Join us Thursday, May 8, 5:30 pm – 8:00 pm at the NASA Gilruth Center, Alamo Ballroom.
AIAA Houston welcomes Commander Chris Cassidy to kickoff our Annual Technical Symposium with his presentation, “Go for EVA – words that all astronauts want to hear!” Before becoming an Astronaut, Commander Chris Cassidy served 10 years as a Navy Seal. He made four six-month deployments: two to Afghanistan, and two to the Mediterranean. He deployed to the Afghanistan region two weeks after 9/11/01, served as Ground Assault Force Commander for international and U.S.-only combat missions in Afghanistan, and led two months of noncompliant ship-boardings in the Northern Arabian Gulf. In 2004 Commander Cassidy was selected as an astronaut by NASA. Before completing his first flight, he served as Capsule Communicator(CAPCOM) in Mission Control. Commander Cassidy flew on STS 127 which helped complete the construction of the Japanese Kibo module on the International Space Station. Most recently, Cassidy served as a flight engineer on Expedition 35/36, living and working on the station for more than five months. During his NASA career, Cassidy has completed six spacewalks, totaling 31 hours, 14 minutes and has accumulated 182 days in space.
Jeff Hoblit – Virtual Reality Laboratory/L3 STRATIS – Technical Lead – SAFER Expert
Mr. Hoblit will talk about EVA SAFER System during space walks, or extravehicular activities (EVAs). EVAs are an important part of the assembly & maintenance of the International Space Station (ISS). ISS construction had required more than twice as many space walks as were previously performed in the entire history of spaceflight. Unlike the Space Shuttle, the Space Station cannot maneuver to rescue a free-floating EVA crew members. NASA was determined to make sure that none of space walks ends up like the movie nightmare. One of the ways is by using a Simplified Aid For EVA Rescue (SAFER). Essentially a “life jacket” for space walks. SAFER is a self-contained maneuvering unit worn by astronauts like a backpack. The system relies on small nitrogen-jet thrusters to let an astronaut move around in space. SAFER is a rare type of technology, the kind that is built hoping that it won’t be used. So far, tethers, safety grips, and the robot arm have proved adequate to safely keep astronauts where they are supposed to be during EVAs. But if they ever fail, SAFER will be ready. SAFER is successfully trained at the Virtual Reality Lab/NASA JSC.
The Lunch and Learn with Jeff Hoblit discussing SAFER EVA will be at 11:30am April 29th at Intuitive Machines at 3700 Bay Area Blvd. Houston, TX 77058.
