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Before he began his 3rd expedition to Titanic, Dr. Robert Ballard sat down for a brief interview, and discussed his previous expeditions, how the discovery of Titanic changed his life, and what he hopes to accomplish with this Return to Titanic.
| Kids Join Return Mission to R.M.S. Titanic Through New Immersion Program |
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Live via satellite, kids across U.S. join historic expedition June
4-9, 2004 and making of National Geographic Channel television
broadcast.
(MYSTIC, CT - May 24, 2004) - Thousands of children and visitors at museums, science institutions, school systems and National Boys & Girls Clubs across the nation will join Dr. Robert Ballard's expedition Return to Titanic from June 4-9. Through satellite and Internet 2 technology, Mystic Aquarium & Institute for Exploration's Immersion Project will allow children -- and adults - to take part in a ground-breaking, two-way virtual experience of the historic mission. The program, entitled Titanic Live! will also enable participants to watch the making of National Geographic Channel's television event, "Return to Titanic," which originates from the expedition and will be broadcast live during the mission Monday, June 7. Through Titanic Live! the Immersion Project will send four live shows per day to sites across the country from the Titanic expedition's research vessel, National Oceanographic Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Ronald Brown. The live programs will be distributed via two-way satellite transmission, Internet2 and a gated website at www.mysticaquarium.org. Most of the Immersion Project's 13 partner sites, including Project developer Mystic Aquarium & Institute for Exploration, will also allow the public to join in the expedition. Dr. Ballard discovered the ill-fated Titanic in 1985, 73 years after it hit an iceberg and sank in 12,500 feet of water. That discovery led to the birth of JASON, a distance science education program also participating in the mission. Now Dr. Ballard is returning nearly twenty years later with a team of researchers on a scientific expedition to assess the deterioration of the wreck and the amount of damage to Titanic since its discovery. The expedition's mission partners are NOAA; Mystic Aquarium & Institute for Exploration, the National Geographic Society, the National Geographic Channel, The University of Rhode Island's Graduate School of Oceanography and the JASON Foundation for Education. The Immersion Project Technology Partners and critical team members developing the technology enabling the Titanic LIVE! program, are EDS of Texas, and VBrick Systems of Connecticut. Additional technical support has been provided by Dynacon, Inc. who has graciously provided a 20 HP Oceanographic winch. "The kids taking part in the Immersion Project's Titanic Live! will get a front row seat to the expedition as it unfolds, as well as being able to watch the pre-production of National Geographic Channel's show. They'll have a rare opportunity to watch real scientific exploration as it's happening, and a new chapter in the history of Titanic as it unfolds. This includes live video from the ship and from our remotely operated vehicles (ROV's) underwater as they assess the state of Titanic and all that has happened in the nearly twenty years since her discovery," said Ballard. "The Immersion Project creates access usually reserved for a few very lucky scientists and explorers. I have always believed it possible to inspire kids in science if you just let them in. We are making that happen with this mission, and I am fulfilling a vision I set out over twenty years ago." "We are offering children a first-hand experience in forensic science, as we uncover the mysteries of Titanic and her deterioration." said Dr. Stephen Coan, executive director of the Immersion Project and vice president of education at Mystic Aquarium & Institute for Exploration. "Not only will some be able to question Dr. Ballard and other expedition scientists about what they are seeing, but they will also be encouraged to form their own conclusions based on what the research team's survey, mapping and tests show about the causes of the Titanic's disintegration. This will truly be a once in a lifetime experience," he said. The Immersion Project's Titanic Live! expedition programs will air June 4 - June 9 at 10 a.m., 12 p.m., 1:30 p.m. and 4 p.m. EDT. Visitors and children to Mystic Aquarium & Institute for Exploration will be able to see the programs on timed tickets in the Immersion Theatre as part of the cost of the admission to the facility. In addition, the programs will be distributed to 135 Boys & Girls Clubs and other Immersion Project sites around the U.S. including the Seacoast Science Center in Rye, NH; University of Rhode Island's Office of Marine Programs; Nassau BOCES in Garden City, NY; Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies in Gatlinberg, TN and Ripley's Aquarium in Myrtle Beach, SC; Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, FL; the Cleveland Museum of Art; Pier Wisconsin/Discovery World in Milwaukee; Michigan's Lamphere and Oakland Schools; Herrett Center for Arts & Science in Twin Falls, ID; The Vermont Institutes in Montpelier, VT and Oregon Museum of Science and Industry in Portland. The live programs began last summer with Dr. Ballard's Expedition 2003 to the Black Sea and will be part of the normal process of sharing all future