October 29, 2009
Purdue astronaut alum to speak on campus in November
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - |
McCulley's 8 p.m. talk in Wetherill Laboratory of Chemistry, Room 200, is free and open to the public, but seating is limited. He will be on campus to participate in Purdue's annual Space Day on Nov. 7.
McCulley, who earned a master's degree in metallurgical engineering from Purdue in 1970, was the pilot on a space shuttle mission in 1989. He logged 119 hours in space. During this mission, crew members successfully deployed the Galileo spacecraft on its journey to explore Jupiter, mapped atmospheric ozone and performed several secondary experiments.
Following his retirement from NASA in 1990, he was employed by Lockheed Martin Space Operations and served as vice president and deputy launch site director for the Kennedy Space Center. McCulley next served as vice president and associate program manager for United Space Alliance's ground operations at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida in 1996.
McCulley was named president and CEO of United Space Alliance in 2003, where he worked until his retirement in 2007.
More than 580 third- through eighth-graders are registered for the 14th annual Space Day, which is filled to capacity. Participants will come from 461 schools in Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Wisconsin and Washington. More than 190 Purdue students representing 27 majors have volunteered to conduct the event.
McCulley will speak to students to begin Space Day and will participate in activities throughout the day.
Students in grades three and four will learn about constellations, build a model landing craft that will protect a dropped egg and build miniature straw rockets. Students in grades five and six will design a crew exploration vehicle, learn about astronomy, study light pollution and how to use a planisphere, and build a water-propelled rocket. Students in grades seven and eight will develop an airtight filtration system, collect and analyze data to streamline a rocket, and construct and test a high-power paper rocket launcher.
Purdue Space Day is a student-run educational outreach program. The annual event has drawn more than 4,000 students to Purdue to learn about science, technology, engineering and math since its beginning in 1996. The College of Engineering's School of Aeronautics and Astronautics hosts Space Day.
More information is available at https://engineering.purdue.edu/FallSpaceDay
Writer: Natalie Palmer, 765-496-3006, ncfox@purdue.edu
Source: Jessica Holsinger, student Space Day public relations coordinator, 317-752-6696, jmholsin@purdue.edu
Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu
Note to Journalists: Journalists wishing to interview Michael McCulley should contact Jessica Holsinger at 317-752-6696, jmholsin@purdue.edu. Journalists planning to cover Space Day on Nov. 7 can get information on activity locations that day in the Armstrong Hall Atrium.
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