NASA Glenn Event to Celebrate John Glenn’s Legacy on March 2

 CLEVELAND — NASA’s Glenn Research Center will host an event on March 2 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of John Glenn’s orbital flight, the first by an American.”Celebrating John Glenn’s Legacy: 50 Years of Americans in Orbit” will be held at 1 p.m. EST at Cleveland State University’s Wolstein Center, 2000 Prospect Ave., in Cleveland. More than 800 complimentary tickets are being distributed to the general public for this event through a lottery by Cleveland State University in partnership with NASA Glenn.

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and Glenn Director Ramon “Ray” Lugo will provide remarks during the one-hour program, which will include a welcome from Cleveland State University President Dr. Ronald Berkman. Space shuttle mission STS-95 pilot Steve Lindsey will pay tribute from the astronaut corps to Glenn. The program will culminate with a keynote address by the guest of honor Sen. John H. Glenn Jr.

Musical performances will be provided by the Cleveland Institute of Music, The Singing Angels and a soloist from Cleveland State University’s music program. Doors open at noon and a special pre-program musical performance by the Cleveland Institute of Music will begin at 12:15 p.m., followed by a video tribute to Glenn.

“This is a great opportunity for our community to come together and celebrate the achievements of John Glenn,” Lugo said. “We are delighted to combine the 50th anniversary celebration with the anniversary of the center renaming. The inspiration that John Glenn gives to millions of people along with the pioneering spirit that lives in the hearts of all who work at the center will continue to keep our nation on the path of exploration and discovery.”

On March 1, 1999, the Lewis Research Center was officially renamed the NASA John H. Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field in recognition of Glenn’s contributions to science, space and the state of Ohio. As one of the original seven Mercury astronauts, Glenn trained in 1960 at Lewis in the Multiple Axis Space Test Inertia Facility.

Others attending the tribute event include agency officials, Ohio astronauts, NASA employees and contractors, elected officials, several hundred high school students throughout northeast Ohio, and 100 Twitter followers selected to participate in a day-long Tweetup event that includes tours of NASA Glenn and its visitor center at the Great Lakes Science Center.

Following the program, Glenn, Bolden and Lugo will participate in a news media opportunity and question and answer session with the Tweetup participants. Reporters interested in covering the program and media availability should contact Lori Rachul at 216-433-8806 by noon on Thursday, March 1.

The program and media opportunity will be carried live on NASA Television and streamed online at:

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

An interactive online feature about the Mercury program and Glenn’s flight is available at:

http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/glenn50

NASA – Legendary Astronaut Shannon Lucid Retires

HOUSTON — Shannon Lucid, a member of NASA’s first astronaut class to include women, has retired after more than three decades of service to the agency.

 

A veteran of five spaceflights, Lucid logged more than 223 days in space, and from August 1991 to June 2007, held the record for the most days in orbit by any woman in the world. Lucid is the only American woman to serve aboard the Russian Mir space station. She lived and worked there for more than 188 days, the longest stay of any American on that vehicle. Her time on Mir also set the single flight endurance record by a woman until Suni Williams broke it in 2006.

“Shannon is an extraordinary woman and scientist. She paved the way for so many of us,” said Peggy Whitson, chief of NASA’s Astronaut Office at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. “She was a model astronaut for long-duration missions, and whether she was flying hundreds of miles up in space or serving as Capcom [capsule communicator] during the overnight hours for our space shuttle and space station crews, she always brought a smile to our faces. Like so many others, I always will look up to her.”

Lucid, who holds a doctorate in biochemistry, was selected by NASA in 1978. She joined five other women as the agency’s first female astronauts. Her first three shuttle missions deployed satellites. STS-51G in 1985 deployed and retrieved the SPARTAN satellite; STS-34 in 1989 deployed the Galileo spacecraft to explore Jupiter; and STS-43 in 1991 deployed the fifth Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS-E). Her fourth shuttle mission, STS-58 in 1993, focused on medical experiments and engineering tests.

Lucid traveled aboard Atlantis on STS-76 in March 1996 to the Russian Mir space station. She performed numerous life science and physical science experiments during the course of her stay. She returned from the station aboard Atlantis on STS-79 in September 1996.
In 2002, Lucid served as NASA’s chief scientist at the agency’s headquarters in Washington. She returned to Johnson in the fall of 2003 and resumed technical assignments in the Astronaut Office. She served as a Capcom in the Mission Control Center for numerous space shuttle and space station crews, representing the flight crew office and providing a friendly voice for dozens of friends and colleagues in space.

For Lucid’s complete biography, visit:

http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/lucid.html

NASA Top Stories of 2011-4 SPACE SHUTTLE FLIES FINAL THREE FLIGHTS, PROGRAM ENDS

NASA’s Space Shuttle Program concluded in 2011 with three final missions to the International Space Station. Each mission carried supplies and equipment that will sustain the space station crews until NASA’s new Commercial Resupply Service providers take over this role.

Shuttle Discovery launched the STS-133 mission on Feb. 24, carrying the retrofitted, Italian-built multipurpose logistics module (MPLM) “Leonardo” to the space station. On May 16, Endeavour launched STS-134 and, along with supplies and equipment, brought the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-2 (AMS) to the space station. The AMS is a particle physics experiment module designed to search for unusual matter by measuring cosmic rays. STS-135 launched on July 8, making the space shuttles’ final delivery of supplies to the space station. Just before returning to Earth, STS-135 Commander Chris Ferguson presented the station’s crew with a U.S. flag flown on the first space shuttle mission, STS-1, in April 1981. The flag will remain displayed aboard the station until the next crew launched from the U.S. retrieves it for return to Earth so it can be carried by the first crew launched from the U.S. on a journey of exploration beyond low-Earth orbit.

Space Shuttle Award and Mission Complete Medallions