January 24th 05, 09:32 PM
Caltech News Release
For Immediate Release
January 21, 2005
The Shuttle Fleet and Future Space Access
PASADENA, Calif. - The second tragic loss of a space shuttle brought
home the fragility of our technologies for space access. Still, safe,
reliable, and cost-effective space travel is vital not only for
military, communications, scientific, and other purposes, but also
because it responds to humanity's wanderlust and answers our need for
exploration.
As the two-year anniversary of the Columbia space shuttle
tragedy nears, Paul Dimotakis, the Northrop Professor of Aeronautics
and professor of applied physics at the California Institute of
Technology, will discuss the implications of the disaster on space
travel in his talk, "The Shuttle Fleet, Columbia, and Present
and Future Space Access," part of the Ernest C. Watson Lecture
Series. The talk will take place Wednesday, January 26, at 8 p.m. in
Beckman Auditorium on the Caltech campus.
The shuttle helped us to break the earth's constraints and carry
humans aloft. But, once thought to be futuristic and cutting-edge,
the shuttle design is three decades old, and space access now comes
at a high cost and risk, which we no longer find acceptable.
Dimotakis will discuss Columbia's fateful final mission,
Caltech's small role in the analysis and accident investigation, and
the present and future alternatives for traveling to, and in, space.
Caltech has offered the Watson Lecture Series since 1922, when it was
conceived by the late Caltech physicist Earnest Watson as a way to
explain science to the local community. Seating for this free public
event is on a first-come, first-served basis, beginning at 7:30 p.m.
For more information, contact Public Events at 1 (888) 2CALTECH,
(626) 395-4652, or , or visit
www.events.caltech.edu. Individuals with a disability can call (626)
395-4688 (voice) or (626) 395-3700 (TDD). All lectures will be
available online at Caltech's Streaming Theater,
http://today.caltech.edu/theater.
MEDIA CONTACT: Mark Wheeler
(626) 395-8733
For Immediate Release
January 21, 2005
The Shuttle Fleet and Future Space Access
PASADENA, Calif. - The second tragic loss of a space shuttle brought
home the fragility of our technologies for space access. Still, safe,
reliable, and cost-effective space travel is vital not only for
military, communications, scientific, and other purposes, but also
because it responds to humanity's wanderlust and answers our need for
exploration.
As the two-year anniversary of the Columbia space shuttle
tragedy nears, Paul Dimotakis, the Northrop Professor of Aeronautics
and professor of applied physics at the California Institute of
Technology, will discuss the implications of the disaster on space
travel in his talk, "The Shuttle Fleet, Columbia, and Present
and Future Space Access," part of the Ernest C. Watson Lecture
Series. The talk will take place Wednesday, January 26, at 8 p.m. in
Beckman Auditorium on the Caltech campus.
The shuttle helped us to break the earth's constraints and carry
humans aloft. But, once thought to be futuristic and cutting-edge,
the shuttle design is three decades old, and space access now comes
at a high cost and risk, which we no longer find acceptable.
Dimotakis will discuss Columbia's fateful final mission,
Caltech's small role in the analysis and accident investigation, and
the present and future alternatives for traveling to, and in, space.
Caltech has offered the Watson Lecture Series since 1922, when it was
conceived by the late Caltech physicist Earnest Watson as a way to
explain science to the local community. Seating for this free public
event is on a first-come, first-served basis, beginning at 7:30 p.m.
For more information, contact Public Events at 1 (888) 2CALTECH,
(626) 395-4652, or , or visit
www.events.caltech.edu. Individuals with a disability can call (626)
395-4688 (voice) or (626) 395-3700 (TDD). All lectures will be
available online at Caltech's Streaming Theater,
http://today.caltech.edu/theater.
MEDIA CONTACT: Mark Wheeler
(626) 395-8733