NASA Events And Future Forum Mark 50 Years Of Americans In Orbit

Beth Dickey/David Steitz
Headquarters, Washington

Allard Beutel

Kennedy Space Center, Fla.

Lori Rachul

Glenn Research Center, Ohio

WASHINGTON -- Feb. 20 marks the 50th anniversary of the day in 1962 when U.S. Sen. John Glenn piloted his Friendship 7 spacecraft on the first U.S. orbital flight. In the next two weeks, NASA Television will broadcast a series of live events and special programming to commemorate 50 years of Americans in orbit, including the premiere of a new documentary and special interactive online features.

Here is a list of scheduled activities, all of which will be broadcast on NASA Television:

Thursday, Feb. 16

8-8:30 p.m.: Premiere of "Friendship 7: 50th Anniversary of Americans in Orbit" on NASA TV, a documentary on Glenn's historic mission featuring new interviews with Glenn and fellow Mercury astronaut Scott Carpenter.

Friday, Feb. 17

10-11 a.m. EST: Glenn and Carpenter, the first two Americans to orbit Earth, will join NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and Kennedy Space Center Director Robert Cabana for a presentation about NASA's past, present and future. The event is open to employees at the space center in Florida.

3-3:30 p.m. EST: Glenn and Carpenter will conduct a news conference in the Mercury Mission Control exhibit of the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.

Saturday, Feb. 18

6:30 p.m. EST: Glenn and Carpenter will participate in "On the Shoulders of Giants," a ceremony at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex honoring all who made NASA's Project Mercury possible. The program will include remarks from Cabana, Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) and astronaut Steve Robinson, who flew with Glenn on his second trip into orbit on space shuttle Discovery's STS-95 mission in 1998.

Monday, Feb. 20

1:30-3:15 p.m. EST: Glenn and NASA Administrator Charles Bolden will speak live with the crew on board the International Space Station to kick off the agency's two-day Future Forum at Ohio State University in Columbus. Glenn also will participate in a panel session, "Learning from the Past to Innovate for the Future," at the event.

Tuesday, Feb. 21

3-3:15 p.m. EST: Glenn will deliver closing remarks at the NASA Future Forum.

Friday, March 2

1-2 p.m. EST: Glenn will deliver the keynote address at "Celebrating John Glenn's Legacy: 50 Years of Americans in Orbit" a special event hosted by NASA's Glenn Research Center at Cleveland State University's Wolstein Center, 2000 Prospect Ave., in Cleveland. The tribute will be included in a Tweetup which the research center is hosting for its Twitter followers on the same day.

An interactive online feature about the Mercury program and Glenn's flight is available on the agency's Internet homepage at http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/glenn50/.

For NASA TV downlink, schedule and streaming video information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/ntv.

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NASA And Etsy Announce Winners Of "Space Craft" Contest

David E. Steitz

Headquarters, Washington     

WASHINGTON -- During a Friday ceremony in Brooklyn, N.Y., NASA and Etsy, an online marketplace for handmade arts and crafts, announced the winners of "Space Craft," a contest that received more than 600 entries.

Contestants entered an original handmade item or work of art inspired by NASA programs, such as the space shuttle, human spaceflight, aeronautics, science and exploration of the universe.

Colleen and Eric Whiteley from Brooklyn received the Grand Prize for Best of Show for their detailed design of the Northstar Table. The table features a North Star design that, when pressed, opens a hidden drawer.

Rachel Barry Hobson from Austin, Texas won the 2D Original category for her piece titled, "High Texture Hand Embroidery of the Moon." For the category of Two Dimensional Reproduction, "Universal Thoughts" by Nikkita Karsan Bhakta from Mobile, Ala., won the top prize.

Patrick Burt from Tempe, Ariz., won the Three Dimensional Original category with a Titanium ring titled "Brother Sun, Sister Moon." The silver, gold and diamond embedded ring represents stars, the sun, moon, Mercury, Mars, Venus, Jupiter and Saturn.

NASA's goal for the contest was to help inform Etsy's 5.8 million members, the majority of whom are women, most near age 35, about the agency's present and future exploration plans. NASA astronaut Steve Robinson attended the judging on March 18 at the Etsy Labs community space in Brooklyn.

Contestants entered work in three categories: two-dimensional original art; reproductions of original pieces and three-dimensional art. The two-dimensional pieces included paintings, drawings, rings, mixed media, photographs and computer-generated prints. The three dimensional entries ranged from wearable art to furniture and soft sculpture.

The grand prize team received a $500 shopping spree on Etsy and an all-expense-paid trip with a guest to attend the next shuttle launch at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Shuttle Endeavour and its crew are targeted to lift off on April 19. The winning two dimensional art piece may be flown aboard the flight.

The winner of each category received a $250 shopping spree on Etsy and a gift package of NASA and Etsy merchandise.

For more information about the contest winners and their works, visit http://www.etsy.com/nasa.

NASA's Partnerships, Innovation and Commercial Space program within the agency's Office of the Chief Technologist sponsored the Space Craft contest. For more information about NASA's Office of the Chief Technologist and partnerships, visit http://www.nasa.gov/oct.

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