PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109. TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov
CONTACT: James H. Wilson
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 22, 1996
SONS AND DAUGHTERS TO VISIT SPACE LABORATORY THURSDAY
Tara Hernandez, a sixth-grader at St. Elizabeth's school in
Pasadena, hopes to become an astronaut someday, but will start by
shadowing her mother through a workday at NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory Thursday, April 25, as part of the national "Take Our
Daughters to Work" day.
Tara is one of more than 250 sons and daughters of JPL
employees who have signed up to spend the day learning about the
world of work in space exploration. She will help her mother,
Kay Ferrari, of JPL's Public Services Office, coordinate and
check out the exhibits scheduled for the afternoon, including the
Laboratory's spacecraft assembly facility and the "Mars Yard"
artificial Mars surface where robot rovers are tested.
"The children will have a chance to see a variety of
stimulating career opportunities at JPL in science, engineering
and business," said Hector Del Castillo of JPL's Advisory
Council for Minority Affairs and one of the organizers of the
event, now in its fourth year.
At JPL, it will not be just daughters-at-work day. Matthew
McKinney, a sixth-grader in Cerritos, will follow his father,
John McKinney, through meetings for JPL's Galileo mission to
Jupiter. Matthew is a baseball and soccer player and a fan of
the TV drama "Space: Above and Beyond," McKinney said. "Coming
to JPL is coming down to Earth for him," he added.
Third-grader Erica Deutsch of Chatsworth, a budding
musician, actress, and science fair contender, will divide her
time between her father's office at the Deep Space Network and
her mother's in the Galileo science data team. She also wants to
see the Saturn-bound Cassini spacecraft now being assembled and
the Space Photo Gallery in the Lab's Space Flight Operations
Facility.
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Note to editors and news directors: News media are invited to
cover the visits. This is a family event, however, not a public
one. After an introduction and greeting in the von Karman
Auditorium, the children and their parents will spend the morning
at work, then, from 1:30 to 3 p.m., visit some of the exhibits at
the von Karman museum, the spacecraft assembly facility gallery,
the Mars Yard, and JPL's Fire Department. For further
information, please call JPL Public Information at (818) 354-
5011.
4/22/96
JHW #9624