Aerospacefest at the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center

On Saturday, May 5, from 10:30 – 4 p.m., the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center will host AerospaceFest, New Hampshire’s annual aerospace festival. The public is welcome to engage in a wide variety of hands-on science and engineering activities at the festival, to see the Discovery Center’s newest planetarium show, and to meet an astronaut: New Hampshire’s own Dr. Jay C. Buckey, Jr. A neurologist for Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and a Dartmouth College professor of medicine, science and engineering, Dr. Buckey was selected by NASA as a payload specialist aboard the Neurolab Mission, STS-90. After completing this mission, Dr. Buckey has continued to research human physiology and psychology on long-duration space missions – essential knowledge for future manned voyages to and colonization of the Moon and Mars. Thanks to generous sponsors Physical Sciences, Inc., the NH Charitable Foundation and NH Space Grant Consortium and logistical support from cadets in the NH Wing of the Civil Air Patrol, this year’s festival will be filled with science and engineering adventures. STEM activity stations throughout the Center will be hosted by science center educators and scientists, aerospace specialists, pilots, and engineers from Raytheon, Plymouth State University Meteorology Department, Aviation Museum of NH, Transsupport, Project Management, Inc. – NH Chapter, Squam Lakes Natural Science Center, Southern NH University’s new College of Engineering and Aeronautics, and more. Special guest presenters include Mad Science, the Mount Washington Observatory and Dr. Buckey; the Discovery Center will premiere its newest planetarium show at the festival, From Dream to Discovery: Inside NASA!