Nasa's
Spaceship Of The Future Coming To UA
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- NASA's "Starship 2040," a full-sized
mock-up of a commercial spacecraft as it might look in the future,
will visit The University of Alabama campus Feb. 10-12.
Special VIP tours will take place Saturday, Feb. 10 (UA President
Andrew Sorensen will tour the spacecraft at 5 p.m.), and the exhibit
is open to the public on Sunday, Feb. 11, from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. and
Monday, Feb. 12, from 8 a.m.-3 p.m.
In this free exhibit on the UA Quad, visitors will walk through
a 48-foot simulation of the spacecraft's control, passenger and
engineering compartments. The visit is part of a seven-city tour
of Alabama and Mississippi.
The visit will also include a lecture titled "Building the
Highway to Space," on Monday, Feb. 12, at 7 p.m. in 101 Bevill
Building. The lecture will be presented by Mark Fisher, X-34 project
manager from NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. The X-34 project
is part of the Pathfinder Program at Marshall. The X-34 rocket plane
is designed to be launched from beneath a modified jetliner and
powered by a reusable engine. Capable of traveling eight times the
speed of sound, it is expected to fly roughly 50 miles high and
land on conventional runways.
Starship 2040 will be making stops across the country, visiting
universities, government institutions and communities which have
partnership roles in NASA's space transportation, propulsion and
science research programs.
|