{"68725":{"#nid":"68725","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Georgia Tech Alumna on Final Space Shuttle Mission","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAfter three decades and more\nthan 130 missions, the NASA space shuttle program will come to a close on\nFriday with the final launch of Atlantis. \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EAnd as with the first\nshuttle launch, a Yellow Jacket will be a part of this historic flight. Georgia\nInstitute of Technology alumna Sandra Magnus is one of four astronauts on STS-135\nmission, a 12-day trip delivering 8,000 pounds of supplies and spare parts to\nthe International Space Station.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EMagnus, who earned her\ndoctorate in Materials Science and Engineering from Georgia Tech in 1996, will\nserve as a mission specialist along with Commander Christopher Ferguson, Pilot\nDouglas Hurley and Mission Specialist Rex Walheim.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EThe Atlantis is scheduled to\nleave Kennedy Space Center, Fla., at 11:26 a.m. on Friday. Georgia Tech\nPresident G. P. \u201cBud\u201d Peterson, Georgia Tech faculty, staff and students will be among\nthe 1 million spectators at the launch.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cAll of us here at Georgia\nTech are enormously proud of the role and impact that our faculty, staff,\nstudents and alumni have had on the space shuttle program, from the first\nlaunch of Columbia in 1981 that was commanded by Georgia Tech alum John Young\n(Aerospace Engineering 1952) to this last mission of Atlantis with Sandra\nMagnus (Materials Sciences and Engineering 1996), as a member of the shuttle\ncrew,\u201d Peterson said.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech has a long\nhistory of contributing to NASA research and programs. In 1917, the U.S. Army\ncreated a school of military aeronautics at Georgia Tech \u2013 one of eight in the\nnation \u2013 and in 1930, the Guggenheim Foundation contributed a grant to\nestablish it as one of the nation\u0027s first schools of aeronautics in the U.S.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EToday, Georgia Tech is the\nlargest school of aerospace engineering in the U.S., producing more bachelor\u2019s\nand graduate degree holders than any other institution. Nearly one out of ten\naerospace engineering Ph.D.s in the U.S. came from Georgia Tech.\u0026nbsp; It is home to some of the nation\u0027s most\naccomplished faculty and laboratories for the study and advancement of rocket\npropulsion and space transportation.\u0026nbsp;\nNearly one-third of the School of Aerospace Engineering\u2019s research is\nwith NASA.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EBeyond campus, hundreds of\nGeorgia Tech graduates have worked as researchers, engineers and administrators\nfor the space program over the years.\u0026nbsp;\nMore than 150 full-time engineers and co-ops were working at Johnson,\nKennedy and Marshall Space Flight Centers as of last June. NASA Chief\nTechnologist Robert D. Braun is the David and Andrew Lewis Professor in Space\nTechnology in Georgia Tech\u2019s Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EFourteen Georgia Tech\ngraduates have served as NASA astronauts during the life of the space shuttle program.\u0026nbsp; The commander of the first space shuttle\nmission in April 1981 was Georgia Tech alumnus, John Young.\u0026nbsp; As one the 12 men walking on the moon, Young\nis the only astronaut who was engaged in the Gemini, Apollo and shuttle\nprograms.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EAlumnus Dick Truly,\nAerospace Engineering 1959, piloted the second mission of the space shuttle in\nNovember 1981 and commanded the eighth mission of the shuttle in August 1983.\nTruly later became the NASA administrator in the Reagan administration.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EAstronaut Jan Davis, Applied\nBiology 1975, became the first female Georgia Tech graduate to orbit the Earth\naboard Endeavour in September 1992. She made the trip a total of three times,\nleading the way for other Georgia Tech women alumnae such as Astronaut Susan\nStill Kilrain, Aerospace Engineering 1985, who piloted STS 83 and STS 94.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe shuttle program has put\na new human face on exploration and discovery,\u201d NASA Administrator Charles Bolden\nsaid at a NASA Space Shuttle Symposium at Georgia Tech last month.\n\u0022Astronauts have become a diverse group in every way. The program has been\ncrucial to provide flight opportunities for women and minorities.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EMagnus carries on the strong tradition of\nGeorgia Tech females in space. A two-time shuttle astronaut and space station\ncrewmember, Magnus has traveled nearly 55 million miles. In 2002, she was a\ncrewmember of Atlantis on an 11-day flight in which she operated the space\nstation\u0027s robotic arm during three spacewalks required to outfit and activate a\ncomponent to the station.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EIn 2008, Magnus was part of\nthe crew of Endeavour and stayed aboard the International Space Station for\nnearly five months. During Endeavour\u0027s two-day trip to the outpost, Magnus was\njoined by fellow Georgia Tech graduate, pilot Eric Boe, Electrical Engineering 1997.\nBoe was also selected to pilot the final flight of Discovery in May. \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EAt Georgia Tech, professors\nin the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering are involved in a\nnumber of projects to further technologies beyond the space shuttle era \u2013 including\ninflatable aerodynamic decelerators for use on supersonic flight, trajectories\nfor the next flagship missions to outerplanets and\u0026nbsp;nano-satellites that may be\nused for remote sensing.