1 Aggienaut heads into space, another heads to campus

by Dave Jones
April 02, 2010

We call them Aggienauts: alumni-turned-astronauts. Today (April 2), one of them, Tracy Caldwell Dyson, is scheduled for liftoff into space, and next week, Aggienaut Stephen Robinson, who recently returned from a mission, is due back at UC Davis for two events.

Caldwell Dyson is bound for a six-month mission on the International Space Station, getting there aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket with two Russian cosmonauts, lifting off from the Baikanour Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan.

While assigned to the space station and serving as flight engineer, Caldwell Dyson is due to take her first spacewalk and carry out a variety of science experiments. She is scheduled for return to Earth in September.

Caldwell Dyson earned her doctorate in chemistry from UC Davis in 1997. She holds a bachelor's degree in chemistry from California State University, Fullerton.

As a student at UC Davis, Caldwell Dyson learned to fly and to speak Russian. This is her second space flight: She spent almost two weeks on the space station in August 2007.

Robinson, who received his bachelor’s degree from UC Davis in 1978, worked aboard the space station for two weeks in February. The mission specialist was part of the Space Shuttle Endeavour crew that delivered and assembled the Node 3 module, also known as Tranquility, an observation cupola that offers panoramic views of Earth and other celestial objects, as well as visiting spacecraft.

The mission marked Robinson's fourth shuttle flight into space and his first visit to the space station.

On April 9, he is scheduled to participate in an open forum for faculty and students, "The Future of Human Spaceflight in America," scheduled from 10 to 10:45 a.m. in 1003 Giedt Hall.

Then, at 11 a.m. in the same place, he is scheduled to give a lecture, free and open to the public. His talk, "Heavy Construction Made Weightless — Building the International Space Station," is part of the College of Engineering's Dean's Distinguished Lecture Series.