Francis French, historian of space flight exploration and co-author of several books including Falling to Earth: An Apollo 15 Astronaut’s Journey to the Moon, is the featured Dome Talks speaker on Thursday, April 25 at the San Bernardino County Museum.
French is a consultant with SwissApollo, a company dedicated to sharing the excitement of the Apollo space exploration era. He was previously Director of Education at the San Diego Air & Space Museum, and Director of Events for Sally Ride Science, working for America’s first woman in space. French has coauthored four bestselling space history books, including Into That Silent Sea: Trailblazers of the Space Era, 1961–1965, In the Shadow of the Moon: A Challenging Journey to Tranquility, 1965–1969, and Falling To Earth, with Apollo Astronaut Al Worden. French’s writing is noted for the amount of personal interviews with astronauts and cosmonauts, including Wally Schirra, Gordon Cooper, Scott Carpenter, and Pavel Popovich.
French is a regular presence on PBS, The Discovery Channel, History Channel, Science Channel, BBC World Service, NPR’s “all Things Considered,” and other broadcasts sharing spaceflight and astronomy discoveries with a global public. In 2010, French was inducted into the U.S. Space & Rocket Center's Space Camp Hall of Fame for his contributions to space history writing and making science and technology accessible and understandable to family audiences Museum Director Melissa Russo said,“space exploration is endlessly fascinating to all generations. Just this month, news that a team of scientists were able to capture for the first time an image of a black hole, spread widely on social media. A discovery of that magnitude would not be possible without the groundbreaking achievements of engineers and astronauts of the last several decades. Through firsthand accounts, Francis French has been able to document the stories of these early pioneers in space travel, and we are honored to have him join us for Dome Talks.”
All Dome Talks evenings open at 6:30 p.m. for a light reception sponsored by the San Bernardino County Museum Association, and Lorenzi Estate Wines. French’s talk starts at 7 p.m. and will include sales of her book and signing.
Tickets for the evening are $25 ($18 museum members), subject to availability as the Dome Talks theater has limited seating. Tickets can be purchased online at www.sbcounty.gov/museum or may be purchased at the Museum’s Guest Services Desk.
The San Bernardino County Museum’s exhibits of regional, cultural and natural history and the Museum’s other exciting events and programs reflect the effort by the Board of Supervisors to achieve the Countywide Vision by celebrating arts, culture, and education in the county, creating quality of life for residents and visitors.