Journey to the Stars, Narrated by Whoopi Goldberg, to Open July 4 at Hayden Planetarium in the Rose Center for Earth and Space at the American Museum of Natural History.

Academy Award-winning actress Whoopi Goldberg will narrate the American Museum of Natural History’s spectacular new Hayden Planetarium Space Show, Journey to the Stars, which opens to the public at the Museum’s Rose Center for Earth and Space on Saturday, July 4, 2009. This is the latest Space Show produced by the Museum since the opening of the Rose Center for Earth and Space almost ten years ago, on February 19, 2000.

Journey to the Stars launches visitors through time and space to experience the life and death of the stars in our night sky. Audiences travel 13 billion years into the past, when the first stars were born, and witness brilliant supernova explosions that sent new kinds of matter coursing through the universe, into the atoms of our own bodies and the air we breathe. They visit the heart of our fiery Sun, and glimpse its eventual demise as it transforms into a massive red giant some five billion years in the future. Visitors tour stellar formations, explore new celestial mysteries, and discover the fascinating, unfolding story that connects us all to the stars.

Whoopi Goldberg has garnered innumerable awards, including an Academy Award for her supporting role in Ghost (1990), a Grammy for Whoopi: Original Broadway Recording (1985), an Emmy for hosting Beyond Tara: The Extraordinary Life of Hattie McDaniel (2002), and a Tony for producing Thoroughly Modern Millie (2002). In addition to her performances in Sister Act (1992) and Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (1993), Ms. Goldberg is well-known for her recurring role as Guinan on the Star Trek: The Next Generation television series. Ms. Goldberg loved the original Star Trek series and dreamed of exploring the universe as a child. She has appeared in over 50 films, including The Color Purple, Made in America, How Stella Got Her Groove Back, and Girl, Interrupted. In 2007, Ms. Goldberg joined ABC’s popular morning program The View.

Journey To The Stars, written by Emmy award winner Louise A. Gikow with a score by Robert Miller, follows Cosmic Collisions (2006) narrated by Robert Redford, The Search for Life: Are We Alone?(2002) narrated by Harrison Ford, and Passport to the Universe (2000) narrated by Tom Hanks.

Journey to the Stars was developed by the American Museum of Natural History, New York (www.amnh.org) in collaboration with the California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco; GOTO INC, Tokyo, Japan; Papalote – Museo del Nino, Mexico City, Mexico; and Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, Washington, D.C.

Journey to the Stars was created by the American Museum of Natural History, with the major support and partnership of NASA, Science Mission Directorate, Heliophysics Division.

Made possible through the generous sponsorship of Lockheed Martin Corporation.

And is proudly sponsored by Accenture

Supercomputing resources provided by the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) at The University of Texas at Austin, through the TeraGrid, a project of the National Science Foundation.

The Space Shows are shown every half-hour Sunday-Thursday and Saturday, 10:30 am-4:30 pm, and Friday, 10:30 am-7 pm. SonicVision is shown Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 and 8:30 pm.

Admission

Suggested general admission, which supports the Museum’s scientific and educational endeavors and includes 46 Museum halls and the Rose Center for Earth and Space, is $15 (adults) suggested, $11 (students/seniors) suggested, $8.50 (children) suggested.

The Museum offers discounted combination ticket prices that include suggested general admission plus special exhibitions, IMAX films, and Space Shows.

– Museum plus special exhibition, IMAX film, or Space Show: $24 (adults), $18 (students/seniors), $14 (children)

– Museum Supersaver (includes Space Show, IMAX, and all special exhibitions): $32 (adults), $24.50 (students/seniors), $20 (children)

Visitors who wish to pay less than the suggested Museum admission and also want to attend a special exhibition, IMAX film, or Space Show, may do so only on-site at the Museum. To the amount they wish to pay for general admission, they should add $20 (adults), $16.50 (students/seniors), or $11 (children). All prices are subject to change.