Larry Wiss joins 2 others from Hawaii to educate the public
Monday, February 11, 2002

By Rosemarie Bernardo rbernardo@starbulletin.com

DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM Larry Wiss is one of 278 ambassadors chosen for the 2002 Solar System Ambassador program of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Ambassadors run events in their state such as stargazing parties, lectures, community displays and library appearances. Wiss, a new ambassador who is working at the Bishop Museum Planetarium as a program producer, posed recently with a space station model on display at the museum.

Hearing radio signals from Sputnik orbiting Earth in 1957 and watching Neil Armstrong land on the moon in 1969 sparked Larry Wiss's fascination with space.

"That was chilling," Wiss said.

Recently, Wiss has helped others understand the solar system by relating space to everyday life, leading him to become the newest ambassador from Hawaii selected for the 2002 Solar System Ambassador program of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Wiss joins Hawaii residents Michael Jones and Kathy Chock to further educate the public about space exploration.

A total of 278 volunteers were selected nationwide to participate in the five-year ambassador program.

Each was chosen by the program's board of directors of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., to educate the public about the solar system through events such as stargazing parties, lectures and community displays.

Wiss first worked as an actor in Chicago and was hired to portray "theater-type pieces" for the International Space Station education project. He later traveled to Florida and Texas to observe the space shuttle and space station launch facilities at Kennedy and Johnson space centers.

Wiss now lives in Honolulu and works as an International Space Station producer at Bishop Museum.

Helping the public and youths understand how a space vehicle orbits Earth and informing them of breakthrough research on microgravity is gratifying, Wiss said.

"That's the big wow for me," he said.

Currently, Wiss is developing a NASA Science Outreach program in Hawaii.

Second-year ambassador Michael Jones said, "It's (space exploration) an integral part of my life, and I enjoy sharing that love with thousands of people that I interact with regularly."

Jones was a science teacher at Kellogg Middle School in Seattle for 21 years before relocating to Hawaii to become a tour pilot for Voyager Submarines Hawaii.

Like Wiss, Jones worked at Bishop Museum producing two planetarium programs shown nationwide. He now works as a technical programs administrator for a research group called Science and Technology International.

Jones' interest in space and astronomy stemmed from a book he read as a teenager, "The Glass Giant of Palomar," which explained the challenges of building the 200-inch Hale telescope.

"That absolutely captivated me that we could engineer something with such high precision," he said.

Last year, Jones organized stargazing parties once a month at Molokai Ranch, an event he plans to continue this year.

Kathy Chock, an ambassador since 1999 and an art teacher at Kamehameha Schools, said, "Many people are fascinated with looking at the sky."

Becoming an ambassador "enabled me to have better outreach," Chock said.