Showing 33 results for:
astronauts
Popular topics
All results
These new astronauts are “preparing for takeoff” in NASA’s Astronaut Office. On March 5, 2024, NASA held a graduation ceremony at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX, as 10 new graduates, “The Flies,” crossed the stage after completing two years of training, per a news release. Among the graduates are Andre Douglas and Christopher Williams — representing for Black astronauts. The monumental milestone is a dream come true for both Douglas and Williams. However, the two each had to make crucial decisions along their career paths that ultimately led to turning their dreams into reality. Following NASA’s graduation ceremony, Douglas recalled in an interview with AFROTECH™ about his journey of leaving the U.S. Coast Guard to pursue becoming an astronaut. While it became a great part of the Virginia native, and his father, who was also in the service, he knew he wanted to be in aerospace. Douglas’ curiosity for the industry began at age 7 when he looked through a telescope for the...
There’s much to be said about the notion that Black History Month shouldn’t just be during the month of February, but every month. Certainly, there is no shortage of historical figures that deserve to get their flowers, and that’s difficult to do over the course of 28 (and if we’re lucky, 29) days. There are far too few Black STEM figures from history that have gotten their due in modern history books. The hit film, “Hidden Figures,” starring Kevin Costner and Taraji P. Henson, gave us a glimpse into how sidelined Black men and women were in the world of rocket science. That’s why these six Black astronauts — some of whom you may have never heard of prior to today — deserve their due, too. Guion Bluford Jr., Ph.D. Courtesy Photo He was the first African American, and the second person of African descent, to go into space. However, according to NASA, Dr. Guion Bluford Jr. got his start in the United States Air Force before becoming an astronaut and even remained in active service...
NASA aerospace research psycho-physiologist Dr. Patricia S. Cowings designed a program to help astronauts combat space sickness, according to Face2Face Africa . Born in Bronx, New York, Cowings, 71, dedicated her 34-year career at NASA to helping spacemen and women better adapt to outer space conditions by studying the effects of gravity on human physiology and performance. According to NASA, approximately half of the crew experience a range of symptoms of motion sickness during space travel, including mild forms of nausea or dizziness to severe malaise and vomiting. As a result of her research efforts, NASA patented Autogenic Feedback Training Exercise (AFTE), a six-hour procedure used to train people to control 24 physiological functions—breathing, heart rate, sweating, etc. — to reduce symptoms of motion sickness. During training, she teaches a subject to mentally evoke a sensation, like muscle relaxation, to bring about desired physiological changes, says NASA . “Astronauts are...
For a company that prides itself on pushing the boundaries in space exploration , SpaceX just hit another major roadblock—literally. The highly anticipated test flight of its Starship mega rocket ended in disaster (again) after controllers lost contact with the upper-stage vehicle just minutes into the launch. This marks Starship’s second consecutive failure, raising serious questions: What’s causing these explosions? Has this happened before? And what is SpaceX doing to fix it? Let’s break it all down. Why Did This Happen? According to an NBC News report, the launch kicked off with promise. Near Brownsville, Texas, on Thursday, March 6, at 6:30 p.m. ET, Starship blasted off from SpaceX’s Starbase for its eighth test, soaring toward the skies with the power and spectacle you’d expect from the world’s most advanced rocket. But then—like déjà vu—disaster struck just over eight minutes in. Live video showed the upper-stage vehicle spinning uncontrollably, and within seconds,...
Dr. Bernard Harris will be inducted into the Astronaut Hall of Fame. The Temple, TX, native graduated from the University of Houston in 1978 with a bachelor of science degree in biology. He then attended medical school at Texas Tech University and completed his residency at the Mayo Clinic in 1985, followed by a fellowship at NASA’s Ames Research Center, according to a news release. Dr. Harris joined NASA as a clinical scientist and flight surgeon. He remained with the agency from 1990 to 2010, and during his tenure, he became an astronaut and served as a mission specialist on STS-55 (1993) and the groundbreaking STS-63 flight in 1995, which made him the first African American to walk in space. In total, Dr. Harris has spent 18 days in space and has flown seven million miles, he notes on his LinkedIn. “Space exploration has always been about pushing boundaries, inspiring future generations, and proving that the impossible is achievable,” Dr. Harris said in a news release. “I am...
In the entertainment industry , some of the biggest players live most of their lives out of the spotlight, securing multi-million dollar deals and planning world tours for today’s creatives. Among them is 56-year-old Kevin Liles – the son of an accountant and railway conductor from Baltimore, Maryland. After graduating from Woodlawn High School, the future millionaire was off to study electrical engineering at Morgan State University on a scholarship from NASA . He later dropped out and changed his focus to music, joining a group called Numarx in the 80s before securing an unpaid internship at Def Jam in 1991. Kevin Liles’ net worth was low then, but in just seven years, he was offered the role of record label president, which he held from 1999 to 2004. What Is Kevin Liles’ Net Worth? (Photo by Johnny Nunez/WireImage) While he presided over Def Jam’s artist roster and handled day-to-day business, company revenues doubled to $400M. This was through diversification of the brand, “...
NBA player Jaylen Brown was once labeled “too smart” to join the very league he would go on to earn a historic contract with. Athlon Sports reports Brown graduated Wheeler High School in Marietta, GA, at the top of his class. He accomplished this while excelling on the basketball court. He was a first team All-American and top-five national high school prospect, his NBA bio reads. Between 2015 and 2016, Brown continued his studies at the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley), while playing for its basketball team. However, he was not satisfied with the freshman courses they offered him, which were not challenging enough, The New York Times reports. He swapped out some of his classes to take on African American Studies, an upper-division class from the Global Poverty and Practice minors program, and a graduate course titled “Theoretical Foundations for the Cultural Studies of Sport and Education,” which he had learned about through Hashim Ali, co-founder of the Oakland...
