With the 50th anniversary of men stepping on the Moon for the first time approaching, the Margaret R. Grundy Memorial Library in Bristol Borough will be hosting an astronomer next month.
The NASA @ My Library event will bring Franklin Institute Fels Planetarium Chief Astronomer Derrick Pitts to Snyder-Girotti Elementary School on Beaver Street on Thursday, July 11 at 5:30 p.m.
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The event is free, but registration is required in advance. Registration for up to six tickets per person is available online and tickets can be picked up at the library on Redcliffe Street.
Aside from Pitts hosting Moon: Apollo 11, attendees will be able to take part in STEM games and crafts, enjoy food, visit a space-themed selfie booth, and photo and autograph opportunities with Pitts.
The library provided the following biography for Pitts:
One of the Philadelphia’s most passionate science educators and sought-after speakers, Derrick Pitts has been an integral part of the Franklin Institute since 1978, designing and presenting many of the Institute’s public programs and exhibits. Pitts serves as a scientific consultant to many organizations, and he has written numerous astronomy columns for newspapers and national magazines. He regularly appears on major international television networks, including the BBC, CBS Morning News, PBS, and the various late night talk shows, as a science content expert. For more than two decades, Pitts has hosted award-winning astronomy radio programs on Philadelphia’s NPR-affiliate station WHYY 91 FM and he’s been the resident ‘Astro Guy’ for 88.5 WXPN’s award-winning radio program ‘Kids’ Corner’ for 25 years. Since 2010, Pitts has also served as a NASA Solar System Ambassador. He is also an Education/Public Outreach advisor for National Radio Astronomy Observatories and Thirty Meter International Observatory at Mauna Kea, Hawaii.
Through his associations with NASA and the astronaut community, Pitts was invited twice to fly items aboard Space Shuttle missions. He currently serves as a member of the Board of Trustees for Associated Universities, Inc., the agency responsible for management of the world’s largest radio telescopes, and for his alma mater, St. Lawrence University. As a way to satisfy his itch for history and aviation and to honor the giants upon whose shoulders he stands, Pitts is a member of the Greater Philadelphia Chapter of Tuskegee Airmen, Inc., where he served two terms as chapter president.
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