Discover NASA artifacts, more at Hill Country Space Expo in Marble Falls
JARED FIELDS • PICAYUNE STAFF
MARBLE FALLS — In a college classroom, Jim Wreyford was handed a red-hot globe glowing at 500 degrees Celsius.
Although scorching hot on one side. Wreyford could comfortably hold the other in his hand.
“It really captures your imagination,” said Wreyford, president of The Wreyford Family Foundation, which helps support the W Foundation.
Based in California and at a Kingsland office, the foundation’s mission is to support organizations that help preserve space history, promote exploration and commercialization in space and promote technologies invented through space exploration.
And for the second year, the Hill Country Space Expo will be held to ignite that same passion and curiosity in local youth.
“The largest collection of space artifacts in private hands, the W Foundation has it,” Wreyford said.
That includes moon dust, some of the first products ever made in space, portions of rockets, heat shields and shuttle tile.
“It’s a good mixture of Russian and Apollo items,” Wreyford said. “We took our catalogue to local NASA guys and said, ‘You pick. What tells the story you want told?’”
The free expo is 9:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Sept. 27 at the Boys & Girls Club of the Highland Lakes, Marble Falls Unit, 1701 Broadway St. The expo will be open Sept. 26 to school classes that have scheduled visits.
A discussion panel at 2 p.m. Sept. 27 features astronaut Dick Gordon and former NASA members.
Gordon was the pilot on Gemini 11 and command-module pilot of Apollo 12.
Shuttle mission specialist John Herrington also will be at the Space Expo. Herrington has made three space walks totaling almost 20 hours.
Some hands-on activities will be available, too. A workstation allows children to build models; two flight simulation stations will be set up; and demonstration stations will include ultrasonic and infrared object sensing.
Go to www.wreyfordfamilyfoundation.org for more information about the Hill Country Space Expo or The Wreyford Family Foundation.
jared@thepicayune.com