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  4/12: Purdue's astronauts come home (Indiana)

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Author Topic:   4/12: Purdue's astronauts come home (Indiana)
Robert Pearlman
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Posts: 42986
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 03-12-2014 09:10 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Not many details yet (including which astronauts will be participating) but Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana has announced...
Members of Purdue's astronaut alumni will be returning to campus on Saturday April 12.

The astronauts will be recognized during the spring football game that starts at 1 p.m. in Ross-Ade Stadium and will participate in a presentation at 7 p.m. in Elliott Hall of Music.

Free tickets are required for admission to the Elliott Hall of Music event and are available at all West Lafayette campus box offices, or by calling 765-494-3933.

Purdue has produced 23 astronauts who have been chosen for space flight.

Robert Pearlman
Editor

Posts: 42986
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 03-15-2014 07:09 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Purdue University release
Astronauts to return to Purdue for reunion

Purdue University will host a group of its NASA astronaut alumni for a reunion that will culminate with a public forum April 12.

Purdue has had 23 graduates become astronauts, including the late Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, and Eugene Cernan, the most recent man to walk on the moon.

Eight of the astronauts are expected to attend the forum, "A Conversation with Our Astronauts," at 7 p.m. in Elliott Hall of Music.

The forum is free, but those attending will need tickets. Tickets are available at the box offices in Elliott Hall of Music and Stewart Center or by calling 765-494-3933.

The reunion coincides with the university's annual Spring Fest on April 12-13. The astronauts will be introduced at halftime of the spring football scrimmage at 1 p.m. April 12 in Ross-Ade Stadium. That event also is free.

The astronauts who are expected to be at the forum are:

  • Cernan, who earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering in 1956. He flew on a Gemini flight and two Apollo flights, including Apollo 17, the last flight to the moon.

  • Mark Brown, bachelor's in aeronautics and astronautics, 1973. He flew on two space shuttle flights including a five-day defense-related mission in 1989 and logged more than 249 hours in space.

  • Andrew Feustel, bachelor's in solid earth sciences, 1989; master's in geophysics, 1991. He flew on two space shuttle missions in 2009 and 2011, conducting several spacewalks to service the Hubble Space Telescope and the International Space Station, respectively.

  • Guy Gardner, master's in aeronautics and astronautics, 1970. He piloted two shuttle missions and helped create the Shuttle-Mir program, and he served as director of super project development for Discovery Park's E-enterprise Center at Purdue.

  • Jerry Ross, bachelor's in 1970, master's in 1972, both in mechanical engineering. He was the first person to launch into space seven times, spending nearly 1,400 hours in space and conducting nine spacewalks to rank third on the list of most extravehicular activity time in space.

  • Loren Shriver, master's in aeronautics and astronautics, 1968. He is a veteran of three space flights and has more than 386 hours in space.

  • Scott Tingle, master's in mechanical engineering, 1988. He is a decorated Navy pilot who became an astronaut in 2012. He is the most recent Purdue alumnus selected by NASA.

  • Charles Walker, bachelor's in aeronautics and astronautics, 1971. He is the first Purdue alumnus to fly aboard a space shuttle, serving on three missions as the first industry-sponsored engineer and researcher and becoming the first private astronaut in space.
On April 10 and 11, the astronauts will be on campus, meeting with students and faculty.

Also expected for those days are:

  • Gregory Harbaugh, bachelor's in aeronautics and astronautics, 1978. He is a veteran of four spaceflights, flew on the second Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission in 1997 and has logged more than 18 hours in spacewalks.

  • David Wolf, bachelor's in electrical engineering, 1978. A medical doctor and inventor, he flew on four space shuttle missions and has logged more than 168 days in space, conducting seven spacewalks totaling 47 hours of extravehicular activity.[/LIST] More information about the astronauts and Purdue in space is available here.
  • Ken Havekotte
    Member

    Posts: 2913
    From: Merritt Island, Florida, Brevard
    Registered: Mar 2001

    posted 03-15-2014 08:21 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Ken Havekotte   Click Here to Email Ken Havekotte     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
    Interesting to see this as I was just able to acquire a 512-page-long 1954 Purdue University "Debris" yearbook only a few days ago.

    It's quite a heavy and thick book, in great shape, with lots of photos (some in color) and text.

    A young Neil Armstrong is pictured in Purdue's Class of 1954 Seniors (page 100) and again on Page 370 as a member of the university's Phi Delta Theta.

    Armstrong's future wife-to-be, Janet Shearon, also is pictured in the same yearbook (pages 218 & 419). Both Neil and Janet had met as students at Purdue University in 1952; he was a 22-year-old junior and she was an 18-year-old Purdue freshman that became a member of the school's Alpha Chi Omega sorority. They would later marry in Jan. 1956.

    But there is more to the 1954 yearbook "story." While at Purdue, one of Janet's best friends was Gene Cernan (page 373), another Purdue student at the time that pledged the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity during his sophomore year there.

    So there you have it! A 1954 university yearbook with pictures and text of the first and last lunar explorers to be, plus Armstrong's first bride-to-be. Small world isn't it?

    If anyone may be interested in the yearbook, let me know.

    spaceman1953
    Member

    Posts: 953
    From: South Bend, IN
    Registered: Apr 2002

    posted 04-05-2014 08:52 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for spaceman1953   Click Here to Email spaceman1953     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
    I did not know Armstrong's first wife was at PU when he was or that, that is where they met. Nor did I know her and Gene Cernan were friends! Thanks, Ken, for that!

    I just saw about the April 12 events so I have not yet called about ticket availability. For those interested, Stewart Hall and the "attached" Elliott School or Hall of Music at easy to find with nearby parking garages to make it all easy.

    Wehaveliftoff
    Member

    Posts: 2343
    From:
    Registered: Aug 2001

    posted 04-08-2014 06:30 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Wehaveliftoff     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
    quote:
    Originally posted by Ken Havekotte:
    A young Neil Armstrong is pictured... Armstrong's future wife-to-be, Janet Shearon, also is pictured in the same yearbook...

    Hart Sastrowardoyo
    Member

    Posts: 3445
    From: Toms River, NJ
    Registered: Aug 2000

    posted 04-08-2014 09:42 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Hart Sastrowardoyo   Click Here to Email Hart Sastrowardoyo     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
    That's a good 'what if'... what if Janet married Cernan instead of Armstrong?

    Robert Pearlman
    Editor

    Posts: 42986
    From: Houston, TX
    Registered: Nov 1999

    posted 04-15-2014 05:13 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
    For those who missed this past weekend's astronaut reunion at Purdue, the university has now posted a video of the forum held on Saturday (April 12).

    A photo gallery from the weekend's events is also available.

    All times are CT (US)

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