SPACE EXPO at Long Beach Comic Con

THANK YOU everyone who stopped by the SPACE EXPO area at Long Beach Comic Con and Expo or attended one of our panels! We have an absolute blast every show and are already looking forward to September! Also, wanted to shout out Columbia Memorial Space Center for being awesome hosts, and Cosplay for Science, Estes & Schmitt, Long Beach Public Library's Mobile Studio and DroidBuilders for coming out and providing a great experience for all attendees! Planning has already started for September. If you have any ideas of what you'd like to see in the Space Expo exhibit space or as a panel, let us know!

Only 2 days away! We set up tomorrow and then Saturday is the big day! If you haven't purchased tickets to Long Beach Comic Con and Expo yet, click the link below! https://www.eventbrite.com/e/long-beach-comic-expo-2020-tic

When visiting SPACE EXPO this weekend at Long Beach Comic Con and Expo, stop by our friends Estes & Schmitt for exclusive Space Expo deals on their one-of-a-kind products! Estes & Schmitt are astrophotographers who use telescopes and cameras to take pictures of celestial objects including galaxies, nebulae, and planets, and sell high-quality apparel and metal prints featuring their images. Their work has been featured in the LA Times, and is sold at Griffith Observatory, and on their website www.estesandschmitt.com. They will be selling their prints at a special event price at LBCE this weekend only. If you haven't purchased your tickets yet to Long Beach Comic Con and Expo, click here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/long-beach-comic-expo-2020-tic

We are one week away from Long Beach Comic Con and Expo ! Make sure to stop by the SPACE EXPO area for the out-of-this-world FUN provided by Columbia Memorial Space Center, Cosplay for Science , Estes & Schmitt and the R2D2 Droid Builders group! If you haven't purchased tickets yet, click the link below! https://www.eventbrite.com/e/long-beach-comic-expo-2020-tic

Thrilled to announce that one of our very favorite guests Keri Bean will not only be on a panel again next week, but will also be helping judge the Cosplay Contest at Long Beach Comic Con and Expo! SPACE EXPO will be a part of the contest in two different categories, Best Space Themed and Best Engineering (highlighting skilled use of tech)! Keri Bean is a systems engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA. She currently works on the Curiosity Mars rover as a rover driver and on the Mars 2020 rover as the training lead. In her spare time, she is an active member of the R2-D2 Builder’s Club with her very own Astromech and cosplays with the Rebel Legion. She is commonly referred to as NASA Rey! If there’s anyone qualified to help judge these categories, it’s definitely Keri!

Check out this really cool video from NASA about what they'll be up to in 2020! What are you most interested in seeing a panel on at the next Long Beach Comic Con and Expo later this year?

We open 2020 with another Special Guest Announcement! Laura R. Tewksbury As a Senior Preparator at the La Brea Tar Pits and Museum in Los Angeles, Laura works with scientific staff and a team of dedicated volunteers to excavate Pleistocene fossils (Ice Age, an average of 30,000 years old), on display as part of an active public exhibit. She also helps teach an annual summer Field School on site, presents research at conferences and outreach events, and is branching out to t...he community as the newly-created Science Communications Liasion. Her educational background is in both Biology and American Sign Language Interpreting. After being at the Tar Pits for over 13 years, Laura continues to be spoiled by the sheer quantity and quality of fossils she has the opportunity to work with and loves sharing her enthusiasm for science with people of all ages and backgrounds. Meet Laura on Saturday, January 11th on her panel Pop Paleo: Dinosaurs and Other Extinct Creatures in Pop Culture. For tickets to Long Beach Comic Con and Expo, click here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/long-beach-comic-expo-2020-tic

Saved this awesome photo to share as our last official post of 2019! Meet Ashly Jo Dishmon (aka Desert Scum), one of the amazing droid builders on our "Engineering Star Wars: Build Your Own R2" panel! "Born and raised in the Tatooine-esque desert town of Barstow, Southern California. Droid builder/wrangler, toy photographer and multimedia hobbyist in my free time for the past few years, I can’t seem to stop making stuff! I am partial to small droids, like my Monster MSE, ...and customization. Star Wars is the perfect universe to work in with so many ideas to pursue, so many build methods to explore and learn. Along with my husband, we thoroughly enjoy sharing the spirit of imagination and creativity with current and future builders!" For tickets to Long Beach Comic Con and Expo click here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/long-beach-comic-expo-2020-tic

NEW GUEST ANNOUNCEMENT Tina Bosse aka R2-RE "I'm just a gal with a love for all things nerdy. Harry Potter, Star Wars, Dungeons and Dragons, PC MMORPGs, the list goes on. I, like most other R2 builders, started my R2 building journey at astromech.net. I first saw a real R2-D2 at WonderCon in Anaheim, March of 2018. By April, I had my first parts on order and my very own R2-RE was born. I’m still early in the build and a rookie in this hobby but it's been a blast!"... Meet Tina on January 12 at Long Beach Comic Con and Expo on her panel Engineering Star Wars: Build Your Own R2. Click the link below for tickets! https://www.eventbrite.com/e/long-beach-comic-expo-2020-tic

NEW GUEST ANNOUNCEMENT Keri Bean Keri Bean is a systems engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. She currently works on the Curiosity Mars rover as a rover driver and on the Mars 2020 rover as the training lead. She got her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Texas A&M University in meteorology, with her focus on studying the weather on Mars. In her spare time, she is an active member of the R2-D2 Builder’s Club with her very own Astromech and co...splays with the Rebel Legion. Meet Keri Bean on Sunday, January 11th on her panel Engineering Star Wars: Build Your Own R2 For tickets to Long Beach Comic Con and Expo, click here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/long-beach-comic-expo-2020-tic

Our friends Cosplay for Science will be hosting a pop up museum in the Space Expo area at Long Beach Comic Con and Expo! Cosplay for Science Presents: The Galactic Archive Join us younglings and all citizens of the galaxy! Visit the Galactic Archive, a special pop-up museum inspired by the science behind the Star Wars galaxy. Learn how creatures of the Galaxy survive their planets by looking at how real-world animals survive in similar environments on our planet. Meet real s...cientists who study the forces of nature and help us understand the forces that bind us together. For tickets, click the link below! https://www.eventbrite.com/e/long-beach-comic-expo-2020-tic

NEW GUEST ANNOUNCEMENT Naila Browne Naila Browne is a cybersecurity engineer by day and a droid builder by night. She started her droid building journey in 2015 and completed her rolling BB-8 in February 2019. Her love of droids and Star Wars led her to the BB-8 and R2 Builders Clubs and loves to help others who want to build their own replica Star Wars droid. ... Meet Naila at Long Beach Comic Con and Expo on Sunday, January 12th on her panel "Engineering Star Wars: Build Your Own R2" For tickets, click the link below! https://www.eventbrite.com/e/long-beach-comic-expo-2020-tic