FROM: THE INTREPID SEA, AIR, & SPACE MUSEUM
Pier 86; West 46th Street and 12th Avenue at Hudson River Park

CONTACT: Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum

The Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum will host its annual Kids Week from Monday, February 15–Saturday, February 20.  During Kids Week, visitors will have the opportunity to participate in dozens of fun-filled activities, hands-on workshops, live shows, special guests and demonstrations that the whole family will enjoy. 

This year, Kids Week will explore the theme of extreme environments.  From polar regions and deserts to the moon, Mars and beyond, the Museum will highlight the most exciting climates and habitats in the universe through hands-on activities, eye-opening shows and presentations, and special guests including astronauts, children’s book authors, scientists and engineers.  Families will see incredible animals adapted for life in unique environments, and encounter exciting technology inspired by animal adaptations, like cave-climbing robots.  Kids can learn how astronauts prepare for space by creating missions that test living conditions in challenging environments, meet special guests from NASA who are helping to make space travel a reality, and discover the wonders of the chilly polar ice caps, distant exoplanets and the fascinating places in between. 

All Kids Week programming is free with Museum admission. See below for the full schedule of activities.

2016 KIDS WEEK PROGRAMMING SCHEDULE

All week, Intrepid Museum staff will lead live demonstrations, planetarium presentations, sketch theater performances, and Tour Guides will lead themed Tour Guide Talks throughout each day.   Each day will also include “Meet the Scientist,” where kids will have the opportunity to meet real-life scientists and talk to them one-on-one about their work and what inspired them to pursue a career in science.

Dates and times are subject to change.  For the most updated Kids Week schedule, please visit www.intrepidmuseum.org.

Kids Week at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum is proudly supported by Coca-Cola.

Special events and appearances are listed below:

Monday, February 15:  Exciting workshops by Dazzling Discoveries will allow kids to build models of structures that can withstand extreme environments, while FIRST will offer up-close robotics demonstrations and Mad Science will perform their live show, Extreme Science. Kids will learn about new designs for habitats where people can survive on Mars with the Pratt School of Architecture, and the leader of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Extreme Robotics Group, Aaron Parness, will present “Exploring the Solar System’s Extreme Environments with Robots.” Kids can meet lead space suit test subject and science lead for NASA’s Desert Research and Technology Studies, Dean Eppler, who will hold workshops and demonstrations about what it’s like to wear a space suit, and author Brian Floca, who will be on hand for a reading and signing of his book Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11.

*Meet the Scientist: Astrophysicist Shy Genel: Learn how dark matter accumulates into massive "dark matter halos" and how galaxies form in the centers of those halos.

Tuesday, February 16: Tuesday’s events include activities, live performances, workshops and presentations by Dazzling Discoveries, FIRST, Pratt School of Architecture, Mad Science, geologist Dean Eppler and robotics engineer Aaron Parness. Kids can learn about our home planet, our solar system, the universe beyond and the spacecraft exploring them with NASA’s Eyes, and can draw their own extreme environment with STEAM Kids Lab. The United States Coast Guard (USCG) will be on hand with their Arctic Operations Units, and author Ame Dyckman will do readings and signings of her book, Boy + Bot.

*Meet the Scientist: Astrophysicist Daniel D’Orazio: Learn how gravity is explored in the universe's most extreme gravitational laboratories: black holes.

Wednesday, February 17: Workshops, performances and presentations by Mad Science, Dazzling Discoveries, STEAM Kids Lab, FIRST, NASA Eyes, Pratt School of Architecture, USCG and geologist Dean Eppler, as well as exciting ice drilling demos from IceCube South Pole Neutrino Observatory.  Two screenings of the Star Trek: The Animated Series episode "More Tribbles, More Troubles," will take place throughout the day, followed by an exciting live animal demo by zoologist Jarod Miller focusing on invasive species with an arctic fox, alligators and more.

*Meet the Scientist: Astrophysicist Or Graur: Learn how telescopes on Earth and in space are used to observe supernovae (the explosions of stars).

