Moon Base: The Next Step

Show Details

4/18/24

• 7:30-8:30 PM (Doors open at 7 PM)
• Tickets on sale starting March 15!
• Cost: $8 for adults, $6 for children and seniors + Vallitix service fee

Over fifty years ago, humans began exploring the moon. The William M Thomas Planetarium will present the return of humans to the moon--returning to stay on the moon--on Thursday, April 18, from 7:30 to 8:30 PM. Doors will open 30 minutes before the show starts for seating and will be closed during the 1-hour program with no late admittance. Tickets will be available for $8/adults and $6/seniors and children 5-12 years old online only starting March 15 through Vallitix (tickets will NOT be sold at the door). The William M Thomas Planetarium is on the second floor, northwest end of the Math-Science Building, Room 112. The map below shows you where is the planetarium. No food, drink, or gum/candy is allowed in the planetarium. Children must be 5 years or older. Also see the Online Campus Map for more information on the location of the planetarium, and our Parking Information page.

The 1-hour show will begin with a short tour of the evening sky using the planetarium's Goto Chronos star projector followed by the 20-minute all-dome presentation from Moonraker VFX called “Moon Base: The Next Step”. From the moment mankind first set foot on the moon we have dreamed of making a base there. A foothold on the moon, where we can extract water and minerals, grow food and live on a more permanent basis.

For the last 20 years, humans have continuously lived and worked aboard the International Space Station 250 miles above Earth, preparing for the day we move farther into the solar system. In the next 10 years that dream will become a reality. Mankind will return to the Moon and develop a sustained, strategic presence near the lunar South Pole. The moon will become our first ‘staging post’ from which Mars and the rest of the solar system becomes tantalizingly closer.

MOONBASE: THE NEXT STEP is the story of this human endeavor, pushing scientific and technological advances to the limit. Traveling the 250,000 miles and surviving the hostile and alien conditions of reduced gravity, extreme temperatures and toxic lunar dust, MoonBase, narrated by former NASA astronaut Nicole Stott, explains the science and technology for this brave mission to happen.

Webpage contact: Nick Strobel