openLangley

From Kevin Krigsvold

How often have you been asked something like “what does NASA personally do for me?”  It doesn’t happen often, but I still get that question  from time to time.  Even though NASA still has one of the best brands in the world, if you ask most people, they  could not tell you what NASA does other than the generic “space stuff” response.  In an effort to explain what we do a little better to our American stakeholders, we have produced a new television and vodcast entitled NASA 360. The program is really taking off, In fact in our first month on the web we already have over 100,000 downloads!

What is this program all about:

NASA 360 takes a 360 degree look at NASA’s past, present, and future.  Our goal is to show how NASA has changed, and continues to change all of our lives in a positive way.  We do this by examining how technology developed by/for NASA is being used in everything from space exploration to everyday consumer products.  So we know that a lot of people know that NASA works hard in space, but they don’t know all of the other exciting things we do that helps make the world a better place.  In fact at least 30,000 inventions have come in some way from NASA derived/inspired technologies!  So, NASA is helping us explore and make new scientific discoveries in space and back here on Earth, while also making all of our lives better.

Ok, so with that premise, let me tell you a little about upcoming programs.

This season you will see how NASA is involved with:

• NASCAR
• Indy Car
• Helped unearth a Mummified Dinosaur
• Is involved in Green Technology
• Helped make discoveries along the Lewis and Clark Trail
• Helped make some discoveries about the Mayan Civilization in Guatemala
• See how astronauts train in 3D simulators
• Take a tour of the Kennedy Space Center
• Test robotic equipment and rovers that will be used on the Moon and Mars

And much much more!

So  tell us how what you think of NASA 360!

Let me give a quick shout out to some of our friends who have helped make this program possible (in no particular order).   Christopher Shank and Kristen Erickson from Strategic Communications; Michael Finneran (Head of Public Affairs at NASA Langley); Kim Land (ETDP); National Institute of Aerospace; Richard Antcliff (Strategic Communications & Education ); Everybody at HQ and NASA Langley; Everyone who has appeared in our program; Bob Allen; and so many more.

Thanks!
Kevin Krigsvold

NASA 360 Producer