HEADS UP – astronaut lands at Queenstown Memorial Centre for a lunchtime Catalyst Trust talk this Tuesday, Nov 1!
Bring your sandwiches and join us to hear about exploring the new frontiers opening up in outer space…
Dr Shannon Walker is a NASA astronaut and space physicist who has spent just short of a year (330 days) living in Earth’s orbit on the International Space Station – the last six months as Space Station Commander.
The space physicist has spent just short of a year (330 days) living in Earth orbit on the International Space Station. In 2010 she piloted the Soyuz spacecraft that took her and her crew to the ISS, where she served as a Flight Engineer for the next six months. She
In 2020, she was mission specialist aboard the Resilience for the first operational crewed flight of SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft to the ISS, where on arrival she became ISS flight engineer and Space Station Commander for another six months. Soon after her return from orbit in May of last year, she started training the next generation, becoming the supervisor for the 2021 class of astronauts.
Lunchtime this Tuesday, Dr Walker will join us at Queenstown Memorial Centre to discuss current and next steps in humanity’s exploration of space. A next generation of lunar astronauts is now returning humanity to the moon, through NASA’s Artemis program; a next generation of spacecraft, space probes, and satellites are opening up space for new frontiers of exploration and discovery, while creating more opportunities for more people than ever before to have space-based careers. Our next generation – today’s students – will be the astronauts who land on Mars within twenty years.
Dr Walker holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Physics, as well as Master of Science and Doctorate of Philosophy degrees in Space Physics, all from Rice University in Houston. She began her professional career with the Rockwell Space Operations Company at the Johnson Space Center in 1987 as a Robotics Flight Controller for the Space Shuttle Program and was first selected by NASA to be an astronaut in 2004.
Please register via our EventBrite listing. You are welcome to wear masks, in line with Ministry of Health guidelines. Cash koha at the door would be welcomed and will be donated to Wakatipu High School’s Science Buskers Academy, the home of Wakatipu’s future astronauts :-).