Anne Kinney, Ph.D, a leading astrophysicist with NASA, has been selected as a national spokesperson for Space Day 2004…Blazing Galactic Trails. Dr. Kinney, who exemplifies the spirit of exploration, will provide an excellent role model for the next generation of space explorers, scientists and inventors. The international Space Day 2004 celebration on May 6 will culminate a year of educational activities.

As Division Director of NASA's Astronomy and Physics Division, Dr. Kinney is involved with finding planets beyond our solar system. She oversees 35 space–based telescope missions including the Hubble Space Telescope, Chandra X-Ray Telescope and the most recent Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF). Launched in August, SIRTF will be sending never before seen infrared images back to Earth around Space Day. Dr. Kinney's division is also laying the groundwork for a telescope powerful enough to spot Earth-like planets around nearby stars.

“I'm thrilled to be a part of the Space Day initiative,” said Dr. Kinney. “Space exploration is such a terrific way to ignite kids' imagination. We must continue to convey to students the critical role of science, technology, engineering and mathematics in the 21st century. I look forward to sharing the huge range of career possibilities that are open to young people with backgrounds in these disciplines.”

Prior to joining NASA, Dr. Kinney spent 14 years with the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, where she was an Instrument Scientist on one of the original instruments to fly with the Hubble Space Telescope, the Faint Object Spectrograph. She also worked in education and public outreach with the Hubble Space Telescope and was involved in creating the program “Amazing Space,” an educational Web site for children to learn basic principles of science, mathematics and astronomy. In addition, she was guest commentator on NASA's Space Science Updates.

“We're very pleased that Dr. Kinney has agreed to provide her time and experience to help inspire our next generation of scientists, astronomers and space explorers,” said Buzz Bartlett, Chairman of the Board for the Space Day Foundation.

The Space Day educational initiative is co-chaired by Senator John Glenn and supported by the nonprofit Space Day Foundation, as well as 75 Partner and Associate organizations. NASA has been a Partner since Space Day was established in 1997. Lockheed Martin is the founding sponsor of the Space Day Foundation that supports the Space Day educational programs.

The mission of Space Day is to use space-related activities to inspire and prepare youth for careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Each year, millions of students, teachers, parents and space enthusiasts participate in Space Day educational programs and celebrations across North America.

“As Division Director for Astronomy and Physics I am responsible for 35 missions that extend beyond the solar system. What's particularly exciting is our effort involved in ‘planet finding.' We know there are 100 billion stars in our galaxy, but we don't know how many stars have planets around them,” explains Kinney, “The new SIRTF observatory, launched in August 2003, provides us with infrared images that will allow us to peer into regions of space that are hidden from optical telescopes.”#

For more information about Space Day visit www.spaceday.org.