Steve at the Cradle Of Aviation Museum on
Long Island, next to the Apollo 18 Lunar Lander.
So who is this "Look to the Skies Guy" who has been looking through a telescope for the last 47 years?
Steve Russo, (known as "The Planetarium Guy"), is the Planetarium Manager for the Schenectady Museum Planetarium in the Capital District of New York State. He has 35 years of teaching experience in the subject area of Astronomy. Studying Astronomy and Meteorology since he was five years old, his first "formal" Astronomy education was at the age of 14, back in the late 1960's, when he took Astronomy classes at the Hayden Planetarium in New York City. He holds a B. A. from Wagner College in Staten Island, and an M.S. from SUNY Oswego.
Since that time, Steve has taught in Planetariums and science centers both in
New York and Florida. He acted as a reviewer of space science materials for the
teacher center at the Kennedy Space Center, and was one of two people who
started the petitions to name the first Space Shuttle after the legendary
"Enterprise", the ship from the Star Trek television series.
Before going to Schenectady, Steve spent 5 years as the director of
the Plainedge School District Planetarium on Long Island, and spent 14 years as
the Director of the Southern Cayuga Atmospherium-Planetarium in the Finger Lakes region of New
York before that. Along with running the planetarium, he was an "on air"
meteorologist for 4 radio stations, and a weekly science columnist for the
Auburn Citizen Newspaper. For several years, he had
his own cable television program known as the "Sky Reporter".
Steve is also an "expert" in the subject area of Astronomy for the web
site AllExperts.com
Steve and his wife Jan were actually married in The Bishop Planetarium, in
Bradenton Florida, and they have a 28 year old son, Clayton. They are big supporters of Minor League Baseball, and
helped raise 1.5 million dollars for a new "Single A" stadium for the
Houston Astros in Auburn, New York, where they lived for 14 years. The
Auburn Doubledays honored the Russo's with a plaque for their support of
Auburn Baseball, and a few days before he moved to Long Island in 1998, the
Doubledays won the New York Penn League Championship, and Steve and his wife
received championship rings. Steve and Jan are "die-hard"
football fans, and root for the Buffalo Bills, New
York's only NFL Team. Their other main hobby is researching
old Howard Johnson's restaurants.
Steve, was born and raised in Brooklyn, and Jan was born and raised in
Georgia. They reside in
Malta, NY,
about 20 miles north of Albany.