New England Air Museum to Hold 2015 Space Expo

PRESS RELEASE – The New England Air Museum in Windsor Locks, CT will hold its annual SPACE EXPO on Sunday, March 29th. This is an opportunity to experience aerospace science and technology as well as meet pioneers from the aerospace industry.More than 15 exhibitors from across New England will participate in the event including UTC Aerospace Systems, the Aldrich Astronomical Society, the CATO Rocketry Club, the Clay Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, US Space Camp, Society of Women Engineers, and Daniel Barstow of TERC and Windows on Earth.

Exhibits will include demonstrations and hands-on activities. Visitors can meet an astronaut, try on a space suit, pilot a space craft simulator, touch a meteorite, learn about the atmosphere of Mars, build a rocket, and much more.NASA Astronaut (Retired) Don Thomas will make two presentations- one at 11:30 a.m. and the other at 1:30 p.m. Dr. Donald A. Thomas has his doctorate in materials science from Cornell University. He started his career at AT&T Bell Laboratories working on advanced materials and processes for interconnections of semiconductor devices. He then worked for Lockheed Engineering and Sciences Company reviewing materials used in Space Shuttle payloads. Dr. Thomas joined NASA Johnson Space Center as a materials engineer in 1988 and became a NASA astronaut in July 1991. Dr. Thomas is a veteran of four space flights and has logged over 1,040 hours in space. He retired from NASA after sixteen years and is now Head of the Willard Hackerman Academy of Mathematics and Science at Towson University in Towson, MD.

The Space Expo will run from 10 AM to 4:00 PM. For the convenience of visitors, a food vendor will be on hand all day. The New England Air Museum is located near Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, Conn. For further information call the Museum at (860) 623-3305 or visit www.neam.org. Admission is $12 for ages 12 and up, $11 for seniors 65 and up and $6.50 for ages 4 to 11. Children under 3 are admitted free.

This event is being sponsored by the Connecticut College Space Grant Consortium as part of CT Space Day.

The New England Air Museum is the largest aviation museum in New England and is a private, non-profit educational institution that was organized in 1959. Three large hangars and an outdoor display contain more than 80 aircraft with permanent exhibits that include the oldest surviving aircraft in the U.S. – the 1870 Silas M. Brooks Balloon Basket, as well as an S-39 amphibian plane – the first aircraft built in Connecticut by aviation pioneer Igor Sikorsky. Featured year-round are many historical aircraft and exhibits including a focus on World War II’s Tuskegee Airmen, and a display about Amelia Earhart alongside a Lockheed Model 10 Electra – the same type of plane flown by the aviatrix. The Air Museum is dedicated to preserving and presenting historically significant aircraft and related artifacts, engaging visitors through high-quality exhibits helping them to understand aviation technology and history and inspiring students through innovative and hands-on educational programs. It is owned and operated by the Connecticut Aeronautical Historical Association and is governed by a volunteer Board of Directors, with five full-time employees, 18 part-time employees, and more than 175 volunteers. The New England Air Museum is located on 36 Perimeter Road (off Route 75) on the north end of the Bradley International Airport airfield in Windsor Locks, CT. It is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., seven days a week, and features a large gift shop. More information is available at www.neam.org, (860) 623-3305 or Facebook at New England Air Museum.