Astronaut Panel

Today we learned more about space telecommunications and satellite communication systems, as well as satellite telecommunication regulations. Our afternoon was spent working on our team projects, which for me is micro- and nano-technology. We broke into sub-teams to divide up the research that needs to be done, and we defined a mission statement. Ed and Dustin, our TAs, ended up leading the first meeting based on the agenda Theres and I put together, but they asked me to organize and lead the next meeting, which will take place next Tuesday.

We had an Astronaut panel about the new wave of exploration this evening. There were 6 astronauts representing 6 different countries. Chiaki Mukai from Japan was the first Japanese woman in space and the first Japanese astronaut to fly twice. Yang Liwei from China was the first Chinese Taikonaut in space. Oleg Atkov from Russia has spent 237 days in space. Jeff Hoffman from the US was the first astronaut to have over 1000 hours in shuttle flight, and he performed the first Hubble repair mission. He has been on 5 shuttle flights. Bob Thirsk from Canada has flown on the shuttle once and is on the list to be assigned to an International Space Station expedition in the next few years, and Andre Kuipers represented ESA. This event was open to the public, and there were quite a few people there. The astronauts did a great job of answering questions and inspiring people to continue to explore.