Chennai: The US Consulate General in Chennai, in association with the Tamilnadu Science and Technology Centre (TNSTC), organised a virtual lecture by US astronaut for undergraduate and high school students in the fields of science and technology here Monday.
The event was held to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing and India’s second lunar mission, Chandrayaan-2.
Retired NASA astronaut Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger spoke about her Space Shuttle Discovery Mission (STS-131), a 15-day mission to resupply the International Space Station in April 2010. During the mission, she served as the Mission Specialist 2 (aka flight engineer), the robotic arm operator, the Intra-vehicular crew member (the inside coordinator of the spacewalks), and a transfer crew member (helping move six tons of hardware and equipment). During June 2012, Metcalf-Lindenburger commanded the NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operation (NEEMO) in the Aquarius Reef Habitat off the Florida coast. The underwater mission sought to develop techniques for working at an asteroid, a press release said.
TNSTC Vice-Chairman U Sagayam presided over the event, and Prof Nandan Kumar Sinha, flight mechanics and control aerospace engineering, IIT Madras, delivered the final remarks.
TNSTC Executive Director S Soundararajaperumal and Scientific Officer I K Lenin Tamilkovan, also spoke at the event. The U S Consulate General in Chennai also connected virtually with audiences at the US Embassy, New Delhi and the US Embassy, Colombo.