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NRF|SAAO Cape Town Private Night tour & Stargazing – An Evening with NASA
March 17 @ 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm
The NRF|SAAO invites you for a night tour & stargazing.
The Private Night Tour & Stargazing will start with a presentation. Visitors will then be given an introduction to the history of the observatory, library, museum, and the 120 year-old McClean telescope. If the weather permits, stargazing will take place with McClean and smaller telescopes.
Please note that guests are only allowed entry into our premises from 7:30pm.
Free entry for kids aged 6 & under.
Please email cptbookings@saao.ac.za or call +27 21 447 0025 if you have any queries regarding bookings.
Speaker: W. James Adams NASA Deputy Chief Technologist, Retired
Jim Adams
Jim Adams has over 40 years of aerospace experience. Recently retired from NASA, he has directed or been involved in over 30 spaceflight missions to explore the Earth the Sun and most of our Solar System. He last served as NASA’s Deputy Chief Technologist, advising the Administrator on NASA’s technology portfolio and advocating the use of new technology throughout the Agency, influencing $6B annually. Mr. Adams has also served as NASA’s Deputy Director of the Planetary Science Division (PSD). He was responsible for a $1.5B annual budget for many missions including the Mars Science Laboratory, Pluto-New Horizons, DAWN (Ceres and Vesta) and MESSENGER (Mercury). He has served on the National Science and Technology Council’s “Strategic Computing Initiative” helping to assure that the nation’s space high performance computing needs would be met by US investments in computing technology and infrastructure. Mr. Adams also led a comprehensive assessment of the Nation’s Pu-238 production capability and infrastructure and many other independent reviews of Agency capabilities. He has been awarded three medals for outstanding service and leadership by the Agency and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics and a Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering. A gifted storyteller, Jim engages the curiosity and imagination of his audiences, and inspires emerging scientists and entrepreneurs to think creatively and inventively.
Speaker: James Green, Founder Space Science Endeavors, Former NASA Chief Scientist
James Green
Dr. James Green has worked at NASA for 42 years before retiring in December 2022. He received his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Iowa in 1979 and worked at Marshall Space Flight Center, Goddard Space Flight Center, and NASA Headquarters. During Jim’s distinguished career at NASA, he has been NASA’s Chief Scientist and was the longest serving director of NASA’s Planetary Science Division with the overall programmatic responsibility for the New Horizons spacecraft flyby of Pluto, the Juno spacecraft to Jupiter, and the landing of the Curiosity rover on Mars, just to name a few. Jim has received the Exceptional Achievement Medal for the New Horizons flyby of the Pluto system and NASA’s highest honor, the Distinguished Service Medal. He has written over 125 scientific articles in refereed journals and over 100 technical and popular articles. In 2015, Jim coordinated NASA’s involvement with the film The Martian. In 2017 Asteroid 25913 was renamed Jamesgreen in his honor. He now teaches students around the world about space and planetary science in the Metaverse.