NASA Administrator Bill Nelson will speak to elementary school students about the future of space exploration Monday, May 9, and tour a lab working on robotic construction technologies Tuesday, May 10, during a trip to Florida. Both events will feature media availabilities.
Nelson and NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick will speak about the agency’s missions with students in grades three through five at Ventura Elementary School in Kissimmee, Florida, on Monday. They will also discuss the students’ space curriculum and the missions that will take their generation – the Artemis Generation – to the Moon and eventually Mars.
The event is scheduled to begin at 2:15 p.m. EDT and is open to media. At around 2:45 p.m., Nelson, Dominic, and Ventura Assistant Principal Amanda Soto will be available to answer media questions about NASA’s role in STEM education, efforts to expand opportunities in underserved and underrepresented communities, and NASA’s goal to land the first astronauts on Mars in the late 2030s.
The event will take place at Ventura Elementary School, located at 275 Waters Edge Dr., Kissimmee, Florida. Media interested in attending should RSVP to Jackie McGuinness at: Jackie.McGuinness@nasa.gov no later than two hours prior to the start of the event.
On Tuesday, Nelson will visit Redwire Space headquarters in Jacksonville, Florida to tour the Archinaut testing and robotics lab. Redwire is working on NASA’s On-Orbit Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing 2 (OSAM-2) mission, which will build, assemble, and deploy a solar array in orbit.
During the visit, Nelson will see firsthand Redwire’s efforts to use lunar and Martian dust to 3D print on the Moon and Mars. The NASA administrator will be briefed on in-space servicing, assembly, and manufacturing (ISAM) capabilities, which support the national strategy announced by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the National Space Council to transform space architectures and help maintain U.S. leadership in space.
Media are invited to join a tour of the Archinaut lab at 1:15 p.m., followed by a media availability at 2:15 p.m.
The event will take place at Redwire Space headquarters, located at 8226 Philips Highway, Suite 102, Jacksonville, Florida. Media interested in attending should RSVP to Jackie McGuinness at: Jackie.McGuinness@nasa.gov no later than two hours prior to the start of the event.
