Walter Cronkite to Attend 50th Anniversary Celebration of America in Space

Legendary Newsman to Accept Lifetime Achievement Award

HUNTSVILLE, Al., Dec. 12 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Veteran newsman and space enthusiast Walter Cronkite will be among the honored guests January 31, 2008, for the 50th Anniversary of America's first satellite launch and the unveiling of the fully restored original Saturn V moon rocket.

Both the celebration of the 50th Anniversary of America in Space and the unveiling of the 160 million horsepower Saturn V will take place as part of the opening and dedication of the new Davidson Center for Space Exploration at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

Cronkite, best known as anchorman of the CBS Evening News from 1962 through 1981, covering all major stories of the era including the Vietnam War, the assassination of President Kennedy, and all NASA missions from Project Mercury through the shuttle program, will be presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award for Journalism for his coverage of the space program. He is the only recipient of NASA's coveted Ambassador of Exploration Award who is neither an astronaut nor employee of the space agency.

In accepting the invitation for the 50th anniversary celebration, Mr. Cronkite said, "I wouldn't miss it for the world. It's a wonderful opportunity to honor the team that put America in space in 1958, and then man on the moon in 1969."

Cronkite will join Discovery Communications Founder and Chairman John Hendricks; astronauts Buzz Aldrin, Scott Carpenter, Walter Cunningham, Owen Garriott, Richard Gordon, Edgar Mitchell, Russell Schweickart, Charlie Duke and Bill Anders; along with many additional space program celebrities for ceremonies dedicating the Davidson Center to the men and women who answered the challenge to put Americans on the moon.

The 68,000-square-foot Davidson Center for Space Exploration will house the original Saturn V lunar rocket vehicle and hundreds of additional artifacts from the manned space flight program. Exhibits will enable visitors to literally take a walking tour through America's history and future in space, starting with the first airplane that flew over Alabama to replicas of the next generation of spacecraft, the Ares I and Ares V launch vehicles, both being developed in Huntsville.

Hendricks, Founder and Chairman of The Discovery Channel and Discovery Communications, who serves as Honorary Chairman for the 50th Anniversary event, said, "It's a delight to be able to celebrate America's half-century in space with Walter Cronkite, the man who more than any other helped to educate the public on the long-term value of our explorations beyond Earth."

The dedication of the Davidson Center, sanctioned as an official NASA 50th Anniversary event, is but one of several activities planned in Huntsville, the birthplace of America's space program, to observe the 50th anniversary of the launch of America's first artificial satellite, Explorer 1 on January 31, 1958. The day will begin with a series of three star-studded panel discussions in the Concert Hall at Huntsville's Von Braun Center. Panelists include rocket engineers Ernst Stuhlinger and Konrad Dannenberg, the Smithsonian's Roger Launius, NASA futurist Steve Cook, author Paul Dickson, filmmaker Rush DeNooyer, and space visionary Fred Ordway, to name a few. The discussions will include topics covering America's first 50 years in space through the next 50 years.

"While it's true we'll unveil a new world-class facility in the Davidson Center, it's just as important that we mark our nation's first 50 years in space, and even more important that we mark the beginning of the next 50 years," according to U.S. Space & Rocket Center CEO Larry Capps.

Additional activities include relighting of the life-size Saturn V replica adjacent to the Davidson Center, a space art show and VIP reception at the Huntsville Museum of Art, screenings of the documentary In the Shadow of the Moon, and ribbon-cutting ceremony officially opening the Davidson Center to the public.

For more information, visit http://www.us50thspace.com.