expeditions. The programs were developed in collaboration with the National Geographic Society, the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, and the JASON Foundation for Education. During and after the expedition, Immersion Project students will participate in 13 special "Exploration Missions" organized around the expedition. These activities, covering marine archaeology, oceanography, geology, technology, culture, history and forensic science, will entertain as well as educate, Coan said, and will feature a variety of interactive educational materials designed to spark the scientific minds of a new generation. Many kids will also take part in the activities in camp-based and after-school programs after the expedition is over, including applying what they learned while watching the making of National Geographic Channel's June 7th special to producing their own film projects. Besides the interactive exploration missions and video productions, Immersion Project's Titanic Live! also includes hands-on media activities for participating kids. They will develop and produce local Web sites related to the forensic science of the expedition and a gated Immersion Project expedition Web site (to which the local sites will link). The gated web site TitanicLIVE! was created to allow children across the country to continue to follow the mission in real time as it unfolds and after they have left their classrooms. They will also hold regular teleconferences with other participating groups to share what they learned during and after the expedition. For computer users without Internet 2 or satellite reception, images, expedition information will be available at the expedition's official web site, www.mysticaquarium.org. JASON is also hosting a Web site, www.returntothetitanic, which features missives from the expedition. In July 2003, Mystic Aquarium & Institute for Exploration's Immersion Project joined with 10 Boys & Girls Clubs in the Immersion Project's pilot Live! program, following Dr. Ballard's month-long expedition to examine ancient shipwrecks in the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. The reaction to the program was so positive that this year the Boys & Girls Clubs is offering a greatly expanded version to 135 other clubs. The National Geographic Society is funding the development of this educational program. The lead technology partners are EDS, of Plano, Texas and VBrick Systems, of Wallingford, Connecticut. Regional Partner NBC 30 is the Official Media Sponsor of the Immersion Project in MAIFE's home state of Connecticut. National Geographic Channel is a national partner of Immersion Project in local markets. Besides its core mission partner, NOAA's Office of Exploration, Dr. Ballard's Titanic expedition is underwritten by the National Geographic Society, National Geographic Channel, Mystic Aquarium & Institute for Exploration, the JASON Foundation for Education and the University of Rhode Island's Graduate School of Oceanography. Mystic Aquarium & Institute for Exploration (MA/IFE) is one of the nation's leading nonprofit marine science centers. Its mission is to inspire people everywhere to care about and protect our oceans by exploring and sharing their biological, ecological, and cultural treasures. All proceeds go to the development and execution of educational programs, marine research, marine animal rescue and releases, and research expeditions. For additional information on the organization or the Immersion Project, please visit www.mysticaquarium.org or www.ife.org or call 860-572-5955. Contact information for Immersion Project sites follows: Kathy Hoy, khoy@mysticaquarium.org Mystic Aquarium & Institute for Exploration 55 Coogan Blvd., Mystic, CT 06355 860-572-5955 www.mysticaquarium.org Elizabeth Metz, emetz@mote.org Mote Marine Laboratory 1600 Ken Thompson Parkway Sarasota, FL 34236 941-388-4441 www.mote.org Gaye-Linn Clyde, gclyde@pierwisconsin.org Pier Wisconsin/Discovery World 815 N. James Lovell St Milwaukee, WI 53233 414-276-7700 www.pierwisconsin.org Maryann C. Scholl, mscholl@gso.uri.edu University of Rhode Island Office of Marine Programs 218 S. Ferry Road Narragansett, RI 02882 401-874-6211 www.omp.gso.uri.edu Carolann James, CJAMES@mail.nasboces.org Nassau BOCES 71 Clinton Road Garden City, NY 11530 516-396-2264 www.nassauboces.org Genevieve Marrin, GMarrin@omsi.edu Oregon Museum of Science and Industry 1945 SE Water Avenue Portland, OR 97214-3354 800-955-OMSI www.omsi.edu Courtney Thompson, kroll@ripleys.com Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies 888 River Road Gatlinburg, Tennessee 37738 888-240-1358 www.ripleysaquariumofthesmokies.com Wendy Lull, w.lull@seacentr.org Seacoast Science Center, Odiorne Point State Park 570 Ocean Blvd. Rye, NH 03870 603-436-8043 www.seacoastcentr.org Carolyn Jones, cjones@vermontinstitues.org Vermont Institutes 7 West St. Montpelier , VT 05602 802-828-0590 www.viln.org Dale Steen, steend@lamphere.k12.mi.us The Lamphere Schools 31201 Dorchester Madison Heights, MI 48071 248-589-1990 www.lamphere.k12.mi.us/ Kim Kiff, kkiff@ripleysaquarium.com Ripley's Aquarium 1110 Celebrity Circle Myrtle Beach, SC 29577 1-800-734-8888 843-916-0888, ext 275 kkiff@ripleysaquarium.com Leonard Steinbach, lsteinbach@clevelandart.org Cleveland Museum of Art 11150 East Boulevard Cleveland, Ohio 44106 216-707-2642 www.clemusart.org Darcy Thornborrow, dthornborrow@csi.edu Herrett Center for Arts & Science 315 Falls Avenue Twin Falls, ID 83301 208-732-6664 www.csi.edu/herrett/ |