Astronauts Neil Armstong and John Glenn will be among the stars as NASA celebrates its 50th anniversary with a gala 8 p.m. EDT tonight at Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Va. Although it's an invitation-only, big ticket night, you can enjoy the key events live via NASA TV.
The celebration has been organized by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and isn't an official NASA-sponsored event.. NASA provided a quick-look at some of the key elements of the evening:
The event also will feature a video presentation hosted by Gemini and Apollo veteran Jim Lovell and a message from the Expedition 17 crew aboard the International Space Station. The televised program will end with a special performance of "Fly Me to the Moon," directed by music impresario Quincy Jones and the Space Philharmonic, and performed by Frank Sinatra, Jr.
A party to celebrate 50 years of space exploration and achivement? Sounds like a good idea to me. And the touch of adding live TV coverage is a very nice one indeed.
But not everyone feels that way. NASA nay-sayer Keith Cowing, obviously not on the invitation list, takes great exception to this event. Over at his "nanny nany boo boo" NASA Watch website, Cowing went on a another rant:
If the companies and those they invited really cared about NASA's future - enough to make a personal statement, they'd think twice about who they invite to something extra special like this. Instead, its another excuse for the 50-year-old inside the beltway crowd to have a party in an exclusive location.
Hey, next time, someone send the guy a leftover freebie ticket!
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