09/27/11 ema

HAYS, Kan. -- What better way to get into space than by using a rocket? A community rocket launch, as part of the Space Week festivities, will be from 9 to 11 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 8, at the Ellis County fair grounds. The even is free and open to the public. Members of the public are encouraged to bring their own rockets to launch.

International Space Week, sponsored by Fort Hays State University's Forsyth Library, Geosciences Department and the Kansas Academy of Math and Science, begins Monday, Oct. 3.

A display sponsored by NASA will be in Forsyth Library for the week, which ends Sunday, Oct. 9. The display features an Apollo 15 lunar sample collected by astronaut Dave Scott, an Apollo space suit, Apollo mission photographs and NASA 3D computer games.

The Thursday, Oct. 6, Times Talk, from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. in Forsyth, will discuss "Infinity and Beyond? Is There a Mission for NASA in the Shuttle Era?" The discussion will be led by Dr. Paul Adams, Anschutz Professor of Education and a professor of physics, and Dr. John Heinrichs, chair of the Department of Geosciences.

At Science Café, 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 6, at Café Semolino, Randy Gish will hold a discussion on "NASA Dollars and Sense." Until retirement, Gish worked as an associate director of Johnson Space Center, Houston, and graduated from FHSU in the '70s.

Sunday, Oct. 9, is an observation of the night sky as part of the "International Explore the Moon Night." A program will begin at 7 p.m. in Tomanek Hall, room 106. Observations will be from 7:15 to 9 p.m. on the levee by the pedestrian bridge to Cunningham Hall.

For more information, contact Adams at 785-628-4538 or email padams@fhsu.edu.