NASA Astronaut attended the 4th EPFL SRD, Now in Space!
© 2012 EPFL
On Friday 25 September 2009, Space Center EPFL organized a special event to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the first moon landing. Astronaut Donald R. Pettit (NASA, USA) who was among the special guests during the two-day event, is now on his mission aboard the International Space Station in Expedition 30.
ESRD (EPFL Space Research Day) is an annual public event organized by Space Center EPFL since 11 October 2004. In the 4th ESRD on Friday 25 September 2009, NASA astronaut Donald R. Pettit gave a speech about Exploring the Frontier mainly focused on his space flight experiences (Expedition 6 and STS-126) and his six-week expedition to find meteorites in Antarctica.
Expedition 30
Donald Pettit, 56, who holds a doctorate in chemical engineering, is embarking on his third spaceflight and second long-duration mission. He previously served as flight engineer during Expedition 6 in 2002 and 2003 and as mission specialist on STS 126 in 2008. He is again serve as flight engineer during his ongoing mission.
Expedition 30 began with the Soyuz TMA-02M undocking in November 2011. Three new crew members including Don Pettit docked to ISS on December 23, 2011. Expedition 30 will last until May 2012. The 30th and 31st expeditions aboard the International Space Station not only will be focused on cutting-edge science and research, but also welcome a new era of commercial resupply services from the United States.
The crew will be busy with dozens of experiments during their time aboard the station. They will be continuing work that examines how the human body and different materials react to being in the weightless environment of space. How do the body’s bones and muscles adapt? What kinds of materials are more suitable for the harsh environment of space travel? How can we build those materials, and what can space teach us about manufacturing processes here on Earth? All of these questions will be explored by the crew during the ongoing Expedition, all in the pursuit of helping humans venture farther into the solar system.
Zero Gravity Coffee Cup – Pettit as an inventor!
In November 2008, Pettit invented a zero-g coffee cup, which used the wetting angle to carry the coffee along a crease to permit drinking and avoid the necessity of a straw. This zero-g cup was featured in the May 2009 National Geographic Magazine issue, along with his notes on the relation of the internal cup angle to the contact wetting angle for various construction materials.
News Photo info: Expedition 30 crew members pictured on the front row are NASA astronaut Dan Burbank, commander; and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, flight engineer. Pictured from the left (back row) are Russian cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoly Ivanishin; along with European Space Agency astronaut Andre Kuipers and NASA astronaut Don Pettit, all flight engineers. Photo credit: NASA and International Space Station partners.