"Solar System Ambassador"--that unusual title is held by 470 volunteers trained by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. These ambassadors share the wonders of space and exploration through star-watching parties and other public events across the United States, in Puerto Rico, and now, much farther across the globe. U.S. Air Force Sgt. James Wallace first became a Solar System Ambassador back home in Alamogordo, New Mexico. When the Air Force sent him to a forward deployed location in southwest Asia, Sgt. Wallace began holding weekly star-watching parties for American and foreign military personnel on the base.

More info on the Solar System Ambassador program is at http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/ambassador/ .

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CUT 1 – U.S. AIR FORCE SGT. JAMES WALLACE SAYS THE STAR-WATCHING PARTIES HE HOLDS FOR MILITARY PERSONNEL WHO ARE A LONG WAY FROM HOME HELP THEM PUT THINGS INTO PERSPECTIVE.
Running time: :39
OUT: "IN THE WORLD"
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Transcript of CUT 1:
"We don't have a lot of time on our hands because the mission is pretty intense, but what happens is those times when we're not doing the mission, the quiet and the darkness becomes overwhelming a lot. And people do look up, they look at the stars and they consider family and things like that. So the stars are something that we can tie back to family back home. And people can quiet down and calm down a little bit sometimes. And they come out to the star parties to do just that, get out into the dark away from a lot of other things and be able to talk about something that ties them back with everyone in the world."

CUT 2– U.S. AIR FORCE SGT. JAMES WALLACE SAYS PEOPLE ARE USUALLY EXCITED TO HEAR THAT THEY'RE INVITED TO TAKE PART IN A STAR-WATCHING PARTY AT A MILITARY BASE.
Running time: :18
OUT: "SEE WHAT'S DIFFERENT"
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Transcript of CUT 2:
"It's not something that you would normally find on an Air Force base back in the U.S. And when people come out here, they don’t expect to find something out of the ordinary like this. So they’re very excited. They also realize that the stars are different here than they may be back home, so they are interested to come out and see what's different."