CU in Space

CU in Space exhibit photo

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.

Moon Rock

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 CONNECTIONMISSIONSDATE
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 75/24/62
2.JOHN L. 鈥淛ACK鈥 SWIGERT, JR.惭别肠丑贰苍驳谤鈥53Apollo 134/11/70
3.STUART A. ROOSA础别谤辞鈥60Apollo 141/31/71
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 NELSONPost 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
Challenger7/29/85
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73Columbia
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, UCCSDiscovery
Atlantis
2/11/94
3/22/96
14.JOE TANNERSenior Instructor 2008-presentAtlantis
Discovery
Endeavour
Atlantis
11/3/94
2/11/97
11/30/00
9/9/06
15.EDWARD T. LUPost 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88Columbia
Columbia
11/19/97
1/16/03
17.TAKAO DOIPost Doctoral Fellow 87-88
Associate Professor 91-95
Columbia11/19/97
18.JOHN HERRINGTON ApMath鈥83, UCCSEndeavour11/23/02
19.STEVEN SWANSON贰苍驳谤笔丑测蝉鈥83Atlantis
Discovery
Expedition 39/40
6/8/07
3/15/09
3/25/14
20.KJELL LINDGRENSchool of Medicine, Denver PhD鈥02Expedition 44/45 7/22/15

* Perished in the 1986 Challenger explosion
** Perished in the 2003 Columbia disaster

For more information on NASA astronauts, visit