NASA's Destination Station to stop at sites across Triangle

NASA's Destination Station will make stops at several events across the Triangle this week.

The traveling multimedia exhibit provides a peek into the International Space Station and offers the opportunity to see an actual moon rock that was carried to Earth by astronauts on the Apollo 17 mission.

According to a press release from NASA, veteran space station astronauts Doug Wheelock and Rex Walheim will share their stories about living and working in space, their perspective on space station research opportunities and the special vantage point over Earth that the orbital laboratory provides. Other officials, including station scientists Tara Ruttley and John Love, also will participate in the public events.

Here's where you can find the public events. Admission is free:

• 1 p.m. to 6 p.m., Tuesday, in the parking area in front of Morehead Planetarium and Science Center.
• 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Wednesday, at the North Carolina Biotech Center, 15 TW Alexander Drive, in Research Triangle Park.
• 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., Thursday, during Nerd Night at The Frontier, 800 Park Office Drive, in Research Triangle Park. Ruttley and Walheim will give presentations at 6:30 and 7 p.m., respectively.
• 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Friday, at the N.C. Museum of Natural Science, 11 W. Jones St. in Raleigh. Walheim will give presentations on his missions to the space station at 12:30 p.m. and 1:30 p.m. Program manager Debbie Wells will give presentations on commercial use of the station at 1 p.m. and 2 p.m.

And if a visit to Destination Station intrigues you, be sure to catch "A Beautiful Planet 3D," which recently opened at Marbles Kids Museum's IMAX theater. The movie was filmed, in part, by astronauts on the International Space Station.