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Take an Interactive Journey Through NASA’s First Fifty Years of Exploration

Written by thomas · Filed Under Aeronautics News 

August 1, 2008

thomas

WASHINGTON, Aug. 1 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — This week marks the 50th
anniversary of the signing of the space act that created NASA. To
commemorate NASA’s beginning, the agency has released an immersive
multimedia experience that takes visitors on an interactive tour of its
first five decades of exploration.

Combining current and historic video with state-of-the-art computer
animation, the virtual exhibit takes a World’s Fair approach to NASA
history, featuring pavilions that host each decade of the agency’s
challenges and achievements. Visitors will get unique insight into NASA’s
activities over the years, including a wide range of exploration and
research initiatives, and a glimpse into the future.

“We’re very excited to have people come and take a look at NASA’s
history,” said Brian Dunbar, NASA’s Internet services manager at
Headquarters in Washington. “We’ve been able to take a wide range of
material and weave it into a virtual tour that allows people to explore at
their own pace.”

The exhibit’s host is an animated robot named Automa, who will guide
visitors through their journey. Also assisting everyone throughout their
tour are important historic and cultural figures of the past 50 years of
aerospace history, including astronauts, presidents, astronomers, and other
popular icons associated with NASA’s history. For example, in the 1970s
pavilion, visitors will see a presentation of NASA’s Voyager and Viking
missions hosted by an avatar of the late astronomer Carl Sagan, complete
with excerpts from his popular television series “Cosmos.”

“We’re making our first real foray into animation,” said David Mould,
associate administrator for public affairs, Headquarters, Washington. “It
represents a new communications medium for us and we have been fortunate to
get the support of a lot of people that has enabled us to include some
recognizable historic figures as part of this interactive commemoration.”

Visitors to the site can also experience:

— Interior 3D views of John Glenn’s Friendship 7 Mercury spacecraft

— The original April 1959 press conference introducing the Mercury
astronauts

— A tour of the International Space Station

— Video presentations about NASA’s aeronautics programs

— An interview with former CBS news journalist Walter Cronkite

On July 29, 1958, the 34th President of the United States, Dwight D.
Eisenhower, signed into law the “National Aeronautics and Space Act of
1958” (Public Law 85-568). Less than one month later, President Eisenhower
administered the oath of office to NASA’s first Administrator, T. Keith
Glennan, and the agency’s Deputy Administrator, Hugh L. Dryden, who had
been serving as the director of NASA’s predecessor, the National Advisory
Committee for Aeronautics, or NACA.

To begin the tour of NASA’s first 50 years, visit:

http:///www.nasa.gov/50years

And learn more about the agency’s 50th anniversary at:

http://www.nasa.gov/50th

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