I’m guessing when you think of the Nation’s Capital, it’s likely your thoughts steer more towards politics and government, rather than science and engineering. Living in the DC area has always proved to be full of interesting places to visit and sights to see. I will admit that I take for granted the attractions of the area and haven’t seen nearly as many as are on my “must-see” list, but I have been trying to make sure I share as many of these activities with my two young boys as possible. The last month has truly been filled with timeless memories for all of us.
It’s not every day that you are treated with your first view of a space shuttle that has flown in space; unfortunately my first view would also be the last view of a shuttle in flight. On April 17th, I gathered with hundreds of members of the NASA Goddard community in a personal fly-over by the Space Shuttle Discovery on its way to the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. Space Shuttle Discovery was mounted atop the NASA 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft as it made three passes over downtown Washington, D.C. before it made a personal flight over NASA-Goddard. There were many misty eyes watching Discovery as the shuttle program had been a huge inspiration for so many of the scientists and engineers that worked at Goddard.
After landing at Dulles airport in Virginia, on April 19th there were several ceremonies to commemorate the arrival of Discovery and the departure of the shuttle Enterprise from the space hanger in the museum. NASA even hosted a social media gathering for a lucky 30 guests to be part of the momentous occasion. I had applied to attend, but alas wasn’t selected.
The following weekend, my family decided to head to the Udvar-Hazy center to take a look at Discovery up close and personal. We weren’t the only people with this same idea, it was packed! She was a beautiful sight, covered in her patchwork of thermal blankets and the engine cone was still attached. It was awesome. While we were there we met up with Timmy the monkey and Carrie from ThinkGeek. It was so much fun sharing history with so many people, not to mention seeing the smile on my 3-year-old’s face when he told me that he wanted to go to space. We even left a little bit of GeekMom and GeekDad behind on a shuttle tire to be preserved in the Smithsonian!
As a finale for the month, our family attended the 2012 USA Science and Engineering Festival this past weekend. We were lured by a chance to finally meet GeekMom’s publisher Ken Denmead during his book signing for The Geek Dad Book for Aspiring Mad Scientists
Did any of you have any especially memorable geeky activities in the last month? Are you from the DC area and get to experience any of these events too? GeekMom would love to hear from you!
Note: Unless otherwise noted, all pictures were taken by either me or my husband, GeekDad Brian.
I’m from the D.C. area too. I got to see the shuttle as it did it’s fly over of D.C. A whole bunch of people from my office and others nearby all went out to the waterfront (in Georgetown) to watch and take pictures. We haven’t made it to the museum to see it yet. We’ll probably wait until it’s a little less crowded. We also went to the science and engineering festival last weekend. It was so amazing. We took my 3-year-old daughter and she loved it. It was nice that there was so much for kids to do. My hubby and I were tired out about mid-afternoon, but my daughter didn’t want to go home. She kept saying she wanted to stay. She especially liked the robotics. Was a little disappointed that they didn’t plan very well for the crowd for the Mythbusters guys, and the first aid booth (we needed a band aid when my daughter got a cut) was non-existant. Other than that it was great and will definitely be an experience to repeat next year.