New PBS program blasts off Monday from Carnegie Science Center

The Carnegie Science Center functions as a planetarium and a robot gallery, a fabrication lab and a visual weather forecaster. Now, the world-renowned space will serve as a launch pad for a new science-themed PBS show.

Carnegie Science Center will host its first premiere of a TV show this Monday, Feb. 15th, when PBS KIDS unveils its new kids program, “Ready Jet Go!” Local PBS station WQED will co-host the national launch in Pittsburgh, according to Selena Schmidt of PBS KIDS Community Engagement.

The national premiere of “Ready Jet Go!” will include live science demonstrations by science center staffers at the Science Stage and activity tables with stickers, coloring pages, and make-and-take projects. Kids will learn about and create moon craters using different substances and will experiment with rocket launches using balloons. All activities are included with admission.

“Children are natural scientists full of curiosity,” Schmidt says. “Ready Jet Go! is exciting for us because it is for a wide range of kids and it focuses on astronomy and Earth science concepts.”

Aimed at 3- to 8-year-olds, “Ready Jet Go!” features animation and follows two neighborhood kids as they explore the solar system and its effects on Earth science, according to a press release. Live-action segments of the show will feature NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory astrophysicist Dr. Amy Mainzer, who is the science curriculum consultant for the show.

“Having a real-life astronomer is important because it lets children [know] that their curiosity could actually take them to the stars in real life, too,” Schmidt says. “[Mainzer’s] enthusiasm is contagious and she makes science concepts approachable for children without ever talking down to them.”

As a decorated woman in the field, Mainzer shows children that space and STEM learning have no gender barriers, Schmidt says. Mainzer recently named an asteroid she discovered after 17-year-old Nobel Prize winner and education activist Malala Yousafzai.

“Ready Jet Go!” will air on WQED at 7:30 a.m. Mondays through Fridays beginning Feb. 15th and will be available through streaming services and on the free PBS Kids Video app. Craig Bartlett, creator of PBS KIDS show “Dinosaur Train,” created “Ready Jet Go!”