Public Outreach and Amateurs in Space!

A growing legion of amateur space scientists and others is helping to get the word out about missions throughout the solar system. Some of them are even delivering valuable new science from mission data. We'll talk with Doug Ellison, a leader in this community who has been reporting from Europlanet in the Planetary Society blog. Neil Armstrong speaks at NASA's 50th anniversary gala. Bruce Betts is also celebrating the agency's first half-century as he reveals the current night sky to Mat Kaplan, and offers up a new space trivia contest. Bill Nye and Emily Lakdawalla return next week.