Astronaut to discuss mission to the Hubble Space Telescope Sept. 30

BY MIKE WILLIAMS
Rice News staff

Mike Massimino is back from his trip, and like any good dad he brought something for the kids.

	MIKE MASSIMINO

The veteran astronaut and Rice adjunct professor in mechanical engineering and materials science (MEMS) will be on campus Sept. 30 to share his experience on NASA’s fourth and final service mission to the Hubble Space Telescope and his two spacewalks to replace equipment that will keep the telescope in service for at least another five years. He will also return the Rice MEMS shirt — signed by his colleagues and students — that he carried with him on that mission.

His talk, which is part of the Dean’s Undergraduate Lecture Series, will be at 4 p.m. in McMurtry Auditorium, Duncan Hall.

Massimino famously had to use a bit more elbow grease than is normal for such a mission when, on his second spacewalk, a handle blocking access to an instrument refused to budge. After several unsuccessful hours trying to loosen a screw holding the handle, he resorted to brute force.

Show of strength
Rice professor applies elbow grease to free Hubble handrail
Journey into space
Astronaut Mike Massimino brings a piece of Rice to famed space telescope

Massimino told Rice News before his flight how much he looked forward to debriefing students upon his return. ”I think it’s good for students to see how they might be able to do some cool stuff, if they’re interested in the space program and figuring out cool engineering challenges,” he said. “I’ll give them some examples of how that worked on this flight.”

The talk will also serve as a “tweet-up.” Massimino was the first astronaut to update followers on Twitter from space and has continued to do so since landing. He gained his millionth follower last week.

The lecture is free and open to the public.