To Infinity and Beyond: National Space Day at UCLA

Happy National Space Day, Bruins! National Space Day is celebrated on the first Friday of May annually — May 1 this year. To celebrate, keep reading to learn about UCLA’s planetarium and Bruin astronauts!

Did you know that eight UCLA alumni have traveled to space? Space exploration in the United States began in the 1950s with the launch of Explorer 1, and the U.S. launched its first manned space mission, Project Mercury, in 1961. Bruins have been at the forefront of space exploration since 1963, when Walter Cunningham ’60 participated in the Apollo 7 mission, the first crewed flight in NASA’s Apollo program. Over the six decades since, Bruins have continued to achieve firsts in space exploration: Anna Lee Fisher ’71 became the first female Bruin and first mother to ever enter space in 1984, and in 2022, Katya Echazarreta ’19 became the first Mexican-born woman to enter space. Click the links below to learn more about UCLA’s astronauts.

For those who want to celebrate National Space Day while keeping our feet firmly on planet Earth, the UCLA Planetarium is located on the eighth floor of the Mathematical Sciences building and offers free space shows every Wednesday during regular academic quarters. Reservations can be made to guarantee a seat beginning one week before a show; otherwise, seats are available on a first come, first serve basis beginning one hour before the start of a show. Shows start at 7 p.m. between November and March and 8 p.m. between April and October and last about one hour. This National Space Day, consider checking out the UCLA Planetarium and learning about the universe firsthand. For more information, click the link below.

National Space Day reminds us that the journey to space can begin close to home: in a UCLA classroom, under the dome of the planetarium or through the stories of Bruins who have already exited Earth’s atmosphere. Happy National Space Day!