Guest: Donna Shirley. Donna Shirley returned to The Space Show for this Friday program. We started our program with an overview of planetary science missions and the overall state of planetary science. Ms. Shirley discussed several specific missions including the Mercury Messenger, the probes currently on their way to Pluto, Jupiter, Mars, as well as a future lunar mission. Our conversation then took us into the realm of education, the current state of science and space awareness, and how best to address the problems we all know exist. There were several listener questions regarding this topic and you will want to hear her answers. As Ms. Shirley was the Director of the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame in Seattle, we discussed the role science fiction and science fact plays in the knowledge of school age kids and the general population. One of the many points made by Donna was that many kids, and even some adults, have come to expect the science fiction to be real and exciting. When the kids learn the scientific reality, they consider it boring and are turned off. We also talked about NASA's role in making space science education boring, including what is shown on NASA TV. Again, this is a must-hear discussion because we kept coming back to science fiction and its role in space exploration and development, especially with terra-forming Mars. On this latter subject, we discussed the possibility of applying lessons learned on Mars to problems here on Earth, especially as it relates to our understanding of Earth's climate. As Donna articulated serious concern for the future of our environment, one of the questions I asked her was if she could compare the risks to Earth through environmental damage versus what we humans do to one another on the planet with our behavior and our weapons, especially nuclear weapons. Make sure you hear Donna's reply to this question. In later segments of the program, we talked about the Space Shuttle, the ISS and its planned date of decommissioning, the deorbiting of Mir, and many other related issues. Other important topics for our discussion included life on Mars and SETI. One listener asked Ms. Shirley if she believed finding life on Mars would hasten our journey to Mars. Listen to what Donna had to say in response to this question. Ms. Shirley's website is www.managingcreativity.com. From her website, you can order her book about her experiences at JPL with the Martian programs and learn more about her e-book, which is now available. For questions that you might have as well as to express interest in purchasing her e-book, please email her at dshirley@earthlink.net.
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