MESSENGER Launch Culminates MU-SPIN Program
for Undergraduate Students
On August 3 at Cape Canaveral, Florida,
NASA successfully launched the MESSENGER
spacecraft on its 7-year journey to orbit
Mercury. MESSENGER (short for MErcury
Surface, Space ENvironment, Geochemistry)
is the first spacecraft to return to Mercury
since Mariner 10 made three brief flybys
30 years ago.
Joining the scientists and engineers celebrating
MESSENGER’s successful liftoff were
student interns who, through the MESSENGER
Education and Public Outreach (EPO) program,
had the opportunity to be a part of this
exciting mission.
ESDCD’s Minority University-Space
Interdisciplinary Network (MU-SPIN) program,
a MESSENGER EPO partner, sponsored 14 minority
students to work at Johns Hopkins University
Applied Physics Laboratory, where engineers
designed and built the spacecraft. The
students, from colleges and universities
in New York, North Carolina, South Carolina,
and Texas, honed their technical skills and
assisted mission project staff in areas such
as spacecraft integration and testing, mission
design, mission operations, mechanical support,
and web site management. |
August 3, 2004 MESSENGER spacecraft launch
at Cape Canaveral, Florida (Photo credit:
NASA). |
