Published: March 27, 2002

Note to Editors: Photographers are welcome to take pictures as the exhibit is being set up between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. on April 1.

Starship 2040, an interactive NASA exhibit revealing what a commercial spacecraft might be like four decades from now in the year 2040, will visit the College of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Colorado at Boulder on April 2 and April 3.

The traveling exhibit, which is making its first visit to Colorado, is housed in a 48-foot-long tractor-trailer, which will be parked on the sidewalk north of the Engineering Center at Colorado Avenue and Folsom Street. The exhibit is free and open to the public from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on April 2, and from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on April 3.Ìý

Starship 2040 allows visitors to walk through a mock-up of a futuristic spacecraft's control, passenger and engineering compartments. Visitors will get a glimpse of the technologies behind the high-energy propulsion drive, automated crew and vehicle health monitoring systems, navigational aids, emergency and safety systems, and other special features under development today at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.

A lecture on "The Future of Space Transportation" will be presented in conjunction with the exhibit by Bill Pannell of the Marshall Space Flight Center. The two-hour lecture will begin at 5 p.m. on April 2 in the Engineering Center, room ECCR 245.

The exhibit will travel to Colorado Springs after it leaves Boulder. It will be on exhibit at the U.S. Air Force Academy April 4-5 and at the Citadel Mall on April 6, before heading to the National Space Symposium at the Broadmoor Hotel April 8-11.

For more information on the exhibit visit . For details on the exhibit's visit to CU-Boulder call (303) 492-7426.