Chabot Space & Science
Center Grand Opening
Saturday, August 19, 2000
Conrad Jung with Kingsley
Wightman on the Kingsley Wightman Observatory Plaza
By the time you read this, the
new Chabot Space & Science Center will be officially open
to the public! As we move through the next few months, please
be aware there will be a lot of “tweaking and tuning,”
including programs, exhibits and the physical plant itself. We
welcome your ideas and suggestions; please know that we cannot
accomplish everything at once and some ideas simply might not
be do-able. But we always want input…
For example a good suggestion I received from Lew Epstein is a
lecture or series of lectures on how the planetarium works. I
once heard that we should never share such insight; we should
make it seem like “magic.” But I agree with Lew; people
are interested in this topic and his idea is one that goes on
the “to do” list.
I received a letter from someone that sums it all up: “Chabot
has always been a magical place for me; I’m hopeful it will
be the same for more generations of East Bay students. God speed
your efforts!” When we dedicated the Chabot Challenger Learning
Center, June Scobee Rodgers (widow of Astronaut Dick Scobee who
was the commander on Challenger’s last mission, STS-51L),
said “the mission continues.” June is absolutely right!
By the way, the letter quoted above was from a guy by the name
of Tom Hanks—perhaps you’ve heard of him!
