MEDIA ALERT -- Paper Airplane Contest at the Franklin Institute in Commemoration of Wright Brothers and Centennial of Powered Flight


PHILADELPHIA, Dec. 15, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) --


        WHAT:         100 students from the Russell H. Conwell Middle
                      Magnet School in Philadelphia will participate
                      in a paper airplane flying contest to see whose
                      plane will travel the farthest. In celebration
                      of the 100th anniversary of the historic flight
                      of Orville and Wilbur Wright, all 100 students
                      will throw their airplanes simultaneously at
                      10:35 a.m. (the exact time of the first
                      successful flight).

        WHO:          Participants
                      100 students of the Russell H. Conwell Middle
                      Magnet School

                      Judges
                      Derrick Pitts, Chief Astronomer, The Franklin
                      Institute
                      Dan Brandenstein, former aviator and astronaut
                      and current Vice President, Customer Service
                      for Lockheed Martin's Consolidated Space
                      Operations Contract (CSOC)

                      Remarks
                      Dennis Wint, President and CEO, The Franklin
                      Institute
                      George Roesser, Principal, Russell H. Conwell
                      Middle School
                      Amanda Heaton, Account Director, Discovery
                      Channel
                      Kathleen Sullivan, Regional VP, Government and
                      Community Relations, Comcast Cable
                      Communications

        WHEN:         Contest: Wednesday, December 17, 9:30 - 10:30
                      a.m.
                      Awards Ceremony: Wednesday, December 17, 10:40
                      a.m.

        WHERE:        Bartol Atrium
                      The Franklin Institute
                      20th and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway

        DETAILS:      The Discovery Channel organized the competition
                      as part of its national Young Scientist
                      Contest. The contest is sponsored locally by
                      Comcast Cable, The Franklin Institute and the
                      School District of Philadelphia.

                      Comcast and the Discovery Channel will award a
                      variety of prizes. Discovery Channel will also
                      present the Russell H. Conwell Middle Magnet
                      School with a $1,500 grant for its science
                      program. In addition, each student will be
                      eligible through a raffle to win a trip to the
                      flight school at the U.S. Space and Rocket
                      Center in Huntsville, Ala.

        BACKGROUND:   The Franklin Institute Science Museum recently
                      opened a new aviation exhibit, "The Franklin
                      Air Show." The centerpiece of the 5,000
                      square-foot exhibit is the 1911 Model Wright B
                      Flyer, the most intact Wright airplane
                      remaining in the world (including the one at
                      the Smithsonian Institute). The new exhibit,
                      which opened in October, contains more than 20
                      interactive devices in three "environments:"
                      an aircraft hangar, a midway and a pilot-
                      training area.

            

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