The Museum of Flight in Seattle will host a lecture and panel presentation Feb. 4 as part of its Black History Month festivities.

Both programs will feature the first African American to walk in space, former astronaut Dr. Bernard Harris. The Black History Month programs include a 2 p.m. lecture by Harris, followed at 3:15 p.m. with a panel discussion including Harris and five aviation professionals.

McChord Field will be heavily represented on the panel, as Lt. Col. Ronald Limes, a Air Force Reservist and C-17 Globemaster III pilot with the 97th Airlift Squadron, will serve as the moderator.

Lt. Col. Kimberly Scott, an Alaska Airlines pilot and Reserve C-17 pilot with the 728th Airlift Squadron, and Mitch Mitchell, also an Alaska Airlines pilot, will participate.

Mitchell, a retired Air Force major general, served as vice commander of the 446th Airlift Wing from April 1999 to November 2000. Earlier this month, he retired from his position as Deputy Inspector General of the Air Force, Office of the Secretary of the Air Force, Washington, D.C. He previously assisted the inspector general in the performance of all responsibilities of the Office of the Inspector General. The Inspector General reports to the Secretary and Chief of Staff of the Air Force on the readiness, efficiency, economy and state of discipline of all components of the Air Force  - active-duty, Reserve and Air National Guard.

The panel presentation, "Reaching Your Potential," includes Harris, the Air Force and and Alaska Airlines pilots, an engineer and an airline dispatcher, who will discuss career opportunities in aerospace.

Harris worked at NASA for ten years, where he conducted research in musculoskeletal physiology and disuse osteoporosis. Later, as Head of the Exercise Countermeasure Project, he conducted clinical investigations of space adaptation and developed in-flight medical devices to extend Astronaut stays in space. Selected into the Astronaut Corp in January 1990, Harris was a mission specialist on the space shuttle Columbia STS-55/Spacelab D-2 in 1993. As payload commander on the shuttle Discovery STS-63 in 1995, he served on the first flight of the joint Russian-American Space Program, becoming the first African American to walk in space. Harris has logged more than 438 hours and traveled over 7.2 million miles in space

Harris is a veteran of two space shuttle flights, and is president of The Harris Foundation, a nonprofit organization that supports math/science education and crime prevention programs for America's youth.

Both presentations are free with museum admission. The Museum is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $16 for adults, $14 for seniors 65 and older, $13 for active military, $9 for youth 5 to 17, and free for children under 5. Group rates are available. Admission on the first Thursday of the month is free from 5 to 9 p.m. courtesy of Wells Fargo. For general Museum information, please call 206-764-5720 or visit www.museumofflight.org.