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThere are many frontiers\nahead of us,\u201d Peterson said. \u201cThe task before us is to continue to educate and\ninspire the next generation of leaders, engineers and scientists to ensure that\nour nation\u0027s space program continues to lead the way in space exploration.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAfter three decades and more than 130 missions, the NASA space shuttle program will come to a close on Friday with the final launch of Atlantis.\u0026nbsp;And as with the first shuttle launch, a Yellow Jacket will be a part of this historic flight.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Astronaut Sandra Magnus is a mission specialist on the historic final flight of Atlantis."}],"uid":"27462","created_gmt":"2011-07-07 10:14:10","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:09:44","author":"Liz Klipp","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2011-07-07T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2011-07-07T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"68726":{"id":"68726","type":"image","title":"Astronaut Sandra Magnus","body":null,"created":"1449177201","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:13:21","changed":"1475894597","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:43:17","alt":"Astronaut Sandra Magnus","file":{"fid":"193343","name":"sandra_magnus.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/sandra_magnus_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/sandra_magnus_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":136349,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/sandra_magnus_0.jpg?itok=AGkj8iJo"}},"68727":{"id":"68727","type":"image","title":"Crew of the STS-135 Atlantis flight","body":null,"created":"1449177201","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:13:21","changed":"1475894597","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:43:17","alt":"Crew of the STS-135 Atlantis flight","file":{"fid":"193344","name":"sts_135_crew.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/sts_135_crew_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/sts_135_crew_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":63545,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/sts_135_crew_0.jpg?itok=GgABuxFp"}},"68728":{"id":"68728","type":"image","title":"Atlantis launch","body":null,"created":"1449177201","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:13:21","changed":"1475894597","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:43:17","alt":"Atlantis launch","file":{"fid":"193345","name":"atlantis_launch.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/atlantis_launch_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/atlantis_launch_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":65010,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/atlantis_launch_0.jpg?itok=MbrVDj9B"}},"68729":{"id":"68729","type":"image","title":"NASA Space Shuttle Symposium at Georgia Tech - June 2011","body":null,"created":"1449177201","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:13:21","changed":"1475894597","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:43:17","alt":"NASA Space Shuttle Symposium at Georgia Tech - June 2011","file":{"fid":"193346","name":"2011shuttlesymposium-0388.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/2011shuttlesymposium-0388_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/2011shuttlesymposium-0388_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":2549324,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/2011shuttlesymposium-0388_0.jpg?itok=BdKveYCg"}}},"media_ids":["68726","68727","68728","68729"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.jsc.nasa.gov\/Bios\/htmlbios\/magnus.html","title":"NASA Bio on Sandra H. Magnus"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.ae.gatech.edu\/","title":"Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering"},{"url":"http:\/\/gtalumnimag.com\/?p=4380","title":"Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine Article, \u201c151 NASA Jackets\u201d"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/externalflash\/135_flash\/","title":"STS 135 - Final Mission of Atlantis"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/externalflash\/the_shuttle\/","title":"NASA Special Coverage on Shuttle Program History"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.gatech.edu\/president\/notes\/reflecting-space-shuttles-final-flight","title":"President Peterson Reflects on Space Shuttle\u0027s Final Flight"}],"groups":[{"id":"1183","name":"Home"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"}],"keywords":[{"id":"594","name":"college of engineering"},{"id":"13612","name":"Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering; NASA Space Shuttle Program; final launch; Atlantis; Sandra Magnus;"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EGeorgia Tech Media Relations\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ELaura Diamond\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:laura.diamond@comm.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Elaura.diamond@comm.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E404-894-6016\u003Cbr \/\u003EJason Maderer\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:maderer@gatech.edu\u0022\u003Emaderer@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E404-660-2926\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["Klipp@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}