September 10, 2006
Press Release

NASA Astronaut Charles Bolden
to land on Bonaire on 25 November 2006

Will speak with school children & community

In November 2006, former NASA Astronaut Charles "Charlie" Bolden will visit Bonaire to speak to local school children. Astronaut Bolden has commanded two space missions including the first Space Laboratory mission dedicated to the study of Earth’s atmosphere and the first US-Russian mission with a Russian Cosmonaut as a crewmember. In addition, Astronaut Bolden flew two other missions, one of them as pilot orbiting almost 650 kilometers (400 miles) above the earth. In May 2006 he was inducted into the U.S. Astronauts Hall of Fame.

The astronaut is especially interested in meeting school children while on Bonaire and talking with them about his experiences and his belief in setting and meeting personal goals. He will answer any questions the children want to ask him. Just before the visit from the astronaut there will be essay and poster contests for all age school children.
Times and locations of Astronaut Bolden’s meetings with the school children, the media and the public will be announced in October. It is planned for the astronaut to meet with all sixth class students, many SGB students as well as separate presentations at Jong Bonaire and UniCollege and Pelikaan School. There will also be an evening presentation for the entire community. Parents are invited to bring any students who did not have a chance to see the astronaut in school to the community session.

The visit of the former astronaut has been arranged by Bonaire residents Ben and Laura Buchbinder. Ben Buchbinder worked for NASA for many years before retiring to Bonaire. It was during his NASA work that he became friends with Bolden. Buchbinder has also been a consultant to the Hubble Space Telescope project. During his volunteer work at Pelikaan School, Buchbinder realized that a number of young people were very interested in space and so he decided to invite the astronaut to talk with Bonaire’s youth.

General Bolden is also a scuba diver and he will be visiting Bonaire for the first time. It is hoped that he will do some scuba diving and also try the local windsurfing since he loves to 'fly.'

In 1992, Bolden was Commander of the Space Shuttle Atlantis for the ATLAS-1 Spacelab mission, when twelve scientific experiments were performed. The experiments were designed to learn about the earth’s climate and provided scientists with significant information about the atmosphere. Bolden was also Commander of his last flight, Space Shuttle Discovery in 1994, during which a Russian Cosmonaut flew with NASA for the first time.

After the flight in 1994, Bolden returned to the Marine Corps where he served as Deputy Commandant of Midshipmen at the US Naval Academy. He retired from the Marines as a Major General and now serves as a consultant to NASA and other organizations.
Astronaut Charlie Bolden was born in South Carolina (USA) and graduated from the US Naval Academy. He then became a Marine pilot and, in 1981, was named as a NASA astronaut. His first space flight was as a crewmember aboard Space Shuttle Columbia in 1986. This mission launched a communications satellite and also performed many scientific experiments. In 1990, Bolden was the pilot on Space Shuttle Discovery when the Hubble Space Telescope was launched into space.

Sponsors for the astronaut’s visit are RE/MAX Real Estate, Support Bonaire Foundation, Divi Flamingo Hotel, Jake & Linda Richter, Jong Bonaire, The Pelikaan School and Ben & Laura Buchbinder. The astronaut’s visit has been endorsed by the Board of Education, the RK Schoolbestuur and SGB.