Astronaut, UK Alum Story Musgrave to Deliver Lecture Thursday
Video produced by UK Public Relations & Marketing. To view captions for this video, push play and click on the CC icon in the bottom right hand corner of the screen. If using a mobile device, click on the "thought bubble" in the same area.
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Feb. 23, 2015) — Story Musgrave, University of Kentucky alumnus and former astronaut, Marine and trauma surgeon will visit campus Thursday, Feb. 26, to speak to UK students, faculty, staff and the public in celebration of Engineers Week. Musgrave will deliver his lecture from noon-1 p.m. in the Frank H. Harris Grand Ballroom, Room 305 in the UK Student Center.
The event is free and open to the public.
Engineers Week, an annual event sponsored by a coalition of more than 100 professional societies, major corporations and government agencies, is dedicated to promoting math and science literacy and ensuring a diverse and well-educated future engineering workforce.
At UK, the College of Engineering annually invites a notable engineer to campus to discuss the role of good communication in his or her career, and hosts E-Day, a celebration of everything engineering has to offer.
“The College of Engineering is truly honored to host Story Musgrave as part of our celebration of National Engineers Week,” said John Walz, dean of the College of Engineering. “His interest and accomplishments in so many different areas really demonstrates that there are no limits to what someone can achieve through education.”
Musgrave, who holds graduate degrees in computer programming, chemistry, math, medicine, literature, physiology and psychology, earned his Master of Science in physiology and biophysics from UK. He completed a surgical internship at the UK Albert B. Chandler Hospital and later joined UK’s Department of Physiology as a fellow in preparation for the space program. Musgrave used his spare time to hone his flying skills at Lexington’s Blue Grass Airport.
Following his graduation from UK, he signed on as a scientist-astronaut at NASA, eventually flying on six spaceflights and performing the first shuttle spacewalk on Challenger's first flight.
As if traveling to space and serving as a part-time trauma surgeon during his 30-year astronaut career weren’t enough, Musgrave engineered the extravehicular activity for the space shuttles, including the spacesuits he and his colleagues would wear in 1993 when they made critical repairs to the Hubble Telescope.
Today, still a master of many trades, Musgrave operates a palm farm, a production company and a sculpture company. He also works as a landscape architect, a concept artist with Walt Disney Imagineering, an innovator with Applied Minds Inc., and a part-time professor of design at Art Center College of Design, according to his website.
Attendees of Musgrave's lecture are encouraged to park in the South Limestone Garage (Parking Structure #5). A reception with light refreshments will follow the lecture in the UK Student Center's small ballroom.
Watch the video above produced for a previous UKNow story to see actual NASA footage of Musgrave in space during his several missions. For more information about the lecture, contact Emily Dotson at ead@uky.edu. For more information about E-Day on Saturday, Feb. 28, visit http://www.engr.uky.edu/eday/.
MEDIA CONTACT: Whitney Harder, 849-323-2396, whitney.harder@uky.edu