There's nothing quite like being able to reach out and touch
a piece of the Moon. Knowing that an astronaut (one of only twelve people on
the whole planet Earth) had traveled a quarter million miles across the void of
cislunar space, landed on a barren and dusty surface, stepped out of his cocoon
of the lunar module, picked up that rock, then brought it home again, is a
pretty amazing and daunting thought.
To actually touch this invaluable piece of solar system
history yourself is something that is not often available. In fact, there are
only three places on this planet where it is possible: The National Air and Space
Museum in Washington, D.C., the Johnson Space Center in Texas, and as part of
a traveling NASA space exhibit that is currently making its way cross country.
NASA's Vision for Space Exploration trailer is a beautiful
piece of public relations for the future of human spaceflight. When our
organization, the Orange County Space Society, does educational outreach work,
we are often asked why this information is not more readily available. Many
people we come in contact with are surprised at all that is currently happening
in space or planned for the near future. This is the reason OCSS does what it
does, to make the public aware, and we have been very successful in what we
have accomplished. It is great that NASA is also out there doing this sort of
work, because, as we all know, you can never have too much positive attention
when it comes to the space program.
A decade or so back, I had the opportunity to talk with
then-NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin. I asked him point blank why NASA was not
doing more public relations work to sell NASA to the taxpaying public. His
answer took me aback when he said, "NASA doesn't need PR. The success of our
programs sell themselves."
As most everyone who has ever dealt with the public knows,
nothing sells itself. NASA, under the new administration of Michael Griffin,
innately understands this and has done something about it. In this case, that
something is 72-feet long and 29-feet wide--an expandable semi-trailer has been
constructed that gives the public a two-phase introduction to the future vision
of human spaceflight, with a return to the Moon by 2018 and onward to Mars by
about 2030.
During a recent three-day stay at the Discovery Science
Center in Santa Ana, California, many OCSS members were able to not only
experience the exhibit first-hand, but to also participate by becoming tour
guides to the Moon and Mars, as well as to the Apollo 17 lunar sample that is a
hands-on part of the first phase of the exhibit.
OCSS guides were Ramona Montayne, Debbi Bennett, Sharon
Brewster, Rudy Ouzounian, Ray Montgomery, Cherie Rabideau, and myself. We
worked directly with Kirk Pierce of NASA's Marshall Spaceflight Center in Huntsville,
Alabama, where the trailer was constructed. Kirk knows space education
intimately, since he has also worked for Space Camp on traveling exhibits.
I'll let Rudy explain the first phase of the exhibit: "The
stations had a screen, and in front of it a podium of sorts. On the podium was
a roughly two-foot tall sensor that resembled goalposts. The screen showed a
rotating image of the Moon or Mars with numbers superimposed. The visitor's
hand would act as a computer mouse as they would place their hand between the
goalpost and point at a specific number on the image. The computer would then
pull up the relevant information and give a brief presentation on that
particular topic, such as water on Mars, craters on the Moon, future
exploration of the red planet, or past Apollo missions."
Before leaving this area, visitors could touch the lunar
sample. For Debbi, this was a special thrill. "In the moment that I touched
this little piece of outer space," she said, "I was instantly transported to
those magical days watching the Apollo landings and Moonwalks on my little
black-and-white television. I imagined being an astronaut some day."
Old
look, new systems
Following this, visitors were ushered through to the second
half where they were surrounded by the future vision of exploration by actually
seeing what it might be like to walk on the Moon or Mars with the explorers.
Below the guests, a light-sensitive, interactive video floor showed grey rocks
on the Sea of Tranquility or iron red ones on Meridiani Planum. Moving your
feet actually shuffled the rocks as if you were on the real surface.
At the end of the tour, we escorted visitors back to Earth
where they were able to get a free souvenir of their journey with a photo of
themselves on Mars or the Moon. All the kids could take these photos to school
and show their classmates what an exciting summer vacation they had
experienced!
Coming into a functioning exhibit such as this was a
different experience than doing programs and displays for OCSS. We had to learn
a specific program to present, along with having the ability to answer
questions intelligently. Our members tend to be pretty well versed already, and
many of us have worked with the public, so it was fairly easy to fall into the
rhythm of the day's events.
Ray, our resident kiwi, has an excellent knowledge of space,
but as he admitted, it still took a bit to get used to program. "Actually, I
felt a little unsure of myself for the first few tours--somehow there is an
American 'patter' that just seems to flow no matter what the tour, and I just
don't seem to have that, so in many ways I hoped that that didn't belie the
professional exhibit itself, which was terrific overall. It took me a little
while to find the answers to questions that were posed to me during the
morning, but by the afternoon I felt pretty confident and competent, and by
then I had my own 'patter' going so that it rolled off my lips, too. It didn't
sound entirely 'American,' but I hope it did sound more or less professional."
He certainly need not to have worried. Every report
concerning all the members who volunteered throughout the event was nothing but
exceptional. Thank you again to all those who gave of their time to aid NASA
and to get the 2,000 people who toured during our tenure a glimpse of the
future.
I later discussed the exhibit further with Ray and
definitely want to pass along some of his insightful observations. Everyone
really enjoyed what they did, and the high-tech approach was definitely cool;
however, this approach may not always work best, especially when there is
limited time for those who entered the exhibit to get this new knowledge.
As Ray told me, "During the first part of the exhibit there
is quite a bit of time preparing you for what you'll see in the second part. I
felt that more time could have been devoted to the Moon and Mars exhibits which
never seemed to have enough time to themselves. In addition, the interactive
cursor device using people's waving hands, was clumsy. A lot of time was wasted
trying to get it to work--time better spent actually seeing what there was to
offer, which was very interesting. Couldn't plain old buttons with a
corresponding menu have been sufficient? Sometimes high-tech and interactivity
can be overkill, as it was in this case, at the expense of valuable
information."
Another excellent idea from Ray would be that people should
have been polled both before and after to get their thoughts and feelings about
human space exploration and the future of NASA. This would have helped gage the
true success of the exhibit.
NASA had given us free reign to talk about what we wanted
during the tours, as long as we followed basic guidelines for moving the guests
through and getting the information across. Debbi augmented her tours by posing
some of the questions Ray felt should have been standard for everyone by asking,
"Who wants to be an astronaut? Who wants to go into space?" She said, "I wanted
to rev them up for the experience."
For a ten-minute presentation, NASA's Vision for Space
Exploration exhibit did its job well. As it travels across the country, hopefully
many others will be able to see it for themselves. Besides science centers,
NASA is taking it to places like county fairs and even car races, so be sure to
look for it.
"All in all it was a very interesting and educational
event." Rudy told me. "Everyone going through the presentation seemed to
genuinely enjoy themselves."
If NASA can get the general public excited by just showing them
films and computer graphics, just think what the real missions to the Moon and
Mars will generate in the coming couple of decades--and beyond.
Debbi explained that "in each child I saw the possibilities
of a real future in space. Each young face lit up with imagination during
their magical ten minutes in the dark. I would look and ask myself if that
could be the face of an astronaut... an explorer... a visionary. As each child
left, without exception, they answered my question, 'I want to go!'"
NOTE: The views of this article are the author's and do not reflect the policies of the National Space Society.
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