On Wednesday afternoon and evening you are free to make your own plans, but we are also organizing some group events and highlighting some informal local activities. Plans are still evolving, but we are currently working on the options described below.

Note that after the Wednesday morning sessions end, lunch is not provided but you may buy lunch on your own either in the Stamp Student Union, at the Yahentamitsi dining hall (~8 minute walk from the Stamp), or off campus. It should be possible to do both an afternoon activity and an evening activity (farther down the page) if you are so inclined.

Wednesday Afternoon

•   NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Tour

  Travel by bus to Goddard Space Flight Center for a tour of facilities and labs led by local scientists and staff. The bus will depart from the Stamp Student Union and nearby hotels after lunchtime (at 1:30 or 2:00? to be determined) and will return around 4:30. Pre-registration for this tour is required in order to obtain the necessary visitor badge, and unfortunately persons from certain designated countries cannot come due to NASA access restrictions. If you are interested in this tour, check a box in the Symposium registration system by April 10 and you will be contacted later in order to complete the badge request. This tour is limited to 48 people and it is currently expected that about $15 will be collected to cover the cost of the bus.

  Regrettably, there are some nationalities for which badge processing times are prohibitively long and therefore participants with those nationalities will not be able to participate in the GSFC tour. Please check the list here.

•   College Park Aviation Museum

  Only about 2.5 km from campus, the College Park Airport is the oldest continuously-operating airport in the world and is where early pilots were trained to fly Wright Brothers planes. The College Park Aviation Museum, located next to the airport, is a fairly small but detail-rich museum with several historic aircraft including a replica Wright Model B flyer. It offers an easy activity if you are staying in College Park. The museum is open until 4:00 pm and entry is free throughout 2026.

•   Group Trip to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum

  We’ll gather as a group and ride the Metro into Washington DC to visit the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum. We’ll aim to arrive at the museum at 2:00 and explore the exhibits until the museum closes at 5:30, then ride Metro back to College Park together (or you can stay longer in DC if you want). Entry to the museum is free but we need to obtain a timed-entry group pass, so pre-registration is required and the group is limited to 55 people. If you are interested in this activity, check a box in the Symposium registration system by April 10 and you will be contacted later to confirm the gathering plan. The cost for riding Metro will be $10.40 round trip ($5.20 each way) which can be paid with any contactless credit or debit card, or by purchasing a SmarTrip card for an extra $2.

•   Visits to Other Smithsonian Museums and the National Gallery of Art

  Ride the Metro into Washington DC together (or independently) and you can self-organize to visit one or more of the Smithsonian Museums along or near the National Mall. Entry is free and no tickets are required for museums other than the Air and Space Museum and the National Museum of African American History and Culture. The museums are open until 5:30 except for the American Art Museum and Portrait Gallery, which are open until 7:00. The National Gallery of Art, while not part of the Smithsonian, is also located on the National Mall and is free; it is open until 5:00 pm. The cost for riding Metro will be about $5 each way, which can be paid with any contactless credit or debit card, or by purchasing a SmarTrip card for an extra $2.

        ↠ Map showing museums on or near the National Mall
  

•   Local Hikes

  From campus or the nearby hotels, you can follow the Paint Branch Trail downstream to Lake Artemesia or upstream through the woods along the small river. Or if you have transportation there are many other places to hike in the Maryland / DC area.

•  

Wednesday Evening

•   Baseball: Nationals vs. Phillies

  For those who would like to spend a June evening at a ballgame, we’ll buy a block of tickets to see the Washington Nationals play the Philadelphia Phillies starting at 6:45 pm. From College Park, we’ll leave around 5:15 and ride the Metro together into Washington DC to the Navy Yard - Ballpark station. (People already in DC can meet up with the group at the ballpark around 6:00-6:15.) Pre-registration is required for this outing so that we know how many tickets to buy. If you are interested in this activity, check a box in the Symposium registration system by April 10 and you will be contacted later to confirm your plan to attend and pay $32 for the ticket. The cost for riding Metro will be about $11 round trip which can be paid with any contactless credit or debit card, or by purchasing a SmarTrip card for an extra $2. Any food, drink or souvenirs that you buy at the game are up to you!

•   Game Night: Board and Brew

  If you like board games, grab a few friends and spend the evening at The Board and Brew, a local favorite with a huge collection of all types of board games. You can play all evening (open to 11:00 pm) for one flat fee while also enjoying food and drinks from the menu.