Press Release:
Please include this event in your newsletters, bulletins and publications.
In September, United Campus Ministry at MSU Billings will host a Community Outreach to the
Heavens, featuring NASA astronauts Frank Borman and Loren Acton, and NASA Aerospace
Education Specialist Brian Hawkins.
About the events:
 Beginning Monday, September 22, NASA Aerospace Education Specialist Brian Hawkins will be
making presentations in Billings-area schools.
 On Monday, September 22 at 7:00pm, NASA astronaut Loren Acton will present “The Day the
Earth Caught Fire” in Petro Theater at MSUB. This presentation, highlighting his research on
solar activity, will be free and open to the public.
 On Tuesday, September 23 at 5:30pm, United Campus Ministry will host an evening of fine
dining and entertainment, featuring keynote speaker Frank Borman, NASA astronaut and
Commander of Apollo 8, the first manned craft to orbit the moon. Tickets for the dinner are $40
and tables of 8 can be sponsored for $400. This event will also include silent and live auctions.
About the speakers:
Frank Borman:
A hero of the American Space Odyssey, Frank Borman is known internationally as the Commander of the
1968 Apollo 8 Mission, the first manned craft to orbit the moon. He was also a career Air Force officer
with assignments including fighter pilot, test pilot, and instructor. After retiring from the Air Force in
1970, he began a notable career with Eastern Airlines, eventually serving as CEO.
Frank Borman is remembered as a pioneer in the exploration of space. He is also remembered for
reading from the Book of Genesis while circling the moon on Christmas Eve, 1968. He is a lifelong
member of the Episcopal church and currently attends the UCC church in Custer, Montana.
Loren Acton:
Loren Acton grew up in Montana and is currently a Research Professor of Physics in the Solar Physics
Group at Montana State University where he oversees an active research program under NASA support.
In 1985, Acton was a payload specialist on STS-51F /Spacelab-2. He traveled over 2.8 million miles in
126 earth orbits and logged over 190 hours in space. In addition to being an astronaut and scientist,
Loren Acton is a long time member of the United Methodist church.
Brian Hawkins:
Brian Hawkins is a NASA Aerospace Education Specialist, who works with AESP in an effort to bring NASA
and space education into the schools.
About the dinner:
On Tuesday, September 23, the evening will begin in the Ballroom of the MSUB Student Union Building,
with appetizers and a silent auction at 5:30pm, followed by a delicious dinner at 6:00pm. The event
program will feature a keynote address by NASA astronaut Frank Borman, and will also include
recognition of campus ministry students and volunteers, and a live auction.
Auction items include:
Art work by:
Neil Jussila, John Pollack, Ben Steele, Jon Lodge, Connie Landis, Linda Snider,
Rhett Moak, Gary Treglown, and more!
One day use of the historic Billings Depot
One hour private flight for two
Guided fly fishing trip on the Big Horn
Gift Baskets from Gainans and City Brew
Private art lessons
Press Release (page 2)
About a Community Outreach to the Heavens:
United Campus Ministry strives to provide opportunities on campus for persons to explore their faith,
ask questions, work for justice, find support and healing, connect with God, and enjoy Christian
community. Our interest in space and exploration is an outgrowth of this mission. With these events,
we hope to encourage persons in the community to integrate education with spirituality, and to
experience the wonder and mystery of the world.
These events are also planned to focus on maintaining and developing the ministry another 40 years,
and beyond. During the past four decades, United Campus Ministry has been funded through
denominational giving from Presbyterians and United Methodists, with additional assistance from the
United Church of Christ, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Lutheran (ELCA), Episcopal and American
Baptist churches. As denominational funds decrease we are concerned with raising awareness about
our ministry while also increasing our financial stability. A portion of each ticket sold will go to fund the
important work of United Campus Ministry at MSUB.
About Loren Acton’s presentation on “The Day the Earth Caught Fire”
Based on Dr. Acton’s recent lecture at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum…
"Something amazing happened in the first few days of September, 1859. Telegraph long-lines in Europe
and the United States crashed frequently and some telegraph operators were electrically zapped,
knocked into unconsciousness. Motors and other electrical devices burst into flame. There were
unusually bright and wild auroral light shows in the night skies. Anything that could measure a magnetic
field, or be affected by magnetic disturbances, ranging from sailor's compasses to sensitive
magnetometers, behaved erratically.
What caused this trauma? The answer came from an amateur astronomer who had been observing the
Sun from his private observatory. Richard Carrington, son of a wealthy brewer, had been following the
development of a huge sunspot group many times the size of the Earth, and speculated that somehow
this powerful storm blasted Earth with invisible energies then unknown to science.
Since Carrington's observation, links between storms and flares on the Sun have become indelibly linked
to magnetic disturbances on Earth and in the Earth's upper atmosphere. As our civilization adapted
forms of electricity to create the modern world of commerce, transportation and communication,
monitoring these solar disturbances that could disrupt human activities became more and more critical.
Today it is essential that we have as complete a knowledge of solar activity as possible. Our global
positioning systems, for instance, have not yet experienced a full solar cycle of sunspot activity. And so
we do not yet know what to expect, especially if storms of the scale found by Carrington take place."