Our guest speaker for Friday November 20, 2015 will be Astronaut Loren Shriver. The title of his talk will be “Deploying the Hubble Space Telescope”
Colonel Shriver will share insights from his years of service at NASA, offering attendees a unique appreciation for the vastness of space that has yielded new scientific understandings but still holds great mystery. Most of his talk will focus on the deployment of the Hubble Space Telescope from the Space Shuttle in April 1990.
Shriver is a former Air Force test pilot and NASA astronaut. In 1993, he became Space Shuttle Program Manager, Launch Integration, at KSC. In this position, he was responsible for final Shuttle preparation, mission execution, and return of the orbiter to KSC following landings at Edwards Air Force Base, CA. Beginning in 1997 he was Deputy Director for Launch and Payload Processing at Kennedy Space Center (KSC). After that he served as USA’s Deputy Program Manager of the Space Shuttle Program from 2000 to 2006. Most recently he was Vice President, Engineering and Integration, for United Space Alliance and was USAs Chief Technology Officer.
He has flown in 30 different types of single and multi-engine civilian and military fixed-wing and helicopter aircraft. He has logged over 6200 hours in jet aircraft and holds commercial pilot and private glider ratings.
He was commissioned in 1967 after graduating from the United States Air Force Academy. From 1969 to 1973, he served as a T-38 academic instructor pilot at Vance Air Force Base, Oklahoma. He completed F-4 combat crew training at Homestead Air Force Base, Florida, in 1973 and was then assigned to an overseas tour in Thailand until October 1974. In 1976, he began serving as a test pilot for the F-15 Joint Test Force at Edwards Air Force Base.
Selected as an astronaut by NASA in January 1978, Shriver is a veteran of three space flights and has logged more than 386 hours in space. His missions include STS-51C in 1985, STS-31 in 1990, and STS-46 in 1992. In October 1992, he was assigned as Deputy Chief of the Astronaut Office. In 1993, he accepted the Space Shuttle Program position at KSC, and retired from the Air Force as a Colonel.
Shriver’s accomplishments have earned him many notable awards. He has received the United States Air Force Distinguished Flying Cross, the Defense Superior Service Medal, the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, the Air Force Meritorious Service Medal, and the Air Force Commendation Medal. His NASA awards include the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal, and the NASA Space Flight Medal (three times). In 1990, he received the Flight Achievement Award from the American Astronautical Society and the Haley Space Flight Award from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. In 2008, Mr. Shriver was inducted into the Astronaut Hall of Fame.
He earned a BSc in aeronautical engineering from the United States Air Force Academy in 1967. The following year, he received an MSc in Astronautical Engineering from Purdue University. He is originally from Paton, Iowa.
Weather permitting after the presentation, visitors will be invited to look through our large telescope at various celestial objects. Public star nights are held the third Friday of each month (except July, when we are closed for annual maintenance). No reservations are necessary for these nights. Just come and join us for the talk and some observing afterwards.
If you have any questions, please call the observatory information line at 970-613-7793 or check the LTO web site at: www.starkids.org
