THE ARTISTIC ASTRONAUT Impressions of Earth from Space Michelle McDonagh
W
atching the first moon landing by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin in July 1969 with her parents, the young Nicole Stott never even entertained the possibility that becoming an astronaut was something that could be a reality for her. Little did she imagine that she would grow up to be selected as a NASA astronaut flying two spaceflight missions, including a mission on the International Space Station. Nicole was in Cork for the International Space Universities 30th Space Studies Programme (SSP17) at Cork Institute of Technology, which runs from June 26th to August 25th 2017. The intense nine week programme will attract 320 international space professionals from 26 countries who will examine all aspects of space and its related enterprises.
I always dreamt about how cool it would be to go to space, but it never seemed like something that I could ever do, not because anybody ever told me I couldn’t. I was fortunate to have amazing parents who taught me that I could do anything I wanted. I grew up around flying, my dad flew small planes and I knew I wanted to do something flying related which led me to Kennedy Space Centre
Go Wild Magazine - Summer/Autumn Edition 2017
- 22 -
Chancellor of the ISU, Apollo 11 Astronaut and one of the first humans to walk on the moon, Dr Buzz Aldrin opened SSP17 in Cork on June 26th at an invitation-only ceremony. Another major highlight was the International Astronaut Panel on Tuesday July 4th when the public had the opportunity to interact with an outstanding group of astronauts – including Nicole Stott, Dan Tani, Robert Thirsk and Yi So-yeon. Born in Albany, New York, Nicole joined NASA as an operations engineer at Kennedy Space Centre. During her time there, she held a variety of positions associated with the Space Shuttle Program including Shuttle Flow Director for Endeavour, Orbiter Project Engineer for Columbia, NASA Convoy Commander for space shuttle landings and Vehicle Operations Engineer, preparing space shuttles for their next mission.
www.gowildmagazine.com