Hometown Astronaut to Appear at Progressive Field

Greater Cleveland astronaut Michael Good will be the honored guest at NASA Night at Progressive Field on Saturday, June 27.Good will toss out a ceremonial first pitch during pregame ceremonies prior to the 7:05 p.m. Cleveland Indians versus Cincinnati Reds game at Progressive Field. Also he will present to the Tribe an Indians jersey that flew with him aboard the space shuttle during the recent mission to the Hubble Space Telescope.

NASA's Glenn Research Center will have exhibits and activities on Gateway Plaza preceding the game where Good will meet and greet fans from 4:30 to 5:15 p.m. He will be signing autographs inside the NASA tent from 5:15 to 6:15 p.m.NASA exhibits include a full-size model of NASA's new spaceship, the Orion crew exploration vehicle, and scaled models of a space shuttle and F-18 high-performance jet. NASA activities include a digital photo booth, where guests can take home a free picture of themselves as an astronaut, and play the popular corn hole toss game with a NASA twist.

Upon entry into the game, fans 17 and under will receive a packet of Ohio astronaut trading cards honoring the 28 astronauts who have called Ohio "home."Inside the ballpark, the Indians will provide special scoreboard features about NASA and its employees including the adventures of the Indians' mascot Slider during a recent visit to NASA Glenn.Glenn's exhibits and activities will remain on the plaza for the KeyBank Kids Fun Day Indians/Reds game on Sunday, June 28, and Good will be available to sign autographs for fans between 11:45 a.m. and 12:45 p.m.Also on Sunday retired astronaut Guion (Guy) Bluford, who served as a payload commander and mission specialist on four space shuttle missions, will toss out a ceremonial first pitch during pregame ceremonies prior to the 1:05 p.m. Indians/Reds game at Progressive Field. In 1983, Bluford became the first African-American to fly in space. He has lived and worked in the Cleveland area since 1994.