To celebrate National Geography Awareness Week, staff 

 from the Educational Services Department and the Center for 

 Earth and Planetary Studies developed and presented special 

 programs, such as a Geography From Space contest, for our 

 visitors. A live-link was established with the Dante robot in 

 Alaska so that visitors could learn about ongoing NASA ro- 

 botics and telepresence programs. 



Other Educational Services programming highlights in- 

 cluded a "Boomeranging on the Mall" workshop and contest, 

 a "Build a Better Kite" workshop for families, and a "White 

 Wings Paper Airplane Contest." Each program allowed a sig- 

 nificant number of museum visitors to participate in daylong 

 activities related to principles of flight. 



The department continued multicultural outreach pro- 

 grams including children's storytelling programs presented in 

 both Spanish and English; an African folklore program about 

 the stars and the sky; the introduction of an African- 

 Americans in Air and Space History tour; and a theatrical per- 

 formance honoring the first African American female pilot, 

 Bessie Coleman. During the District of Columbia's "Elder- 

 fest" celebration of the contributions of older citizens, the 

 museum offered special musical programs, tours and theater 

 discounts to senior adults. 



The museum's Educational Resource Center, closed since 

 July 1993, re-opened its doors in April 1994 to teachers search- 

 ing for educational materials relating to the museum, its col- 

 lection and its research. The centet's new name is the 

 Educational Services Center. 



A project to create an informative and educational Inter- 

 net presentation about the museum's Center for Earth and 

 Planetary Studies and other facets of the museum is on- 

 going. Currently browsers on the World Wide Web can 

 access public affairs information and can learn about the 

 Center's activities as a NASA Regional Planetary Image 

 Facility. 



The Planetary Society, in partnership with the museum, re- 

 leased a color poster and educational package based on the 

 "Portrait of the Milky Way" developed for the museum's 

 "Where Next, Columbus?" exhibition. 



Throughout the year, museum staff representing a wide 

 range of departments participated in a Visitor Survey initia- 

 tive that the museum hopes will increase our ability to pres- 

 ent programs and services that our public desires. 



Hughes Information Technologies donated a Hughes JVC 

 300 video projector to the Langley Theater. The use of this 

 video projector is being incorporated into public lectures and 

 special events. The donation makes the Langley Theater one 

 of the best equipped projection theaters in the world. 



The Boeing Company and the National Aeronautics and 

 Space Administration agreed to co-sponsor the museum's next 

 majot gallery, "How Things Fly," which will open in 1996. 

 The gifts are the largest ever received by the museum for spon- 

 sorship of an exhibition. 



Motorola, Inc. signed on to be the principle corporate spon- 

 sor of the museum s next IMAX film, "Cosmic Voyage," en- 



suring that the film will premiere as part of the Smithsonian 

 Institution's 150th anniversary celebration. 



Publications and Research 



Research at the Center for Earth and Planetary Studies is fo- 

 cused on increasing our understanding of geological and other 

 processes acting to modify the Earth's surface and those of the 

 other terrestrial planets. In planetary geology and geophysics, 

 research focuses on the Moon and terrestrial planets. Investiga- 

 tions include geologic mapping of portions of Mars and 

 Venus. Investigations on Mars included the study of the geo- 

 logic history of the Tharsis Montes volcanos, the geologic and 

 tectonic history of the Lunae Planum region, the characteriza- 

 tion and mapping of compressional tectonic features on the 

 planet, and degradation of the martian highlands and its im- 

 plications for early fluvial processes. Current studies involving 

 the numerical simulation of lava flows are providing import- 

 ant insights into flow behavior in different planetary environ- 

 ments. The Center's ongoing research in Earth's Drylands, and 

 studies assessing anthropogenic changes to Earth's surface are 

 part of the Institution's Global Change Research Program. 

 One such study employs remote sensing and field data to map 

 soils, vegetation and morphologic relationships to understand 

 the paleoenvironment at Mpala Ranch, central Kenya. The im- 

 pact of urban growth in the Washington/Baltimore Metropoli- 

 tan area on vegetation loss and sediment flux is being 

 conducted using remote sensing data. 



The Smithsonian History of Aviation book series, edited by 

 Von Hardesty in the museum's Aeronautics Department and 

 published by SI Press, released another string of award- 

 winning titles in 1994. The Aeronautics Department was also 

 honored in 1994 with the presence W. David Lewis of Auburn 

 University as Lindbergh Chair holder. In 1993, the Society for 

 the History of Technology presented Professor Lewis with its 

 Leonardo da Vinci Medal. This life-time achievement award is 

 the most prestigious honor bestowed in the field of the his- 

 tory of technology. 



Laboratory for Astrophysics staff are developing a new mi- 

 croelectronic technique for fabrication of space instruments, as 

 well as absolute frequency stability in new infrared lasers to 

 study planetary atmospheres and comparative climatology. 

 Staff are participants in three space astronomy programs: the 

 Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) of the European Space 

 Agency (a cold telescope observatory to be launched in 1995), 

 NASA's Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite (also to be 

 launched in 1995), and Edison, a passively cooled infrared tele- 

 scope still under design. This year, staff discovered the small- 

 est known binary system around a normal star, directly 

 measured wind fields on Titan (the largest moon of Saturn), 

 discovered heavy metal emission from the hot nuclei of active 

 galaxies, and reported the first sighting of an huge outburst 

 around a newly formed star. 



In May, the Department of Space History organized and 

 hosted a one-day scholarly symposium on the Cold War, at- 

 tracting 150 attendees and eight stimulating speakers. In 



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