Purdue News

Purdue education, Boilermaker astronaut corps gave Wolf invaluable boost Every time a shuttle launch, satellite deployment or shuttle landing goes off flawlessly, Purdue engineering schools should take a bow. And as the International Space Station is assembled and permanently occupied in the coming years, it will be with the help of skilled hands and minds of Purdue-educated astronauts and engineers. So says David Wolf, an admittedly biased observer who graduated from Purdue with a degree in electrical engineering in 1978. "Purdue has played a very large role in the space program and will continue to do so, in terms of quality engineers at NASA and aerospace contractors that work with the space agency," he says. "We've always been at the forefront." Wolf has worked for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration since 1983, first as a biomedical engineer. He entered the astronaut program in 1990 and was a mission specialist on a 1993 shuttle mission. From September to January, he served aboard the Mir space station. His work in tissue engineering for NASA has earned 11 patents. So he knows good engineering when he sees it. "I work with engineers from all over the world, and there is nothing like a Purdue engineering education to prepare you for work in the array of systems involved in space exploration," Wolf says. The Purdue tradition of turning out engineers who join the astronaut corps drew Wolf to West Lafayette in the first place. But it was the extended hand of a fellow Boilermaker that convinced him to try to become an astronaut. Wolf tells the story of his fascination with the 1965 spacewalk of Gemini astronaut Edward White as a pivotal event in his deciding to pursue a career in engineering and space flight. "But it wasn't just Ed White," he says. "It was Jerry Ross." Ross, who earned mechanical engineering degrees from Purdue in 1970 and 1972, earned fame in April 1991 by manually deploying the antenna on the Gamma Ray Observatory. Years ago, when Wolf was considering pursuit of a NASA career, he toured the Johnson Space Center. As he came upon the pool that simulates weightlessness for spacewalk training, there was Jerry Ross donning a space suit and preparing to descend. Instead, he extended a hand to Wolf. "Jerry took the time to show me the suit, what the training was about, and that had a lasting effect on me," Wolf says. "That further inspired me to be an astronaut." Wolf also credits Greg Harbaugh, a 1978 aeronautical and astronautical engineering graduate, with blazing a trail in space that he strives to follow. "Greg and Jerry together represent our greatest talents in spacewalking and, of course, they're both Purdue grads," Wolf says. Ross, Harbaugh and Wolf are among a number of Purdue alumni playing key roles in the development of the International Space Station. Ross also flew a supply mission to Mir in 1995 and is scheduled to fly aboard the first shuttle flight that will carry components for the International Space Station. The flight is tentatively scheduled for late this year. Harbaugh is manager of the NASA Extravehicular Activity Projects Office, with responsibility for overseeing spacewalk-related aspects of the assembly of the space station. Wolf, too, is participating in the design of the International Space Station. Although nothing has been decided, he hopes to serve on a mission to help assemble or conduct experiments aboard ISS. Meanwhile, Wolf takes pride in the work he and other Boilermakers are doing, and reminds the rest of us to do the same. "Everyone connected with Purdue should be proud of the space program because Purdue astronauts and engineers at NASA have had such a big role in the success of NASA," he says.