Today I received this email: “Dear Melissa, Congratulations! You have been selected to attend the Outside the Spacecraft Social at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC on January 7, 2015.”
I was accepted to “Outside the Spacecraft Social” (a social media event) at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC!!! I had applied and figured that I would not get in, as they were only taking 15 people, but I got in! What a wonderful Christmas Eve gift!
Here was the call for social media participants:
OUTSIDE THE SPACECRAFT SOCIAL
“Join us to preview our newest exhibition at the Museum in Washington, DC, Outside the Spacecraft: 50-Years of Extra-Vehicular Activity! We’re inviting 15 social media users to tour Outside the Spacecraft (#spacewalk50) from 10 am to 1 pm on January 7, 2015 before it opens to the public. Explore the history of spacewalks with the exhibition’s curator, learn how we care for spacesuits from our conservator, hear how the exhibition was composed from our designer, and meet special guests. Come take a sneak peek at this new exhibition commemorating 50 years of spacewalks, interact with museum staff, and connect with fellow social media users who are passionate about spaceflight, museum collections, photography, and art inspired by spacewalks!”
And more information…
“What is the Outside the Spacecraft Social?
Outside the Spacecraft is an exhibition commemorating the 50th anniversary of Aleksei Leonov and Ed White’s ventures outside the spacecraft through art, photography, artifacts, and personal accounts that relate the continuing story of spacewalks.
Outside the Spacecraft Social participants have the opportunity to take an advance look at this exhibition before it opens, as well as:
-Get a behind-the-scenes tour of the exhibition from the exhibit’s curator
-Hear about the care of spacesuits in the Museum’s collections
-Learn about the process of designing the exhibition – including a special display for spacesuit gloves”
And here is the information from the exhibit:
Outside the Spacecraft: 50 Years of Extra-Vehicular Activity
Open January 8, 2015 through June 8, 2015
“Extra-vehicular activity, or EVA—working outside a spacecraft—changed the nature of human spaceflight. It made possible walking on the Moon, servicing the Hubble Space Telescope, and building the International Space Station. It remains crucial to our ongoing presence in space.
EVA requires a wearable spacecraft—the spacesuit—and specialized tools for astronauts to survive in the hazardous environment of space. Since the first space walks of Aleksei Leonov and Edward White in 1965, more than 200 astronauts and cosmonauts have amassed over 1,000 hours of EVA experience.
To commemorate the 50th anniversary of those first two ventures outside the spacecraft, this exhibition will present art, photography, artifacts, and personal accounts that relate the continuing story of EVA” (http://airandspace.si.edu/exhibitions/outside-the-spacecraft/).
