Live and via Zoom (link on WAA web site westchesterastronomers.org)

NASA’s Commercial Crew Program and the role of Robotics

Carol Higgins

NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador

The retirement of NASA’s Space Shuttle program on August 31, 2011, left the space agency and its international partners with a single transportation option for astronauts to travel to and from the International Space Station (ISS) – Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft. Although highly reliable, the spacecraft only provides seating for three and led to a reduction in crew rotation opportunities and research activities in the station’s unique microgravity environment. The transportation situation greatly improved in May 2020 when two American astronauts launched on a test mission to the ISS from Kennedy Space Center, the first crew to launch from U.S. soil in over eight years.

In this presentation we visit the International Space Station, the world’s premier science and research laboratory. We’ll take a look at what it's like to live and work onboard the station, review the crucial services provided by NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, and discuss some examples of the use of robotics to assist astronauts and ground teams.

Carol Higgins has had a life-long interest in learning about solar system exploration that began the day her teacher rolled a small television set into the classroom to watch a rocket launch a U.S. Mercury astronaut into space.

An amateur astronomer, Carol is a member and past president of the Mohawk Valley Astronomical Society (MVAS) and enjoys sharing her telescopes and knowledge with others. Since 2014 she has continued to write a monthly astronomy-related article in Mohawk Valley Living magazine. As a NASA Solar System Ambassador she hopes to inspire others, the same way she was inspired as a young girl filled with curiosity.

Free & open to the public. Live attendance is encouraged. Meet and greet WAA members.