Hi Tiffany,

I do not personally know any astronauts who have been into space. Most space scientists and astronomers who study the Sun, the Earth's magnetosphere, and the other planets in our solar system are not astronauts. Most of us do not work with astronauts, either. The research done by most space scientists, including myself, primarily involves analyzing data from satellites that take data automatically and transmit it back to a ground station here on Earth. We are studying phenomena in places where it would be difficult or even dangerous to send an astronaut. For example, a lot of my recent work has focused on the Van Allen radiation belts. While I think that the radiation belts are very interesting, I'm not sure that I would personally want to spend a lot of time there, especially during a really big geomagnetic storm. A friend of mine analyzes data from the Cassini mission to the planet Saturn. I think it took about 7 years for the Cassini spacecraft to get to Saturn. Most people would not want to travel to Saturn on a mission that would involve 7 years of travelling, with no possibility of ever returning back home.

Even though manned space flight is not very important to my research, it was one of the things that got me interested in pursuing a career in science. When I was in high school, I went to the U.S. Space Camp in Huntsville, AL. We did two simulated space shuttle missions, and I even got to be the commander of one of them.

Kris

Hi Tiffany,

As an astronomer, I study galaxies far away that no one has ever visited. However, I've been lucky enough to meet two different astronauts while I've been in graduate school. Both Sally Ride (the first woman in space) and George Nelson have come to my campus to give talks about their time in space and their excitement in promoting science education. Because science education is a big part of what I do, I got a chance to meet with George and talk about our classes. It was very exciting too, to hear about what it was like for him to float in space and the experiments they performed on his missions.

-Randi