Retired Astronauts To Speak About Space In Melbourne

By Space Coast Daily // June 9, 2012

BREVARD COUNTY • MELBOURNE, FLORIDA – Two retired astronauts will discuss their experiences in space at several free lectures at Florida Institute of Technology on Thursday.

FAVIER-150 — Retired astronaut Jean-Jacques Favier flew aboard the STS-78 NASA Space Shuttle mission. (Image courtesy NASA)

Retired astronaut Jean-Jacques Favier will deliver a free lecture from 4 to 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, while retired astronaut Chiaki Mukai will lecture from 2 to 3:30m p.m. Thursday.

Both lectures are being held in conjunction with the International Space University and offered in the F.W. Olin Engineering Building, Room 118 at Florida Tech.

ISU Event

The ISU opened its 25^th Space Studies Program at the university and Kennedy Space Center on June 4 and it runs here through Aug. 3.

About 130 post-graduate university participants from 31 countries are attending the two-month 2012 ISU/SSP to learn about all aspects of space programs and enterprises.

Favier, an engineer and formerly with CNES, the French Space Agency, flew aboard the STS-78 NASA Space Shuttle mission.

MUKAI-150 — Retired astronaut Chiaki Mukai was the first Japanese woman in space and the first Japanese citizen to make two spaceflights, both being Space Shuttle missions. (Image courtesy NASA)

He was an adviser to the director of the Material Science Research Center at the French Atomic Energy Commission and was detached to CNES.

Favier proposed the MEPHISTO program, a collaborative project between the French Space Agency and NASA and has developed many other scientific projects in collaboration with the United States since 1985.

Favier has been principal investigator of more than 10 space experiments in collaboration with NASA and the European and Russian Space Agencies.

Historical significance

A Japanese doctor and astronaut, Mukai was the first Japanese woman in space and the first Japanese citizen to make two spaceflights both being Space Shuttle missions.

Her first was STS-65 aboard Space Shuttle Columbia in July 1994 which was a Spacelab mission, and her second spaceflight was STS-95 aboard Space Shuttle Discovery in 1998. In total she has spent 23 days in space.

Prior to her experience with the Japanese Space Agency, Mukai was an assistant professor in the Department of Cardiovascular Surgery at KeioUniversity, the oldest university in Japan.

For information about the lectures, call Delilah Caballero at 321-309-4960.

Bob Touchston says:

September 28, 2012 at 1:31 pm

Within Reach, Inc. in partnership with Habitat for Humanity is sponsoring the Space Coast Barbecue & Music Festival on November 10. All proceeds directly benefit Brevard County Veterans, elderly and poor who need home repairs or refurbishments. The event website is http://www.spacecoastbbqfestival.com. Children’s carnival, 35 professional barbecue teams vie for awards that could take them all the way to the Jack Daniel’s national cookoff, class car show, arts and crafts and much more. Come on out on Saturday, November 10th for this awesome event. I can be reached at 321-506-1695

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