{"424561":{"#nid":"424561","#data":{"type":"news","title":"First Shuttle pilot, Capt. Robert Crippen headlines Gebhardt Lecture","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAsk retired NASA Shuttle pilot Robert Crippen what was most memorable about the more than 565 hours he spent in space, and he is likely to paraphrase another astronaut, his Shuttle colleague John Young, AE \u201852.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201c\u2019That part between the take-off and the landing \u2013 that\u2019s the best part,\u2019\u201d said Crippen during a recent phone interview. \u201cThe weightlessness is fun, too, but being able to look out the window and see this \u2018spaceship Earth\u2019 is nothing short of fantastic.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe Georgia Tech community will get a chance to get more details from Crippen on\u0026nbsp;\u003Cstrong\u003EThursday, February 6, at 3:30 p.m.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003Ewhen he presents, \u201cThe Shuttle and I\u201d as a part of\u0026nbsp;\u003Cstrong\u003EAE\u2019s Gebhardt Lecture Series,\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003Eat the Clough Commons (144). The presentation is free.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EA native of Texas, Crippen took a traditional route to becoming an astronaut, studying aerospace engineering as an undergraduate and joining the US Navy where he was recruited by NASA after training to become a fighter pilot. In 1981, he piloted the first-ever Shuttle flight and went on to serve as Commander on three others.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAlmost 40 years later, Crippen notes, a new generation of private companies (e.g. SpaceX and Virgin Galactic) has created different opportunities for space travel. In 2014, NASA is not the only way into the stars. But there is no shortcut to being a leader in space exploration, he said, and that\u2019s where the United States should be positioning itself.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe can partner with private companies and other countries, of course, and that\u2019s what we\u2019re doing but if we want to go beyond where we are now, we need to commit to the space program,\u201d he said. \u201cIf the United States stands down on its commitment to space exploration, we\u2019ll see other countries, like India, China or Russia, step up.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ERetired after 3 decades with NASA, Crippen still supports this commitment through the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation, a private, non-profit established by the six surviving members of America\u2019s original Mercury Seven astronauts. Since its inception in 1984, ASF has disbursed more than $3.7 million in scholarships to the best and brightest, including 19 from Georgia Tech.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe\u2019re trying to stimulate interest across the board, not just aerospace \u2013 mathematics, engineering, technology, because we need to maintain our position,\u201d he said. \u201cA large number of our recipients work in the aerospace field, and, out of the last eight who were selected to become astronauts, one of them was an ASF recipient.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EReflecting on what has been a storied career, Crippen points out that there have been lots of bumps along the way. For instance, in 1967, he opted to join the military-based Manned Orbital Laboratory (MOL) project, thinking that he\u2019d have a better chance of flying in that program than in another program launched by fledgling space program.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cLo and behold, in 1969, they canceled the [MOL] program and, for awhile there, it was quite a blow,\u201d he said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI was recruited by NASA, and, eventually, I did get to fly, but to me, this was a valuable lesson: no matter how far along you are, you can meet with disappointment. And, too: stick with it, even after a disappointment, because you never know where hard work will bring you.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor more information about this presentation or the lecture series, contact Margaret Ojala at 404.894.3002.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EPrior to piloting several Space Shuttle missions, Capt. Crippen served on the ground crew for the Space Lab 2, 3 and 4 missions as well as the Apollo-Soyez Test Project. After retiring from active flight, Capt. Crippen served as the director of the Space Shuttle Program and as the director of the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the recipient of a Congressional Medal of Honor, and has been inducted into the Astronaut Hall of Fame.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022rteright\u0022\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"First Shuttle pilot, Capt. Robert Crippen headlines Gebhardt Lecture"}],"uid":"27456","created_gmt":"2015-07-14 14:28:11","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:19:04","author":"Britanny Grace","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2014-02-03T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2014-02-03T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"427661":{"id":"427661","type":"image","title":"Robert Crippen","body":null,"created":"1449254342","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 18:39:02","changed":"1475895165","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:52:45","alt":"Robert Crippen","file":{"fid":"202796","name":"crippen_in_gear.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/crippen_in_gear_1.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/crippen_in_gear_1.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":19210,"path_740":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/crippen_in_gear_1.jpg?itok=8CKWf4FB"}},"427681":{"id":"427681","type":"image","title":"Crippen Speaks at ASDL","body":null,"created":"1449254342","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 18:39:02","changed":"1475895167","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:52:47","alt":"Crippen Speaks at ASDL","file":{"fid":"202798","name":"dsc_0282.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/dsc_0282_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/dsc_0282_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":3224086,"path_740":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/dsc_0282_0.jpg?itok=TzTT8j9F"}}},"media_ids":["427661","427681"],"groups":[{"id":"1239","name":"School of Aerospace Engineering"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"}],"keywords":[{"id":"2082","name":"aerospace engineering"},{"id":"130471","name":"Gebhardt Lecture"},{"id":"408","name":"NASA"},{"id":"1992","name":"Robert Crippen"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":["communications@ae.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}