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Thriving in Outer Space with Stephen Robinson

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Inside a recording studio, in front of a purple backdrop with the logo for Face to Face with Chancellor Gary S. May sits a man with his arms crossed wearing glasses and short grey hair, staring to their right.
Professor and former astronaut Stephen Robinson (Gregory Urquiaga/ٺƵ)

Professor ’s childhood obsession with flying objects shaped a career that led him to becoming one himself as a NASA astronaut. 

Purple graphic with text "Face to Face with Chancellor May"

On this week’s Face to Face hosted by Chancellor Gary S. May, hear Robinson detail lessons from his 37-year tenure at NASA, which included multiple spacewalks and visits to the International Space Station, before joining the university in 2012. Now a faculty member in the ٺƵ Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department, Robinson graduated from the university in 1978.

Two features of ٺƵ in the early 1970s shaped Robinson’s ultimate journey to space: the university had an aeronautical engineering department and an airport. He was recently appointed director of the ٺƵ . His research focuses on how human life survives in extreme environments.

“We don’t try to inspire the students to protect human life in space,” Robinson says, “we try to think of inspiring the students to extend, augment and make humans much more capable in a hazardous environment.”

Stick around to hear Robinson discuss his early campus mentors, his numerous rejection letters from NASA (“badges of honor”) and the former astronaut’s pick for the best movie about space. 

Two men sit across from each other at a round wooden table inside of a recording studio. The man on the left is wearing a dark suit jacket, has short white hair and has their arms crossed. On the right side, Chancellor Gary S. May wears a light brown suit and listen to Professor Steven Robinson's talking points.
Professor Steven Robinson with Chancellor May (Gregory Urquiaga/ٺƵ)

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José Vadi is a writer for Dateline ٺƵ, and can be reached by email.

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