Purdue in Space: Space Shuttle - First to Last
| Event Date: | March 8, 2010 |
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The Shuttle program was formally launched on January 5th, 1972 when NASA announced it would proceed with the development of a reusable Space Shuttle System. The first flight - Columbia - took place on April 12th, 1981, the 20th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's space-flight.
Many Purdue astronaut alumni have served on Shuttle missions - missions made possible by thousands of Purdue engineers who have played a major part in the success of the STS program. With only 4 launches left, the Space Shuttle Orbiter is retiring this year and we want to hear from astronauts, faculty, alumni, students, interns or friends of AAE who have had any type of connection with the STS missions.
This could include, anecdotes, stories, launches you have seen, journeys to see a launch, long days, even longer nights - we want to hear them all. Tell us your stories and any other experiences you have had and we will compile them for an article to be published in the August edition of the AeroGram newsletter. The deadline for this article is May 24th but keep the stories coming even if you miss this date.
You can log onto Purdue School of Aeronautics and Astronautics Facebook page at the link on right of the AAE home web page or by clicking here, become a Fan and add your story under the "Discussions" page or you can send an email to aae-alumni@ecn.purdue.edu
Please include or upload any photos you may have. The YouTube video link below is also posted on the AAE Facebook page. It was sent in by Joe Cassady, BSAAE '81, to Prof. Stephen Heister, and it shows Purdue Aerospace Engineers at that first launch in 1981. It features Eric Ohmit, BSAAE '81, at 1:50.
Go Boilers and Go Purdue Aerospace Engineering!!