An exhibition called NASA — A Human Adventure, that is touring worldwide and which features 300 items that have been used in space exploration missions and a wing dedicated to Taiwan’s aerospace technology, is to be held at the National Taiwan Science Education Center in Taipei from tomorrow until Sept. 18.
The exhibit has been touring since 2011 and has visited the Netherlands, Sweden, Japan, South Korea, Spain, Turkey and Thailand.
Taiwan is to be the eighth nation to host the event and the first to open a wing to showcase its own aerospace technology.
Photo: Wu Po-wei, Taipei Times
Items on display used in previous NASA missions include a spacesuit that has been worn during spacewalks, an Apollo program capsule, a Titan rocket engine and video explaining the history of NASA, as well as astronaut training equipment that visitors can touch.
The Taiwan section is to display objects used in the nation’s space program, such as Formosa-series satellites.
Jades Integrate Co director of sales Cheng Yu-ming (鄭玉明), whose company is responsible for the event in Taiwan, said the nation has been playing a major role in the global aerospace industry and possesses the ability to launch satellites independently, but it had not received the recognition it deserves due to political reasons.
As a result, the company seized the opportunity presented by the NASA exhibit and obtained permission to co-host a Taiwan section in conjunction with the event, Cheng said.
Yen Cheng (嚴正), a NASA engineer from Taiwan who participated in the mission to land the Curiosity rover on Mars, said the public has an erroneous impression from television and Internet video clips that being an astronaut is a glamorous job.
“In fact, space exploration is tough and dangerous work. Astronauts must undergo rigorous training prior to missions and conduct their mission in austere environments, such as being confined in cramped space capsules for days at a time. Technicians who design space vessels are also subjected to immense pressures, because any error might result in mission failure and casualties,” Yen said.
The exhibit aims to show visitors how a real space mission is planned and carried out, Yen said.
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