Astronaut to Come to Campus

NASA Astronaut Sandra Magnus will deliver the keynote address to junior high school girls and their families at the Sally Ride Science Festival at Tulane University on Saturday (March 13). Magnus' address will be part of a full-day festival for girls in the 5th–8th grades who are interested in science.

Registration is now open for the festival, where experts, including Sally Ride Science Festival scientists, representatives from local industry and faculty from the Tulane School of Science and Engineering, will run discovery workshops for the students and workshops for parents and teachers on ways to nurture students' interests in science and math.

The Sally Ride Science Festival, presented by Northrop Grumman Foundation, is open to the public but advanced registration is required. A $20 advanced registration fee covers the workshops, lunch and a street fair with hands-on activities, booths and music. Scholarships are available.

Magnus had has two space flight experiences for NASA. For STS-112 Atlantis (Oct. 7–18, 2002), an International Space Station assembly mission, she operated the space station's robotic arm during the three spacewalks required to outfit and activate new components. The mission was accomplished in 170 orbits, traveling 4.5 million miles in 10 days, 19 hours, and 58 minutes. From Nov. 14, 2008, to March 28, 2009, Magnus participated in an expedition to deliver all of the additional components necessary to expand the International Space Station to support a six-person crew. In that space mission, Magnus traveled over 50 million miles.

Sally Ride Science is an innovative science content company dedicated to fueling girls' and boys' interests in science, math and technology. Sally Ride, best known as America's first woman in space, founded the company in 2001 to create quality programs and products that educate, entertain, engage and inspire.