NASA scientist Claudia Alexander, last Galileo project manager, dies at 56
Source: Reuters
NASA scientist Claudia Alexander, who was a project manager for the Galileo spacecraft mission to Jupiter and worked on the European Space Agency's Rosetta comet chaser, has died at age 56.
Alexander died on July 11 after a 10-year battle with breast cancer, NASA said on its website this week. The post did not say where she passed away.
"Claudia brought a rare combination of skills to her work as a space explorer," Charles Elachi, director of NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, California, said in a written statement.
"Of course with a doctorate in plasma physics, her technical credentials were solid," Elachi said. "But she also had a special understanding of how scientific discovery affects us all, and how our greatest achievements are the result of teamwork, which came easily to her."
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/07/17/us-usa-nasa-alexander-idUSKCN0PR2EM20150717
Ave atque vale
longship
(40,416 posts)My local PBS station re-broadcast the NatGeo special on the Rosetta probe to comet 67P.
Dr. Alexander figured prominently in this program.
Here:
She was also a principal in the Galileo probe, which studied Jupiter.
Planetary scientists are a rare breed. They tend to have fierce passions for their discipline. As it was for Dr. Alexander.
RIP
On edit: not sure if this vid is the NOVA special. It wasn't. Try this one.
Yup! That's the one. It is a NatGeo special and the late Dr. Alexander is front and center, as she should be.
And damn! Things are tough when one wants to celebrate a wonderful life from an iPhone from the deep woods. But I think my effort alone communicates my love and appreciation for this woman's life achievements.
I have to get this post right because she obviously did. Watch the NatGeo special on Rosetta, above. She is all over it.