Glenn Research Center Opens its Doors!

To celebrate NASA’s 50th birthday Glenn Research Center is holding a 2 day open house for the public on 5/17 and 5/18. Many facilities will be open for guided tours including the 5.2 second drop tower, the Aero-Acoustic Propulsion Laboratory, and the fabrication shop that is building the Ares I-X upper stage mass simulator. The whole event is really geared towards families and promises to be a fun day (for example the Aero-Acoustic Propulsion Laboratory is being billed as the “enter the Dome of Silence!”).

GRC did this 4 years ago on my very first week here at NASA. It was overwhelming to see the waves of people excited about NASA. I think they are expecting over 50,000 people this weekend if the wonderful Cleveland weather holds out (although the event is rain or shine). This is true open NASA in my opinion – open the doors and let the people in! It is also a breath of life for employees because you can rise above the minutia of daily work and see for a moment the wonder of what we do.

GRC is also opening up its satellite facility, Plum Brook Station on 5/31 and 6/1. This facility is a short drive from Cleveland to Sandusky and has the worlds largest vacuum chamber.