Charlie Walker Joins Opening Astronaut Panel
The Space Education Summit team is thrilled to announce that veteran astronaut Charles D. Walker will join us as the third and final member of the Astronaut Panel for our opening session on May 31, 2024! Ultimately flying three NASA space shuttle missions, Charlie was the first industry commercial astronaut.
Charlie Walker has had many titles including forest firefighter, test engineer and medical test subject, but his claim to fame is being a payload specialist and first industry commercial astronaut for three space shuttle flights. Walker also spent many years on the ground helping with payload preparation and on-pad processing activities at Kennedy Space Center, Florida and in-flight support at Mission Control Center in Houston, Texas.
An accomplished aeronautical engineer, Walker began his career earning a bachelor’s degree from Purdue University in 1971. He worked for various government agencies and developed computer-controlled manufacturing systems.
Walker holds a patent for the continuous flow electrophoresis (CFES) device which he worked on as a founding member of the Space Manufacturing team (later renamed Electrophoresis Operations in Space, EOS). He has researched and written numerous papers, newspaper articles, and book contributions on the EOS electrophoresis program, space development, commercialization and space history. He joined the McDonnell Douglas Corporation in 1977 as a test engineer. From 1979 to 1986, he was chief test engineer, payload specialist, and first industry commercial astronaut. This led to training NASA astronaut crews in the operation of the CFES and for Walker to become an astronaut himself.
We look forward to hearing Charlie’s thoughts on how we might best prepare students for humanity’s future in space. A FREE ONLINE event, the summit brings together educators, enthusiasts, and professionals from many fields… to explore ways humanity might prepare for the growing space economy and a rapidly approaching multi-planet future. Our planning team is inspired by the Overview Effect, and a desire to help more people benefit from it here on Earth. See past sessions and highlights on our YouTube Channel.
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The event is produced in partnership with Aldrin Family Foundation, ARES Learning, Celestial Citizen, Club for The Future, EarthScape VR, The Human Space Program, Ignited Thinkers, and Slooh: The Cosmic Classroom.