Thursday, February 18: Thursday is filled with workshops, performances and presentations by Dazzling Discoveries, Pratt School of Architecture, NASA Eyes, zoologist Jarod Miller and geologist Dean Eppler, as well as exciting designs and prototypes from the Columbia Space Initiative.  Allison Bolinger, NASA spacewalk flight controller and lead trainer at Johnson Space Center, will be on hand to discuss how we teach astronauts to spacewalk and lead workshops that allow kids to build their own space station.

*Meet the Scientist: Astrophysicist Emily Sandford: Learn how we discover exoplanets, from lava worlds to ice planets to faraway Earths, with space telescopes!

Friday, February 19: Activities, performances and presentations will be offered throughout the day from Mad Science, Dazzling Discoveries, STEAM Kids Lab, UCSG, NASA Eyes, Pratt School of Architecture, Columbia Space Initiative, NASA spacewalk flight controller Allison Bolinger, and geologist Dean Eppler.  Author Carmella Van Vleet will perform readings and signings of her book To the Stars! The First American Woman to Walk in Space. Elumenati Geodome will provide pop-up planetarium experiences, including an exciting tour of the universe entitled 30 Billion Lightyears in 30 Minutes.

*Meet the Scientist: Geochemist Ellen Crapster-Pregont: Learn how space rocks tell us about the early solar system and how planets are formed.

Saturday, February 20:  The final day of Kids Week offers workshops, performances and presentations from Dazzling Discoveries, Liberty Science Center, Challenger Center, NASA Eyes, Columbia Space Initiative, Pratt School of Architecture and Elumenati GeoDome.  Also included are workshops about nanosatellites in extreme environments from CUNYSAT-1, readings and books signings with Patrick O’Brien, author of You Are the First Kid on Mars, and a live performance of the Franklin Institute’s Life in Space show.  A special speed-building challenge from Rube Goldberg will take place, where kids will have one hour to use ordinary items to create an overly complex machine that performs a simple task. Talons! A Bird of Prey Experience will perform a live show as well as offer up-close encounters with the birds throughout the day.

There will also be a special presentation by NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren, who has recently returned from 141 days aboard the International Space Station. Kids Week marks one of his first public appearances since returning from space.

*Meet the Scientist: Astrophysicist Steven Mohammed: Learn how data from the Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) is used to map the Milky Way.

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About the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum
The Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum is a non-profit, educational institution featuring the legendary aircraft carrier Intrepid, the space shuttle Enterprise, the world’s fastest jets and a guided missile submarine. Through exhibitions, educational programming and the foremost collection of technologically groundbreaking aircraft and vessels, visitors of all ages and abilities are taken on an interactive journey through history to learn about American innovation and bravery.

The Intrepid Museum fulfills its mission to honor our heroes, educate the public and inspire our youth by connecting them to history through hands-on exploration while bridging the future by inspiring innovation.

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Museum Hours:
April 1 – October 31:
Monday - Friday, 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Saturday-Sunday, 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM

November 1 – March 31:
Monday-Sunday, 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM

Museum Cost of Admission:
Adult: $24.00
*Seniors and College Students: $20.00
Youth 7-17: $19.00
Child 3-6: $12.00
Children Under 3: Free
*Retired and Active U.S. Military and U.S. Veterans: Free

Free admission for U.S. military and veterans generously provided by Bank of America.
*Proper ID required.

Tickets are available for purchase on the Intrepid’s website, www.intrepidmuseum.org. 

Location:
Pier 86 (46th Street and 12th Avenue), Manhattan

Public Transportation:
Directions by NYC Metro Bus:
Take cross-town buses west. M34 (34th Sts), M42 (42nd St.) or M-50 (49th St.) to 12th Ave. and Hudson River. Intrepid is a short walk north from the M34 and M42. The M50 drops off immediately in front of the Intrepid.

Directions by NYC Metro Subway:
Take the A, C, E, N, Q, R, S, 1, 2, 3 or 7 train to 42nd St., then walk or take the M-42 West Bus to Hudson River (12th Ave). Walk North to Intrepid.

Directions from Water:
Take New York Water Taxi to Pier 84 and walk a block north to the Intrepid Museum. Or from New Jersey take the New York Waterway to Midtown (38th Street) and walk north on 12th Ave to the museum.