The museum teams with experts from Oregon NASA Space Grant Consortium, OSU and PSU for special presentations by local Microgravity research teams.
MCMINNVILLE, Ore – Sat., Jan. 20, 2007 – The Evergreen Aviation Museum welcomes special speakers and a film on the topic of “Microgravity”. Three sessions are available: 9 a.m., 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. Each session is one hour. Space is limited. Reservations are required at (503) 434-4005. Admission to the seminar is free with regular paid admission to the museum.
During each one hour session, students will have the opportunity to view a 30 minute film on Microgravity from Oregon State University (OSU) and listen to a 30 minute Microgravity research presentation from Portland State University (PSU).
In the 30 minute film, Marci Whittaker, a senior in nuclear engineering at Oregon State University, has set her sights on Mars. First, she has to design a nuclear reactor that will work in space so that we can reach the red planet. It has been five years of hard work, but finally, her prototype is ready to be tested aboard NASA’s C-9 microgravity plane.
In the 30 minute presentation on Microgravity research from Portland State University, the presenters will address: What is surface tension and why does it matter? What is phase separation? What does our experiment do? This presentation will be done by a group of undergraduate students at Portland State University who will be building, testing, and flying their experiment on NASA’s C-9 aircraft in Houston in April.
Come see what it’s like to experience low-gravity like astronauts do, learn how cool the science is, and bring questions! For more information regarding the Microgravity sessions, please contact the museum education department at (503) 434-4005 or the website at www.sprucegoose.org.
The Evergreen Aviation Museum is best known as the home of the world’s largest wooden airplane, the “Spruce Goose”, SR-71 “Blackbird”, the Titan II SLV Missile and the Grumman F6F-3 “Hellcat”. In addition, there are more than 80 historic aircraft and exhibits on display, along with artwork, traveling displays, the Spruce Goose Café and the newly remodeled Rotors, Wings & Things store. The Evergreen Aviation Museum’s hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., daily except when it is closed for Thanksgiving, Christmas Day, New Year’s Day and Easter. The Museum is located at 500 NE Captain Michael King Smith Way, across the highway from the McMinnville Airport and about three miles southeast of McMinnville, Ore., on Highway 18. Regular visitor admission is required. Call (503) 434-4180 for more information, and visit HYPERLINK "http://www.sprucegoose.org/" www.sprucegoose.org