A deeper dive into NASA’s research led Lisa Dyson to become an innovator leading a multi-million-dollar company. Call To Action Dyson founded Air Protein, a startup developing an alternative to animal protein using air fermentation. As previously reported by AFROTECH™, the company drew from NASA’s 1960s research that allowed astronauts to convert carbon dioxide into food. “A colleague of mine, Dr. John Reed, and I, we were interested actually in carbon recycling here on Earth,” she said during a Ted Talk in 2016. “We wanted to come up with technical solutions to address climate change, and we discovered this research by reading some papers published in the ‘ 60s, 1967 and later articles about this work. And we thought it was a really good idea. And so we said, ‘Well, Earth is actually like a spaceship. We have limited space and limited resources, and on Earth we really do need to figure out how to recycle our carbon better. So we have the idea, can we take some of these NASA type...
The work and pioneering done by Black Americans has historically gone unrecognized across many areas/fields, including science. Black Americans make up 12% of the US population and have experienced the most disadvantages and setbacks in education than any other group in the country. For this reason, it is believed that there are not many Black scientists or Black people in STEM of note; however, this is not true historically nor in the present day. The work of Black scientists has led to discoveries that have changed our understanding in areas including health, space travel, public safety and more. Many of these Black scientists faced the added challenge of navigating racism, discrimination and segregation, on top of the challenging work they accomplished . These individuals defied all doubt, prejudice and other obstacles in their way to make ground breaking discoveries that help us learn more about the world and prove how vital Black scientists’ contributions in STEM are. Here are...
Aisha Bowe is an inspiration for Black women who aspire to work in the space industry. As previously reported by AFROTECH™, Bowe is a former rocket scientist for NASA and received the National Society of Black Engineers award for Outstanding Technical Contribution. However, before earning accolades, the aerospace engineer struggled to find her footing in her academic journey. In an interview with the “Earn Your Leisure” podcast, Bowe recalled not doing well during her time at community college. “I bombed the first semester,” Bowe told hosts Rashad Bilal and Troy Millings. “I think I’m going to be a business student and study economics.” Ultimately, struggling in community college led her to pursue a dream that she thought was once unachievable — becoming a rocket scientist. So, she transitioned into aerospace engineering at the University of Michigan, although people around her didn’t understand why she was pursuing the career. “They literally thought that I had lost it,” she said....
Founder Mateus Chipa wants the Black community to be more involved in space exploration. According to a Scripps News report of the 360 astronauts enlisted with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), just 18 had been Black astronauts as of Feb 5, 2024. For Chipa, he believed that to increase representation and empowerment it would be necessary for an influential Black entrepreneur to launch a company to break down barriers. According to his website, he waited eight years for Black leaders to step forward. In frustration after that time had passed, he decided to take matters into his own hands and established Theby Space Services (TSS) , a Black-owned private rocket company. “TSS came in a place of a lot of frustration, a lot of accountability and responsibility…For the last 10 years, I’ve been frustrated because I haven’t seen any Black nation or individual talking about going in a space,” Chipa said in a video shared on YouTube. “I’ve been asking myself why? Why...
If you want to advance in your professional career, it is imperative to obtain guidance from the right supporter. Keith Chaney learned this while working at technology company Google as the strategy and operations lead of its global partnerships and at McKinsey & Co., where he served as a management consultant. That’s when he decided to exit those jobs to pursue his own career as a founder. During the South by Southwest (SXSW) 2024 pitch competition, he recalls his experience as a first-generation graduate navigating the intricacies of post-college life. He later realized the importance of gaining peer support to be successful in the long term. “When I started my career, I was surrounded by an amazing family. Unfortunately, no one in my family had worked for Google, McKinsey, or any of the places I found myself during my career. So, despite their best efforts, no one was ever able to tell me the information that I needed to win in those spaces,” Chaney said at SXSW 2024. His desire...
Three Black women are making history at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in Greensboro, NC. According to WXII-12 in Winston-Salem, NC, students Kristi Barnes, Maya Odom, and Breyana Robinson have been selected as recipients of the 2023 Astronaut Scholarship. The scholarship is offered by the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation (ASF), which is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization established in 1984 by a group including the six surviving members of the “Mercury 7,” the U.S.’s first astronauts, per its website. The organization provides over 60 scholarships yearly. Additionally, this scholarship is “among the largest merit-based monetary scholarships” distributed to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) undergraduate juniors and seniors.” Those who are recipients are supported with $15,000 and will receive mentorship and guidance from astronauts, top-tier executives, and industry leaders. “I was thankful to get the scholarship,” Odom, an aspiring...
Darryle Dwayne Granberry Jr, best known by his rap pseudonym DDG, first appeared on the YouTube platform in 2014, while he was still in high school. In the decade since he first pressed upload on the video-sharing site , the 26-year-old performer has managed to amass a fortune of over $8 million, through his various YouTube, music, and extracurricular ventures. While $8 million may not seem like much compared to other YouTubers who have been on the platform since its inception, DDG managed to create generational wealth from the ground up, without major backing by the entertainment industry machine. Here’s a look into DDG’s many creative ventures which contribute to his growing net worth, and a history of how he came to be the artist we all know and love. DDG Got His Start On YouTube (Photo by Craig Barritt/Getty Images for Gunna) Before DDG was a double platinum selling rapper, he was a class valedictorian growing up in Pontiac, Michigan. After graduating from high school with...
