Madison Children’s Museum: Selected to attend rocket launch at Kennedy Space Center

Contact:
Jonathan Zarov
608.335.2783
jzarov@madisonchildrensmuseum.org

Madison Children’s Museum has been selected as a social media correspondent to join NASA’s launch of the Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) Falcon 9 rocket on Friday, April 8, 2016.

The museum will be one of 50 correspondents to participate in NASA Social, a two-day schedule of events, to include touring the Kennedy Space Center, visiting with NASA team members, taking photos of the Falcon 9 rocket and viewing the launch. Applicants were chosen based on their established history of effectively using multiple social media platforms and tools, as well as their ability to reach a unique audience.

The Falcon 9 rocket will launch from Space Launch Complex 40 at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, carrying the Dragon cargo spacecraft to the International Space Station. Aboard Dragon will be food, supplies, science experiments, and something new for the space station – the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM, for short). BEAM will be the first inflatable habitat to connect to the space station, and when the module is tested later this year, it will be the first inflatable habitat to be used by humans in space.

Kelley Rowe, Data Integration Specialist, will travel to Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral to represent Madison Children’s Museum at NASA Social. During her visit, Rowe will share her experience with the Madison community on the museum’s social media pages, and hopes to inspire an interest in science and space exploration.

Rowe says, “We’ve seen great success in science and STEM-based programming at the museum. We are constantly looking for new ways to interest our young visitors in STEM, and we are so excited to share this opportunity with our future scientists and astronauts.”

In Madison, the museum will hold a special space-themed edition of its weekly Mad Science program on Friday, April 8, from 2 to 4 p.m. Rowe hopes to utilize live streaming to share the launch with visitors during the program.

Kids are encouraged to ask questions about the launch and BEAM on the museum’s social media accounts; Rowe will do her best to answer those questions or find answers from the experts at NASA.

Follow the museum’s NASA adventure on social media, and use #NASASocial and #ISSCargo to join the conversation.