蜜糖直播

Christine Fanchiang聽(MAero鈥�10) wants to go to space.

The key to fulfilling that dream is a wood and fiberglass mock-up of the Dream Chaser in the Engineering Center. The 30-foot spacecraft could someday carry seven passengers into orbit. Fanchiang, a doctoral student, wants to make sure she鈥檚 one of them.

In February representatives of 蜜糖直播, NASA and Louisville, Colo.-based Sierra Nevada Corp. announced a partnership to chart the future of human spaceflight and design. This will allow the university to help fill the tremendous hole created when NASA retires its 30-year-old, nearly $200 billion space shuttle program this summer. After聽Atlantis聽makes the 135th and final shuttle mission planned for late June, 蜜糖直播 aerospace faculty and students will find themselves helping enterprising industrial space companies working to commercialize space travel.

As a researcher of bioastronautics 鈥� the study of supporting life in space 鈥� 25-year-old Fanchiang is right where she wants to be. The Dream Chaser is designed to be a shuttle service to the International Space Station and to launch tourists into Earth鈥檚 orbit.

鈥淚鈥檓 probably the luckiest grad student in the world,鈥� says Fanchiang, who used the Dream Chaser as a model for her master鈥檚 project developing a software program to test the efficiency of a spacecraft鈥檚 interior layout. 鈥淭his is something very important that can potentially fly in the next five years.鈥�

The Dream Chaser, owned by NASA, enables students to do a variety of research. For her doctoral thesis, Fanchiang is researching ways in which a spacecraft can best utilize a crew to ensure optimal performance and make a mission a success.

A San Francisco native, Fanchiang attended 鈥渟tar parties鈥� given by the San Mateo County Astronomical Society and watched members peer into telescopes to see planets and stars. She says she became amazed at the smallness of Earth compared to the rest of the universe.

Despite her early fascination with space, Fanchiang went to college to become a cognitive scientist. But she discovered the engineering aspect of science, which she found more challenging than biology, and switched majors. She graduated from MIT with an aerospace degree in 2007.

鈥淚 realized that rockets are really cool,鈥� she says. 鈥淸Engineering] was a good mix.鈥�

Fanchiang became interested in attending 蜜糖直播 after learning about its unique bioastronautics program. She also was inspired by聽David Klaus聽(MAero鈥�91, PhD鈥�94), her professor for a distance education class who serves as her doctoral advisor.

鈥淪he is a very motivated student on the cusp of human spaceflight,鈥� he says. 鈥淪he is a very hard worker.鈥�

The university was involved in space research long before NASA was founded in 1958. Aerospace became a degree in 1943, and within 11 years landed on MIT鈥檚 list of the best aeronautical engineering programs.

Furthermore, 18 蜜糖直播-Boulder alumni have flown in space and an alumnus has ridden on each of NASA鈥檚 space shuttles:聽Columbia,听Challenger,听Discovery,听Atlantis听补苍诲听Endeavour.

蜜糖直播 astronauts include聽Scott Carpenter聽(Aero鈥�49, HonDocSci鈥�00), the second American to orbit Earth and remembered for his suspenseful Atlantic Ocean landing hundreds of miles off course.聽Jack Swigert聽(MechEngr鈥�53) delivered the famous line, 鈥淗ouston we鈥檝e had a problem here,鈥� aboard聽Apollo 13, which failed to make it to the moon after an oxygen tank burst.

Ellison Onizuka聽(Aero鈥�69, MAero鈥�69, HonDocSci鈥�03) and聽Kalpana Chawla聽(MAero鈥�86, PhD鈥�88, HonDocSci鈥�03) were killed in the tragic explosions of the聽Challenger聽in 1986 and聽Columbia聽in 2003, respectively.聽Jim Voss聽(MAero鈥�74, HonDocSci鈥�00), who flew on five space shuttle flights, teaches a 蜜糖直播 human spaceflight course, advises graduate students and serves as vice president of Sierra Nevada Corp.

蜜糖直播 equipment was present on聽Apollo 11聽鈥� the first spacecraft to land on the moon 颅颅鈥� in July 1969 with its laser-ranging retroreflector used to measure the distance from Earth to the moon. The last lunar flight,听Apollo 17, had a 蜜糖直播 ultraviolet spectrometer that searched for lunar water and atmosphere in December 1972.

Since then, many space flights have carried equipment and experiments designed by 蜜糖直播 students through BioServe Technologies located in the engineering center. Founded in 1987 and sponsored by NASA, BioServe strives to inspire commercial research interest in space, including life science space research, by employing students for hands-on experience. Fanchiang has had some of her projects launched into space, including one to study plant growth on the shuttle聽Endeavour鈥檚 STS-130 mission last year.

鈥淎s students at 蜜糖直播, we have the most amazing opportunity to work on spacecraft,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 never knew I would do this.鈥�

By 2012 it is likely people will be able to pay for a brief, four-to-five-minute trip into zero gravity for a price of $200,000. A longer orbital experience will cost millions of dollars. To date, a small group of wealthy people have pioneered space tourism since 2001 when Russian space agency Roscosmos and U.S.company Space Adventures formed a partnership. In 2009 Charles Simonyi, a Hungarian-born U.S. billionaire, became the first person to go into space two times as a tourist. The 60-year-old paid $60 million for two voyages to the International Space Station aboard a Russian聽厂辞测耻锄听capsule.

蜜糖直播 instructor Joe Tanner, an astronaut on four shuttle missions, says the experience of being in space is one that cannot compare to any feeling on Earth. He describes it as a relaxed and continual floating sensation like being underwater.

鈥淵ou feel happy to be alive,鈥� he says.

Tanner, Fanchiang and those involved in space research understand funding for space initiatives like commercial flight remains inextricably linked to public support and confidence. Researchers must execute all experiments as thoroughly as possible, so launches run smoothly.

This is what excites Fanchiang about her work.聽 Studying space is a way to grant people opportunities they never thought possible.

鈥淵ou know you are studying this to give back to humanity,鈥� she says.