Location:  Southworth Planetarium, USM

Date: Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Time:  6-10:15 p.m.

Potluck:  Please bring a dish to share and any beverages you may want (non-alcoholic only).  And please post what you plan to bring in your "will attend" log, along with the number of attendees in your party.

NASA Astronaut, Rick Mastracchio, a fellow New Englander and native of Waterbury, CT, took a travel bug and 11 hitchhikers from 11 CT elementary schools with him to space when he launched on Expedition 38/39 to the International Space Station (ISS) on November 6, 2013.  His purpose in bringing the TB to space was to help inspire the next generation and bring more of an awareness of NASA and the ISS to elementary students, as well as to help teach them about geography here on Earth.  Geocachers (and muggles) have been able to follow Rick's journey by adding Travel Bug TB5JJN1 to their watchlist and/or by following Rick on twitter @AstroRM.

On Tuesday, May 13th, Rick Mastracchio and the other two crew members of Expedition 39,will return to Earth on the Russian Soyuz rocket. This event will celebrate the culmination of the mission.  While the first mission was a "blast" that was "out of this world," this event will be a little more "down to Earth."  However, that does not mean it won't be just as much fun!  

The evening will include live viewing of the undocking of the Soyuz capsule from the ISS (scheduled for 6:33 p.m.), a planetarium show, a tour of the stars/constellations/planets visible in the night sky over southern Maine this time of year, and, of course, live viewing of the landing in Kazakhstan (scheduled for 9:57 p.m. EST).

Hope to see you there!