CU in Space
Since campus researchers began sending experiments and instruments into space in the late 1940s, NASA spacecraft have launched hundreds of CU Boulder instruments as well as 20 CU Boulder scientists, baby直播app and alumni on 52 space missions. CU Boulder ranks in the top five U.S. universities, excluding military academies, in the number of astronaut alums and is the top NASA-funded university in the world.
CU Boulder baby直播app, staff and students receive about $50 million annually for space research. This allows students the opportunity to gain hands-on experience and hone their skills by working on real projects used by space scientists.
The CU Heritage Center Space Exploration Gallery currently highlights:
- CU鈥檚 20 system-wide astronauts
- An Aerobee rocket suspended from the ceiling, the same type that carried a CU-designed spectrometer to photograph the sun鈥檚 atmosphere in 1952
- A miniature replica of the Jack Swigert statue on display at the U.S. Capitol. Swigert, a CU Alum, flew on Apollo 13
- Artifacts that accompanied alumnus Ellison Onizuka aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger in January 1986 and were recovered from the wreckage
- Spacesuits and other equipment used by astronauts
Our Moon Rock
Lunar Sample 15555.844
On long-term loan from NASA,
Johnson Space Center
On display at the CU Heritage Center is lunar sample 15555.844, on long-term loan from NASA. The moon rock was collected by Apollo 15 astronauts (none of whom are affiliated with CU) on July 30, 1971 when the lunar module Falcon landed in the Hadley-Apennine region of the moon. It was cut from the largest of the rocks collected on the Apollo 15 mission.
The Heritage Center moon rock is composed of medium-grained olivine basalt, one of the most common types of rocks found on Earth. Scientists use this information to better understand the origin and history of the Earth as well as the solar system as a whole.
By analyzing moon rocks like ours, scientists have discovered that the youngest moon rocks are as old as the oldest Earth rocks, or just over 3 billion years old. We know that the surface of planet Earth is active and that the movements of the tectonic plates uplift and volcanoes work to remix and alter its composition. The surface of the moon, on the other hand, has remained basically unchanged for the last 3 billion years. Geologic evidence of the earliest events that probably affected both the Earth and the moon can now be found only on the moon.
The first lunar samples were studied in vacuum to protect them from contamination by Earth鈥檚 atmosphere. Today they are housed in nitrogen to keep them from deteriorating. The CU moon rock is encased in a special, NASA-prepared airtight case that is filled with nitrogen.
CU Astronauts
CU CONNECTION | MISSIONS | DATE | ||
1. | M. SCOTT CARPENTER | 础别谤辞贰虫鈥49, 础别谤辞鈥62 贬辞苍顿辞肠贬耻尘鈥00 | Aurora 7 | 5/24/62 |
2. | JOHN L. 鈥淛ACK鈥 SWIGERT, JR. | 惭别肠丑贰苍驳谤鈥53 | Apollo 13 | 4/11/70 |
3. | STUART A. ROOSA | 础别谤辞鈥60 | Apollo 14 | 1/31/71 |
4. | VANCE D. BRAND | 叠耻蝉鈥53 础别谤辞鈥60 贬辞苍顿辞肠贬耻尘鈥00 | Apollo-Soyuz Columbia Challenger Columbia | 7/15/75 1/11/82 2/3/84 12/2/90 |
5. | GEORGE D. 鈥淧INKY鈥 NELSON | Post Doctoral Fellow 础蝉迟谤辞鈥78 贬辞苍顿辞肠贬耻尘鈥00 | Challenger Columbia Discovery | 4/6/84 1/12/86 9/29/88 |
6. | ELLISON ONIZUKA* | 础别谤辞鈥69 M础别谤辞鈥69 | Discovery Challenger | 1/24/85 1/28/86 |
7. | LOREN W. ACTON | 础蝉迟谤辞笔丑顿鈥65 贬辞苍顿辞肠贬耻尘鈥00 | Challenger | 7/29/85 |
8. | JOHN M. 鈥淢IKE鈥 LOUNGE | 惭础别谤辞鈥70 贬辞苍顿辞肠贬耻尘鈥00 | Discovery Discovery Columbia | 8/27/85 9/29/88 12/2/90 |
9. | MARSHA S. IVINS | 础别谤辞鈥73 | Columbia Atlantis Columbia Atlantis Atlantis | 1/9/90 7/31/92 3/4/94 1/7/97 2/7/01 |
10. | SAMUEL T. DURRANCE | 础蝉迟谤辞笔丑顿鈥80 贬辞苍顿辞肠贬耻尘鈥00 | Columbia Endeavour | 12/2/90 3/1/95 |
11. | RICHARD J. HIEB | 惭础别谤辞鈥79 贬辞苍顿辞肠贬耻尘鈥00 | Discovery Endeavour Columbia | 4/28/91 5/7/92 7/23/94 |
12. | JAMES S. VOSS | 惭础别谤辞鈥74 贬辞苍顿辞肠贬耻尘鈥00 | Atlantis Discovery Endeavour Atlantis Expedition 2 | 11/24/91 12/2/92 9/7/95 3/19/00 3/8/01 |
13. | RONALD SEGA | ElEngr PhD鈥82, UCCS | Discovery Atlantis | 2/11/94 3/22/96 |
14. | JOE TANNER | Senior Instructor 2008-present | Atlantis Discovery Endeavour Atlantis | 11/3/94 2/11/97 11/30/00 9/9/06 |
15. | EDWARD T. LU | Post Doctoral Fellow JILA 92 | Atlantis Atlantis Expedition 7 | 5/15/97 9/8/00 4/25/03 |
16. | KALPANA CHAWLA ** | 础别谤辞笔丑顿鈥88 | Columbia Columbia | 11/19/97 1/16/03 |
17. | TAKAO DOI | Post Doctoral Fellow 87-88 Associate Professor 91-95 | Columbia | 11/19/97 |
18. | JOHN HERRINGTON | ApMath鈥83, UCCS | Endeavour | 11/23/02 |
19. | STEVEN SWANSON | 贰苍驳谤笔丑测蝉鈥83 | Atlantis Discovery Expedition 39/40 | 6/8/07 3/15/09 3/25/14 |
20. | KJELL LINDGREN | School of Medicine, Denver PhD鈥02 | Expedition 44/45 | 7/22/15 |
* Perished in the 1986 Challenger explosion
** Perished in the 2003 Columbia disaster
For more information on NASA astronauts, visit