This page contains the material submitted to the local paper - The Davis Enterprise - for Explorit Science Center's news column published in that paper on Fridays.

John Gallagher, exhibit director at Explorit Science Center, is grinning from ear to ear. He and other members of Explorit’s staff have just put together the finishing touches on a new space exhibition.

“I think people are going to have a blast here,” Gallagher said.

Saturday’s grand opening of “2001: A Space Adventure” will offer more than an array of interactive exhibits. A group of very young scientists will be on hand to discuss their collaboration with NASA.

Explorit’s exhibit hall has been closed for the last six days as staff members have been quickly assembling the latest topic. Pointing around the hall, Gallagher claimed “They’ll have a chance to explore as would an astronaut or an astronomer through all these exhibits.”

Check out the exhibit where you can learn about Saturn's rings and why they are not complete rings, but just appear that way. Take a trip to Mars and explore details of the landscape on Mars. Visitors will even get a chance to explore the summer night sky indoors.

During Saturday’s hours, 11 to 4:30 p.m. visitors will also have a chance to meet some young scientists who will discuss their experiments. Just how young? How about ages 7 to 16.

This group of Sacramento based 4-H girls and boys is one of only 25 in the nation selected by NASA to send experiments into outer space as part of NASA’s Space Experiment Module program.

Scheduled for lift-off next month aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery, their experiments on seeds, CDs, adhesive, film and yeast are already packed and waiting in Houston.

About the chance to run experiments in space, member Stephanie Diringer writes, “I think it is very cool because it is a once in a lifetime opportunity.”

The 4-H Club will be at Explorit from 1 to 3:00 p.m. on Saturday only as part of Explorit’s “Meet the Scientist” program.

Before or after your chance to brush shoulders with these scientists, don’t miss out on what Gallagher calls “the most challenging and fun station”—a miniature robotic arm. By moving blocks with the aid of the robotic arm, visitors will have a chance to simulate the work aboard the Space Shuttle.

Compare the difference in gravity between the Earth and the Moon. Try out the various exhibits in which you design your own constellation, measure light energy through different filters, observe phases of the moon, and discover characteristics of Earth's magnetic field.

What are the similarities between Earth and Mars? Why is Neptune sometimes the most distant planet? Discover what life would be like on each of the nine planets in our solar system and then — at the make-n-take station — create your own alien!

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