FREE – Thursday, Oct 9, at 7 p.m. | See a short preview of the new documentary and join the conversation about the crucial and often unsung role women have played in the U.S. space program. | RESERVE SEATS HERE
WKAR Community Cinema returns in October with a screening and conversation about Makers: Women in Space. The new documentary chronicles the crucial and often unsung role women have played in the U.S. space program. This screening and conversation is a free presentation in partnership with Project 60/50 at Michigan State University.
The WKAR Community Cinema event takes place Thursday, Oct. 9 at 7 p.m. at WKAR in the Communication Arts and Sciences building on the Michigan State campus. The event is free, but online reservations are required at WKAR.org.
The evening begins with a screening of a short portion of the film and continues with conversation led by Michigan State University scientists Megan Donahue and Melanie Cooper.
Megan Donahue is a professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at MSU, where she explores what clusters of galaxies can reveal about the history and contents of the universe, as well as how people learn about astronomy and science.
Melanie Cooper is Lappan-Phillips professor in the Department of Chemistry at MSU, where she specializes in chemistry education with a focus on approaches to teaching and learning.
Free with Reservation
This event is free, but registration is required. | RESERVE SEATS HERE
Where
This Community Cinema event takes place in the Communication Arts & Sciences Media Auditorium (Room 145), 404 Wilson Road on the campus of Michigan State University. Parking is free (after 6 p.m.) in the Trowbridge Road parking ramp, near the South, Main Lobby.
About 'MAKERS: Women in Space'
MAKERS: Women in Space chronicles the crucial and often unsung role women have played in the US space program. The film is both a look back as well as a glimpse of the important role women will continue to play in the future of this field.
The story of women in the US space program starts in 1957, as the United States raced to beat the Soviet Union at sending a human being into orbit. Thirteen women were included in NASA’s initial tests to select America’s first astronauts and the rigorous testing proved that women were ready to go into space. But America wasn’t yet ready to put women into space. Sally Ride would become the first woman to launch into space in 1983. By the 1990s, there were new milestones; Eileen Collins became the first woman pilot astronaut. Just a few years later, Collins became the first woman commander. The space race continues and women are in it. The program includes interviews with Eileen Collins, as well as Sally Ride’s classmates Shannon Lucid, Rhea Seddon and Kathryn Sullivan, and features Mae Jemison, the first woman of color astronaut, and Peggy Whitson, the first female commander of the International Space Station.
On the Air
MAKERS: Women in Space airs Tuesday, Oct. 14, 9 p.m. on WKAR-HD.