More than 60 Middlesex Community College students, faculty, staff and a group of Lowell Middlesex Academy Charter School students gathered recently to listen to NASA Astronaut Commander Christopher J. Cassidy speak about his experiences traveling and working in space in a special presentation on the Lowell campus.
Cassidy discussed his career path, from being a Navy SEAL, to becoming a NASA astronaut. “I was always interested in science and engineering,” said Cassidy. “Joining the space program felt like a natural step for me.” During his 10-year career with NASA, Cassidy has served on space shuttle and International Space Station missions, completing six space walks – totaling 31 hours, 14 minutes – and has spent six months in space.
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During the program, Cassidy discussed in detail what it is like to travel and live in space. He also narrated a short video that showed the types of experiments, maintenance and construction work astronauts do on space missions.
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Cassidy also answered questions from audience members and discussed the importance of the space program. “It’s hard even for me – as an astronaut – to imagine that one day people will live on planets that are not Earth, but it will happen,” said Cassidy. “The NASA program is an important part of the future of humankind.”
At the end of the presentation, Jay Linnehan MCC’s Executive Vice President presented Commander Cassidy with an MCC T-shirt and Cassidy presented MCC with an autographed photo of himself with the U.S. crew from his most recent trip to the International Space Station.
For more information about Cassidy’s career, visit www.jsc.nasa.gov/bios/htmlbios/cassidy-cj.html.
For more information about Cassidy’s visit to Middlesex, contact Maria Cunha at chunham@middlesex.mass.edu
MCC is one of the largest, most comprehensive community colleges in the state. We offer more than 75 degree and certificate programs, plus hundreds of noncredit courses, during the day, evening and weekend, on our Bedford and Lowell campuses, and online. Middlesex – a great place to begin your future!
