How can you get a piece of NASA spaceflight history in your backyard?
26 September 2023
TOPEKA (KSNT) – Kansas has another tie to NASA. Earlier this month, an alumna from the University of Kansas got the opportunity of a lifetime.
It’s something most people dream of: becoming an astronaut. Loral O’Hara never stopped dreaming with her head in the clouds. Now, she’s living life above them. O’Hara went to KU in 2005 to get her undergraduate in aerospace engineering. She says growing up near NASA in Houston, Tex. started this big dream at an early age.
“Growing up, I always wanted to be an explorer. I was always dreaming about far off places, and people and cultures that I’ve never met,” O’Hara said “And, having that early exposure to NASA at NASA Johnson Space Center from an early age, I latched onto being an astronaut.”
Around 600 people have travelled up to space and, among them, a handful are from Kansas. O’Hara is now one of three from KU to make it on that list. One KU faculty member remembers her from her undergrad days and thinks her journey is an inspiration for his current students.
“First of all, it’s personally rewarding for a student to achieve the very goal that you knew she wanted her whole career,” KU Aerospace Engineering Department Chair Richard Hale said. “And then, for our own students, it’s inspirational because they see, they know how long the odds are, but they see that one of our own, another one of our own has done it.”
On Sept. 15, O’Hara and two others arrived at the International Space Station for Expedition 70.
They will be in space for six months. O’Hara, a flight engineer, is playing a role in scientific missions to see how the body handles being in space.
“One of the experiments that I’m excited to be a part of is the cipher experiment, which is an experiment on me,” O’Hara said. “It’s 14 different studies that are focused on all different aspects of human health from everything from bones to psychology.”
Hale said he hopes his students will look to O’Hara and her accomplishments.
“Anytime anyone is successful on the international scale, and yet they’ve taken a pathway that our students are taking, that’s the value,” Hale said. “So that everyone can see everyone has access to something that’s truly exciting.”
Professor Hale said he hopes O’Hara can take some time away from her missions to chat with his students while she’s up in space. O’Hara said her advice for aspiring astronauts or people in general is to do things that scare you because the new experiences will help you learn who you are.