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Blast off as hundreds of school children descend on Christchurch’s Town Hall
Tuesday, 2 August 2005

NASA engineer Dr Jack Bacon has been working the night shifts at mission control as a member of the NASA technical management team that oversees the construction and operation of the International Space Station.

Coincidentally he will be in Christchurch speaking to primary and secondary school students at the Christchurch Town Hall the same day as the space shuttle Discovery’s returns to Earth on Monday, 8 August.

“It should be a blast,” says Steve Abley, Chairman of the Institution of Professional Engineers (IPENZ) Canterbury Branch, who invited Jack to come to New Zealand to inspire and encourage a new generation of technologists and engineers on a viable career path by exploring just how far imagination and vision can take them.

Compared to the seriousness needed at NASA ‘s mission control at Cape Canaveral the Christchurch Town Hall promises to be an extremely entertaining and noisy event.

Dr Bacon will be discussing NASA’s space shuttle missions, the vision for future moon and mars missions, and describe his work on the International Space Station which he calls ‘the most complicated technical project in history’.

Monday, 8 August
Christchurch Town Hall.
10am – 11am: Primary/Intermediate Schools, Years 4 to 8
1:30pm – 2:30pm : Secondary Schools, Years 9 to 13

Dr Bacon is also giving a free evening public lecture on Monday 8 August at 7pm at the Christchurch Town Hall titled “History in the Making”, discussing emerging technologies that will re-shape society as we have come to know it.

ENDS

Notes to journalists
Jack Bacon, Ph.D., P.E. – Systems Integration Engineer ISS, NASA

Jack Bacon has often been called “A New Carl Sagan.” He is an internationally-known motivational speaker, a distinguished lecturer of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), and one of the most requested speakers in America for topics concerning technology and factors that shape human society. Jack received his bachelor of science degree from CalTech in 1976, and a master of science and Ph.D. respectively in 1978 and 1984 from the University of Rochester, where he worked on laser-fusion power reactors, fusion propulsion systems and microgravity fluid surfaces.

For further information:
Steve Abley – Chairman IPENZ Canterbury Branch
Telephone: (03) 960 9300

Dr Jack Bacon’s cellphone (will ring in NZ) 001 – 281- 814 8665

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