Event blasts off with a galaxy of family-fun festivities, demos and presentations; Featured Guest Speaker is NASA Astronaut Dr. Janet Kavandi 

Thanks to the Frontiers of Flight Museum, you don’t have to visit a “galaxy far, far away” to experience the wonders of space exploration, astronomy, incredible science exhibits, or an inflatable planetarium! Star gazers and space enthusiasts of all ages can now trek over to the family-fun activities at Moon Day 2017 sponsored by Beal Bank.  Visit: http://www.flightmuseum.com/moon-day/

The celebration, which is the biggest annual space exposition in Texas, is set for Saturday, July 22 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Frontiers of Flight Museum, 6911 Lemmon Ave. Moon Day is free with Museum admission ($7-$10; Museum members and children 3 and under are free).  Through the Blue Star Museums program, admission is free for active duty military and their families. 

Moon Day was created in 2009 by the Frontiers of Flight Museum and the National Space Society of North Texas as an annual event to celebrate space exploration on or near the anniversary of the first Moon landing. The festival is a science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) focused space-themed public event, which continues to attract participants across North Texas and beyond. This year, Moon Day will commemorate the 48th anniversary of the first lunar landing, which took place when Apollo 11 touched down on July 20, 1969.

“While the anniversary of the first Moon landing serves as a reason to celebrate, the Museum and the National Space Society of North Texas are also committed to showcasing the present and future of space exploration,” said Cheryl Sutterfield-Jones, President and CEO, Frontiers of Flight Museum.  “Moon Day’s extensive content is provided by local, regional, and national space-related organizations, who work to inspire all ages to embrace a scientific and technological future.”

Moon Day is a community-wide family-fun event that attracts more than 1,500 attendees.  Visitors will enjoy a full day of activities featuring space-related displays from three dozen exhibitors. The first 250 kids through the door will receive a “Lunar Sample Bag” full of space-related posters, magazines, trading cards, and other items courtesy of Moonlite Printing and Graphics of Carrollton.

Featured Guest Speaker: Dr. Janet Kavandi @ 1:00 pm  

One of the highlights of Moon Day will be a special presentation from former NASA Astronaut Dr. Janet Kavandi, who is now the Director of the NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio.  She is a veteran of three Space Shuttle flights as a mission specialist, logging more than 33 days in space in 535 Earth orbits.  She is also one of the few astronauts to have flown to both the Russian Space Station Mir and the International Space Station.  This session will be open to the public in the Museum’s Hamilton Family Auditorium.

Featured Presentations:

 How to Find a Falling Star @ 11:00 a.m.

Presenter: Ron Dilulio, the Director of the University of North Texas Astronomy Laboratory Program and Planetarium.

Dilulio discusses where meteorites originate, their characteristics, and where to best look for them, sharing some surprisingly simple ways to find these space rocks. 

Apollo Pilot: The Memoirs of Donn Eisele @ 2:30 p.m. 

Presenter: Francis French, book and magazine author specializing in space flight history.

Even though NASA declared the Apollo 7 mission “101 percent successful” in paving the way to the first Moon landing, the mission’s Command Module Pilot, the late Donn Eisele, has been all but forgotten. After discovering Eisele’s unpublished memoirs, space historian Francis French has edited and published them in his book Apollo Pilot. French will vividly describe the personality of the man who flew this vital mission in the spacecraft now on display in the Museum’s Space Flight Gallery. 

Other Moon Day Highlights:

• Beginning at 11:00 a.m., choose from interesting and educational presentations from the Moon Academy Classes for youngsters or the Lunar University for college level and above.
• Make your own Moon craters, drive a Mars rover, learn all about the upcoming solar eclipse, analyze the performance of your paper airplane design, or enjoy numerous other activities and demonstrations from our amazing exhibitors.
• Participate in our Model Rocket Building class at 10:30 a.m. and 1:00 p.m.; Launch at 3:00 p.m. ($25 registration required; limited availability).
• See the galaxy in an inflatable planetarium, view the sun’s surface with a SAFE solar telescope, listen to a satellite passing overhead, and much more!

Suttferfield-Jones explained that visitors who might not feel technically proficient in space topics will still have a great time at Moon Day. “Space exploration is a continuing chapter in the human story, and it’s something everyone can be a part of.”

For more information on Moon Day 2017 Presented by the Frontiers of Flight Museum and the National Space Society of North Texas visit: http://www.flightmuseum.com/moon-day or call (214) 350-3600.

About the Frontiers of Flight Museum

The Frontiers of Flight Museum is conveniently located just north of downtown on Lemmon Avenue at the southeast side of Dallas Love Field Airport, north of Mockingbird Lane. Housed in a modern 100,000- square-foot facility, the Museum provides a focal point to explore the history and progress of aviation, as mankind continues to pursue going higher, faster and farther. Hours of operation: Monday – Saturday: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and Sunday: 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Admission: Adults $10; Seniors (65+) $8; Youths/Students (3-17) $7 and children under 3 are free. For more information, visit http://www.flightmuseum.com/.