To the Galaxies and Beyond -- Three Astronauts Land at Tech
Three Georgia Tech astronauts, who graduated materials science and engineering (Sandra Magnus), industrial systems engineering (Shane Kimbrough), and electrical and computer engineering (Eric Boe) returned to their alma mater to share with students, staff and faculty how engineering played a significant role in their NASA experience.
Sandra Magnus
Sandra Magnus is a materials science engineer, a NASA astronaut, and a member of the Georgia Tech Materials Science and Engineering Advisory Board. Magnus, who returned to earth with the crew of STS-119 Discovery on March 28, 2009 after having spent 134 days in orbit, found time to re-visit the Georgia Tech campus in September.
Presenting to women in engineering students on the Tech campus, Sandra Magnus confided she realized that she wanted to be an astronaut when she was in middle school. That would leave one to believe that she had a passion for engineering at an early age. This was not the case. Magnus’ passion was physics, and it wasn’t until she attended the University of Missouri-Rolla as an undergraduate student that she discovered engineering. Magnus left UM-Rolla to pursue an engineering career in the “real world”, taking a job with McDonald Douglas. When the program she was working on at McDonald Douglas was cancelled, Magnus returned to academics to pursue her Ph.D. at Georgia Tech in materials science and engineering. While at Tech, she realized her dream—she applied and was accepted into the NASA space program.
Entertaining questions from the audience, Magnus stressed the importance of endurance and determination in meeting personal goals. Magnus explained that by just getting the interview with NASA, she felt she had “reached her goal and met her dream” of being an astronaut. “I knew,” explained Magnus, “that I had done everything I could by just getting the call to interview. Getting the job was in someone else’s hands and out of my control.”
As time with the engineering students came to a close, Magnus offered this advice, ”Once you spend a minute you can never get that minute back so find something you love and spend your minutes wisely.”
Shane Kimbrough
Shane Kimbrough poses with excited middle school students who came to hear his talk and get an autograph.
NASA astronaut and COE alumnus Shane Kimbrough spoke at Georgia Tech on Friday, June 26, as part of NASA’s Hometown Heroes Campaign 2009. Hometown Heroes is a program that brings astronauts to their home states to share the exciting message of continued space exploration and scientific research represented by the International Space Station.
Kimbrough, who flew into orbit for the first time aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour last November, is a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Army and a 1998 graduate of the Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering with a master's degree in Operations Research. During Endeavour’s mission, Kimbrough performed two space walks logging a total of 12 hours and 52 minutes of EVA (extra vehicular activity). Endeavour returned to Earth after completing 250 orbits in over 6 million miles.
Kimbrough was joined on the mission by COE graduates Eric Boe and Sandra Magnus.
View a photo slideshow of this event. (Opens in new window.)
Download video of Kimbrough's presentation (113.19 MB MPEG video). Run time 38:26.
Eric Boe
NASA astronaut and COE alumnus Eric A. Boe spoke at Georgia Tech on Monday, February 23 at 11:00 a.m. in the Student Center Theater. Boe, who earned a Master of Science degree in electrical engineering from Georgia Tech in 1998, was part of the space shuttle crew for the recent Endeavor STS-126 mission that lifted off on November 14, 2008.
Boe served as the pilot for the 16-day mission and was joined by his fellow Tech alumni, Shane Kimbrough, who earned a master of science degree in operations research from Tech in 1998, and Sandra Magnus, who earned a doctorate in materials science and engineering in 1996.
During Endeavors’ mission, Boe was responsible for the orbiter systems and the shuttle robotic arm. He also assisted Endeavor Commander Christopher Ferguson in the rendezvous and docking of the shuttle with the International Space Station. After a journey of more than 6.6 million miles, Endeavor landed in California on November 30, 2008. During Endeavor’s mission the space shuttle flew over Georgia Tech’s Bobby Dodd Stadium immediately preceding a home football game and was watched on the jumbotron screens by the fans.
Boe is based in Houston Texas and has served as NASA director of operations at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia. He has also worked on the new Crew Launch Vehicle and Crew Exploration Vehicle for NASA.
View a photo slideshow of this event. (Opens in new window.)
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