Media Advisory: Space Florida Engages Area Teachers to Inspire Future Space Leaders With Zero Gravity Flight on December 8, 2007

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL--(Marketwire - December 4, 2007) - Florida schools and universities have the opportunity to be the leading intellectual home of "future space." Through Space Florida's sponsorships, students in Middle and High School, college undergraduates, interns, researchers and teachers experience zero gravity and its effects, conduct live research, and Space Florida's first student-designed unattended microgravity research will be conducted! These inquiry-based and hands-on activities are just the beginning of opportunities that will make their unmistakable imprint on teaching, grooming and preparing the space leaders of tomorrow... today.

Space Florida offers students and teachers a range of innovative education programs and workshops that enable participants the opportunity to experience 'real world' science problems and solutions.

From the Shuttle Landing Facility at Kennedy Space Center, twenty (20) teachers will take their student-influenced science demonstrations onto a ZERO-G parabolic flight to demonstrate the effects of Lunar, Martian and microgravity in videotaped presentations for their students; and five teacher and student teams will send their small-scale research experiments along for Space Florida's breakthrough Unattended Microgravity Research Program.

When: Saturday, December 8

7:00 AM   Begin check-in              KSC Visitor Complex Debus Center
7:30      Experiment reviews/checks   KSC Visitor Complex Debus Center
7:45      Flight briefing             KSC Visitor Complex Debus Center
8:45      Media bus to Shuttle
           Landing Facility           KSC Visitor Complex Debus Center
10:00     Flight takeoff              KSC Shuttle Landing Facility
11:30     Flight return (limited
           planeside interviews)      KSC Shuttle Landing Facility
12:30 PM  News Conference             KSC Visitor Complex Debus Center
1:00      Interviews                  KSC Visitor Complex

All listed events open to pre-registered media

MEDIA CHECK IN: To attend the events listed above, please email press@spaceflorida.gov to receive instructions for access and security checks.

Where: Flight and media briefing at Debus Center, Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. Flight departure and return at KSC Shuttle Landing Facility. All media requiring access to the Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) will be transported by bus from the Visitor Complex.

Who: Space Florida and state representative participants; Twenty (20) teachers from across Florida, including SEMAA teachers from Miami-Dade County, and Florida's Teacher of the Year, Richard Ellenberg; University and High School students, as well as faculty flying with unattended experiments. Space Florida representatives, along with teachers and program representatives, are available for interviews on Saturday, December 8, 2007.

What: This ZERO-G flight is sponsored by Space Florida in support of the future of space, science and engineering. The flight-day media events will include one-on-one interviews with flight participants who will eagerly share the sights, sounds, and emotions of their ZERO-G experience, and include current and future government and private partners.

For press credentials and interview arrangements, please contact Deb Spicer.

Contact Information: Contact: Deb Spicer Director of Marketing & Corporate Communications 321-730-5301 ext. 243 321-848-3165 cell