On October 11th, Mississippi State will host two Apollo astronauts to help celebrate MSU’s admission into the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation.
MSU joins just 35 other schools nationwide in the ASF. Students are now eligible for the merit-based scholarship which is worth $10,000 each to outstanding juniors and seniors.
Apollo astronauts Charlie Duke and Fred Haise, alongside MSU alum and Apollo engineer Jerry Bostick will speak about their experiences on the world-renowned project.
Haise, a Biloxi native, became a Lunar Module Pilot on Apollo 13 and logged 9,100 hours of flying time during his career. Haise’s work earned him numerous awards including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame, among other accolades.
Duke served as Lunar Module Pilot for Apollo 16 and explored the moon’s Descartes region during the 1972 mission. He was inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame in 1997.
MSU alum and former assistant director of the John C. Stennis Institute of Government, Ray Gildea will also be in attendance, whose gift to the program will help support the scholarship program.
Students chosen to receive the scholarship will have the opportunity to attend ASF events, which may include presenting to astronauts, the general public, NASA and industry leaders. Recipients may also participate in the Innovative Leadership Mentor Program and have an astronaut, executive industry leader or Astronaut Scholar alumni as a mentor.
Tommy Anderson, MSU’s director of prestigious external scholarships and interim assistant dean of academic affairs, talked about the unique opportunity the school and its students have to hear from these astronauts.
“We want the MSU community—students, faculty, and friends outside of campus—to hear from national heroes how science and technology enable some of the most remarkable discoveries of this and the past century,” Anderson said. “NASA has been at the forefront of these discoveries, and the event will tell a small part of this story,” Anderson said.
MSU President Mark Keenum will begin the event at 5:30 p.m. inside the Lee Hall Bettersworth Auditorium and a Q&A session will follow the astronaut’s presentation.
