{"id":6886,"date":"2023-10-26T15:05:00","date_gmt":"2023-10-26T19:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/?p=6886"},"modified":"2024-07-25T15:12:26","modified_gmt":"2024-07-25T19:12:26","slug":"pioneering-commercial-astronaut-and-purdue-alumna-beth-moses-to-join-president-chiang-for-purdue-presidential-lecture-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/2023\/Q4\/pioneering-commercial-astronaut-and-purdue-alumna-beth-moses-to-join-president-chiang-for-purdue-presidential-lecture-series","title":{"rendered":"Pioneering commercial astronaut and Purdue alumna Beth Moses to join President Chiang for Purdue Presidential Lecture Series"},"content":{"rendered":"

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. —<\/p> \n

Commercial space pioneer Beth Moses, who has successfully completed six spaceflights for Virgin Galactic and serves as its chief astronaut instructor, will join Purdue President Mung Chiang early next month for a conversation as part of the Presidential Lecture Series.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The public event, titled \u201cFrom Purdue Alumna to Commercial Astronaut Pioneer,\u201d is at 4 p.m. Monday, Nov. 6, in Stewart Center\u2019s Fowler Hall. While the lecture series event is free, a\u00a0general admission ticket<\/a>\u00a0is required.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Purdue President Mung Chiang<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cPurdue alumna Beth Moses is blazing her own trail as a space pioneer, becoming a professional astronaut who has been on six of Virgin Galactic\u2019s nine total suborbital spaceflights since 2018,\u201d Purdue President Chiang said. \u201cFortunately, this member of Purdue\u2019s Cradle of Astronauts has time in her busy spaceflight schedule to be here on Earth for a return to campus as a guest in our Purdue Presidential Lecture Series.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moses joined Purdue\u2019s Cradle of Astronauts when she made history Feb. 22, 2019, as the first female commercial astronaut to work in space as the sole mission specialist for Virgin Galactic\u2019s test flight VF01. She conducted the first engineering evaluation of the passenger systems and cabin dynamics aboard SpaceShipTwo. During the flight, she also became the first human to unbuckle and float around during a suborbital spaceflight and the first test passenger to fly above Mach 3 in a commercial transport vehicle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Virgin Galactic flight climbed to a height of nearly 56 miles, qualifying Moses and the two pilots onboard for Commercial Space Astronaut Wings from the Federal Aviation Administration. The designation meant Moses became Purdue\u2019s 25th astronaut, 16 of whom are graduates of Purdue\u2019s School of Aeronautics and Astronautics. She also became the 571st human in space and the 63rd woman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Additional Information<\/span><\/h2>\n \n <\/div>\n\n