Dear Friends:
Just another reminder of tonight's meeting. Also, we will joining
Dr. Voss for dinner at Chef Chu's restaurant in Los Altos at El
Camino and San Antonio Rd. at 5:30P for those who can join us earlier.
Ken L.
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50 Days in Space
by Ken Lum
Our next PAS General Meeting will be Friday, January 13 at our usual
time of 7:30PM in Rm. 5001, Bldg, 5000 at Foothill Community College
in Los Altos Hills. Our speaker will be Dr. Janice Voss of NASA Ames
Research Center who will be talking about her experiences as a NASA
Space Shuttle astronaut on board STS-57 in 1993, STS-63 in 1995,
STS-83 & STS-94 in 1997, and STS-99 in 2000. A veteran of five space
flights, Dr. Voss has logged over 49 days in space, traveling 18.8
million miles in 779 Earth orbits.
In addition, she will be describing her current work at NASA Ames as
Science Director for the Kepler Mission which is a space telescope
designed to search for Earth-like planets around other stars. The
mission is currently scheduled to launch in 2007-2008.
Dr. Voss received her Ph. D. in Aeronautics and Astronautics from
MIT in 1987 after which she accepted a job with Orbital Sciences
Corporation. While there she worked in mission integration and flight
operations support for an upper stage called the Transfer Orbit Stage
(TOS). TOS launched the Advanced Communications Technology Satellite
(ACTS) from the Space Shuttle in September 1993, and the Mars
Observer from a Titan in the Fall of 1992.
Selected by NASA in January 1990, Dr. Voss became an astronaut in
July 1991. She is qualified for flight assignment as a mission
specialist. Her technical assignments have included working Spacelab/
Spacehab issues for the Astronaut Office Mission Development Branch,
and robotics issues for the Robotics Branch.
Dr. Voss first flew on STS-57 (June 21 to July 1, 1993). Mission
highlights included retrieval of the European Retrievable Carrier
(EURECA) with the Shuttle’s robotic arm, a spacewalk by two crew
members, and an assortment of experiments in the first flight of the
Spacehab middeck augmentation module. She next flew on STS-63
(February 3-11, 1995). Mission highlights included the rendezvous
with the Russian Space Station, Mir, the deployment and retrieval of
Spartan 204, and the third flight of Spacehab. She also flew as
payload commander on STS-83 (Apr 4-8, 1997). The STS-83 Microgravity
Science Laboratory (MSL-1) Spacelab mission was cut short because of
problems with one of the Shuttle’s three fuel cell power generation
units. The entire crew and payload reflew on STS-94 (July 1-17,
1997). The STS-94 MSL-1 Spacelab mission focused on materials and
combustion science research in microgravity. Most recently she served
on STS-99 (February 11-22, 2000). This was an 11-day flight during
which the international crew aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour worked
dual shifts to support radar mapping operations. The Shuttle Radar
Topography Mission mapped more than 47 million miles of the Earth’s
land surface.
Join us for what will be a great meeting to start off the New Year!
Don't forget that parking is $2.00 so bring quarters!
Received on Fri Jan 13 09:58:26 2006