CADDO PARISH, La. (KTAL/KMSS) – Discovering the final frontier begins with a mission in Caddo Parish, where a Shreveport woman has been selected to become a NASA Ambassador.
She is the first-ever NASA Ambassador for the Arklatex.
The prestigious role representing NASA is taken on by Krystle Beauchamp, who was selected by NASA to be an official Solar System Ambassador.
“I’m super excited outside of my day job with science. So I stay up to date with NASA and they put out a call to bring in a new class of ambassadors,” Beauchamp said.
She applied and after a lengthy, six-month interview process NASA selected her for the role. Beauchamp, the spokeswoman for Caddo Parish, is now combining her skills to be a science communicator for the entire region.
“I began a very rigorous training to become up to date everything that’s going on at NASA. New developments, programs, things like that so I would be able to come back to the community and share all of those updates,” Beauchamp said.
As a NASA ambassador, she will represent the space agency in public events and educational programs throughout the Arklatex to engage and inform the public on new and exciting space exploration missions underway.
“These are all pictures that have been captured by the Chandra X-ray Telescope. We currently have three big telescopes. I know you’ve heard of Hubble, then there’s Chandra, then the newest one which is so cool is the James Webb Telescope. It has the most magnification and most power that we’ve seen in a telescope ever,” Beauchamp said.
Beauchamp’s role will include partnering with Sci-Port Discovery Center to immerse children and adults into space activities.
“One of the biggest benefits we have right here in our area is a regional science museum. Sci-Port is amazing,” Beauchamp said.
She explained the goal is to bring knowledge to the general public in order to excite people about the discoveries, opportunities, and wonder that lie in the final frontier.
“It is something that we all benefit from. It’s something that we all have a shared experience with. Whether it’s our phones or fiber optics or any of those cool things. It’s all something that has derived from space exploration and space discovery,” Beauchamp said.
“So it’s always been exciting to me to know that the things that astronauts do and discover are things that affect all of us. All of humanity. I really look at space as space for the common man. There’s something we can all identify with and benefit from,” Beauchamp said.
Groups and organizations interested in booking Beauchamp for an event can contact her at KRB@gmail.com, visit NASA’s website under the Ambassador section, or go to her Facebook and Instagram pages at KRBSpace.