For Release: Sept. 18, 1995

June Malone
Office of Media Services
(205) 544-0034
june.malone@msfc.nasa.gov

RELEASE: 95-60

1995 VON BRAUN FORUM CELEBRATES EXPLORATION WITH THEME "OUTPOSTS OF EXPLORATION--LIVING AT THE FRONTIER"

Entertainer Naomi Judd, television personality Hugh Downs, and former astronaut and Chief Scientist of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Kathryn Sullivan will highlight the challenges of exploration at the eighth annual Von Braun Exploration Forum, Sept. 26, at the Von Braun Civic Center (VBCC) in Huntsville, Ala.

A community activity which will focus on the theme, "Outposts of Exploration," the forum will present an inside look at frontier living, both today and in the future.

"Living at the frontier is an adventure which most of us have thought about but never experienced," said Dr. Rick Chappell, Forum chairman and Chief Scientist at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville.

"The Forum gives us an opportunity to remember the tremendous

contributions of Dr. Wernher von Braun in making the United States a spacefaring nation and continuing its tradition of exploration," said Chappell. "All of the people of this community have contributed to humankind’s leap from Earth to space. The Von Braun Forum and dinner provide a chance to celebrate this accomplishment with the community and to look forward to the nation’s future in exploration.

"The human urge to explore leads naturally to the development of outposts at the ever-changing frontier. Through the centuries, these outposts have taken many shapes ranging from ships to aircraft to submarines to spacecraft to lunar bases," said Chappell. "The Huntsville region itself has been an outpost of exploration where the creativity of our people has allowed humankind to leave the planet of its birth."

Focusing on the theme of exploration outposts, the Forum program will feature spoken presentations, audience interaction, music and video productions.

Familiar television figure, co-anchor of ABC television’s weekly news program, 20/20, and Chairman of the Board of Governors of the National Space Society, Downs will give a personal remembrance of Von Braun and his contributions to the nation’s exploration efforts.

A veteran of three Space Shuttle missions, Sullivan will discuss living at the frontier. She will focus on working and living in the unique environment of space and undersea, drawing on her experiences as a NASA astronaut and undersea researcher.

Named by the music industry the Cinderella of country music and the mother of the mother-daughter entertainment duo "The Judds," Naomi Judd will discuss how she approaches the challenges of life. Judd was diagnosed in 1990 with a potentially life threatening liver disease and has faced her illness with characteristic strength and optimism.

Also, more than 600 middle-school students from Huntsville City and Madison County schools will be present at this year’s Forum. They will learn about the nation’s space activities as part of the Space Exploration Week proclaimed for Sept. 18-26.

"It is fitting that we recognize and honor the students as it is the challenge of exploration that will ignite their fires of adventure and creativity and in so doing underpin America’s future," said Chappell.

The Forum, which is open to the public and free of charge, will begin at 6:30 p.m. in the Civic Center Concert Hall. While the Forum is free, tickets are required and may be picked up at the UAH Continuing Education Business Office, Wilson Hall Room 124; Marshall Space Flight Center, Building 4200, Room 940 (for Marshall employees and contractors), the Parisian Ticket Desk at Madison Square and Parkway City Malls; and the VBCC Box Office.

The Von Braun Memorial Dinner, sponsored by the National Space Club, will be held in the VBCC North Hall at 8 p.m. The Forum will be preceded by a reception at 5:30 p.m. for dinner participants. Tickets for the dinner may be purchased from the UAH Continuing Education Office at (205) 895-6811.

Forum events are sponsored jointly by the Marshall Center, the University of Alabama in Huntsville, the U.S. Space and Rocket Center and the National Space Society.

Note to Editors: Arrangements for interviews with Forum hosts or guests prior to, during or following the reception or dinner will need to be made in advance by calling June Malone of Marshall Space Flight Center Public Affairs at (205) 544-0034, or Missy Ming Smith of the Madison County Commission at (205) 532-3438. Media are invited to cover all Forum events.