Space Expo Comes To Air Museum

Visitors to the New England Air Museum can meet an astronaut, try on a real space suit and pilot a space craft stimulator on Sunday.

Gina Maria Alimberti, manager of Visitor Services at the New England Air Musuem, said the Space Expo is one of the biggest events the museum hosts.

“We have been lucky to get a different astronaut to come each year,” she said. “Connecticut is a huge state in the aerospace industry, we have local companies that come and talk about their programs as well as presenters from around New England.”

This year, former NASA Astronaut Rick Searfoss will make two presentations, at 11:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. He is a veteran of three Space Shuttle missions and is currently a commercial test astronaut for the XCOR Aerospace Company.

Alimberti said this is the sixth year the museum has hosted the event, and they expect more than 1,000 visitors throughout the day.

More than 20 exhibitors from across New England will participate in the annual Space Expo. The event is an opportunity to discover the region’s aerospace industry and today’s partnerships in space exploration. Exhibitors will include Hamilton Sundstrand Division of United Technologies, the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Aldrich Astronomical Society, McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center, the CATO Rocketry Club, NASA, One Giant Leap, Arunah Hill Natural Science Center and the Talcott Mountain Science Center. 

Some of the engineers who helped save the Apollo 13 mission also will be attending.

Visitors can tour tonight’s sky with resident astronomer, Jason Archer. Presentations will be at 1, 2 and 3 p.m. in the museum classroom.

Rebecca Cross, author of “I am a Space Shuttle,” will be providing free signed copies of her children’s picture book.

Most of the activities will be hands-on. Visitors can try on a real space suit, pilot a space craft simulator, touch a meteorite, taste space food, learn about the atmosphere of Mars, build a rocket and much more.

This event is sponsored by The Connecticut Space Grant Consortium and by Hamilton Sundstrand.

The Space Expo will run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For the convenience of visitors, a food vendor will be on hand all day. The New England Air Museum is located by Bradley International Airport, at 36 Perimeter Road in Windsor Locks. For further information, call the museum at 860-623-3305 or visit www.neam.org.

Admission is $11 for adults, 12 and older; $10 for seniors 65 and older; and $6.50 for children ages 4-11, children 3 and younger are free.