posted 11-11-2005 01:11 AM               

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How would you like to take a field trip to the Mojave Desert with two renowned planetary scientists, buy a rare early paper by Carl Sagan about the quest for extraterrestrial life, or enjoy coffee and a chat with a space shuttle astronaut? Just log on to The Planetary Society's online auction and place your bids!

In celebration of The Planetary Society's 25th anniversary, members of the Society's Board of Directors, Advisors, and several Society friends volunteered their time, expertise and space-related memorabilia to the auction. It opened November 2 and will close November 12 at 8:00 PM PST, coinciding with the Society's 25th Anniversary Gala Awards Dinner: Our Next Age of Exploration. Guests at the dinner will be able to bid online during the festivities, but so will the public from anywhere on Earth!

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The auction offers the chance to bid on several unique experiences around the country, including:

Los Angeles: Lunch with Bill Nye the Science Guy and Star Trek: Voyager's Robert Picardo.
New York: Tour of famous Hayden Planetarium with its director, Neil deGrasse Tyson.
Seattle: Tour Seattle's Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame with director, Donna Shirley.
Washington, DC: Tour hosted by shuttle astronaut Tom Jones of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum's Udvar-Hazy Center at Dulles International Airport.

Space and science fiction collectibles are also featured in The Planetary Society's online auction, including autographed books and a photo from Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin, an autographed DVD set of the complete seasons of Star Trek: Voyager, original art, and autographed books from Tyson and David Brin.

The Planetary Society will host its 25th Anniversary Gala Awards Dinner: Our Next Age of Exploration on November 12, 2005 in Arcadia,California. Author Ray Bradbury and film maker James Cameron will be honored with awards at the dinner: The Thomas O. Paine Award for the Advancement of Human Exploration of Mars to Bradbury and The Planetary Society's inaugural Cosmos Award for Outstanding Public Presentation of Science to Cameron.

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