strong ties
to this region.

Boeing is the prime contractor on the international space station,
responsible for design, development, construction and integration of the
station and assisting NASA in operating the orbital outpost.

Museum of Flight President Bonnie Dunbar is a former astronaut who served on
five shuttle missions. Dunbar will talk about her experiences in space at 2
p.m. Saturday at the museum.
Received on Fri 25 Jan 2008 05:30:59 PM PST