South Dakota Space Days 2003
May 16-17, 2003
Washington Pavilion - Sioux Falls, SD
South Dakota Space Days 2003 was held at the Kirby Science and Discovery Center at the Washington Pavilion in Sioux Falls, SD on May 16-17, 2003 ... a big success! About 2,600 people (mainly K-12 students) were in attendance. They were assisted in participating in the various structured programs by over 100 Space Days volunteers from the Washington Pavilion.
South Dakota’s very own astronaut, Col. Sam Gemar, was the featured speaker. Other presentations included SD’s Solar System Ambassador Dr. Bob Polcyn, who gave several presentations on “New Discovery’s about the Sun”, and two speakers from the USGS EROS Data Center presented “How to Design a Spacecraft”.
The International Space Station (ISS) traveling exhibit trailers from NASA’s Johnson Space Center were open to school groups and the general public on May 15-17, 2003, and were a big hit. Numerous other exhibits were available on earth and space science, including two Star Lab Planetariums. The Sioux Empire Astronomy Club provided evening telescope viewing of the moon and planets. Space Days was ushered in by a total lunar eclipse the evening before Space Days activities began!
The South Dakota Space Grant Consortium, NASA, and the Washington Pavilion are pleased to have sponsored SD Space Days 2003.