Space City’s first native Houstonian astronaut to launch into space is coming to the
University of Houston (UH) from 3 to 3:50 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 8. Shannon Walker, who
is the daughter of the founding dean of UH’s College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics
(NSM), will give a lecture and present a memento honoring her father that she carried
with her on this 163-day mission.
Nearly 35 years after her father, R. Hugh Walker, became the first dean of NSM, the
younger Walker commemorated the pioneering legacy she shared with him by taking a
tribute poster, highlighting that bond, on her first journey into space. She rocketed
into orbit as co-pilot of a Russian Soyuz spacecraft for a mission lasting more than
five months, from June to November 2010, aboard the International Space Station.
While her father, who died in 2005, did not live to see her maiden voyage, he would
have been proud. The senior Walker was credited with increasing undergraduate involvement
in research, as well as making NSM more accessible to students not majoring in science
and math. The commemorative poster praises him as someone who believed in the limitless
potential of UH’s students and faculty, as well as for inspiring them to dream big
and reach for the stars.
Shannon Walker remembers being drawn to the space program at an early age, prepping
for a career in rocket science through her academic years. She was 4 when the Apollo
astronauts first walked on the moon and was in high school when NASA had its first
space shuttle launch. Like her father, she became a physicist, earning her bachelor’s
degree in physics and master’s and doctoral degrees in space physics.
Her presentation will be titled “Long Duration Space Flight: Preparing for and Living
on the International Space Station.”
| WHO: | Astronaut Shannon Walker, first native Houstonian launched into space |
| WHAT: |
“Long Duration Space Flight: Preparing for and Living on the International Space Station” Lecture with presentation of commemorative UH item flown in space |
| WHEN: | 3 to 3:50 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 8 |
| WHERE: | University of Houston Science & Engineering Classroom Building (SEC), room 100 Off Cullen Boulevard, Entrance 14 Map: http://www.uh.edu/campus_map/buildings/SEC.php |
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