He has traveled 7.8 million miles. He has experienced 16 sunrises and sunsets a day. He has floated around like a helium balloon, unshackled by gravity. And now he has turned the focus of his work on the moon and Mars and beyond.

Roger Crouch, senior scientist for the International Space Station (ISS), an astronaut on two scientific missions of the Space Shuttle Columbia, and a Virginia Tech alumnus, will launch the first of the College of Science's Distinguished Lecture Series. His talk, "Vision for Space Exploration," which will include the role the ISS will play in that vision, will be at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 29, in 3100 Torgersen Hall; and a reception will follow in 1100.

Space travel exacts a toll on human bodies, and because the vision includes trips to Mars — which will take about three years — Crouch will talk about what space travel is like, what happens when gravity no longer exerts its pull, and how that would be a problem on a Mars trip. He will discuss the types of research being done on the ISS to avoid or minimize these kinds of problems.

The vision Crouch will discuss includes using the moon as a steppingstone for going farther out into the solar system. The plan is to get back to the moon by 2016 to 2020 and to Mars after 2030. "The program now is … research that will allow us to fulfill this vision," Crouch said.

That includes figuring out a way to recycle water and air so people can survive on Mars, Crouch said. It also includes the search for "new nuclear or solar — or even far-out things such as anti-matter — rocket motors," he said. "Currently, we are limited to takeoff when Mars and the Earth are closest together. When they are most separated, it takes about 22 minutes at the speed of light for a message to get from Earth to Mars. This requires autonomous medical care, or diagnostic and treatment capabilities. It will also include a suit to allow the astronauts to function on the surface of the moon or Mars, including shielding them from radiation exposure or, in the case of accidental exposure, developing a way for their DNA to heal itself without mutating. "We want to be able to predict the onset of illness and prevent it," he said.

Crouch started working for NASA after graduating from Tennessee Tech University in 1962, then completed a master’s and a Ph.D. at Virginia Tech in 1968 and 1971, respectively. He realized his dream of space travel on the first Microgravity Science Laboratory mission in 1997, a mission cut short by fuel-cell problems. His was the first crew of astronauts to take a mission back into space when they returned that July to complete the research projects from around the world that would show scientists how materials behaved when gravity was not an influence. Now he works with the scientists aboard the ISS and gives talks such as this to inform the public about NASA’s work.

Tennessee Tech recently named him its Frederick L. Culp Professor of Physics, named after a professor who encouraged him when he was an insecure student. A TTU news release quoted Culp as saying, "Roger’s personality was like Clark Kent’s and his achievements like Superman’s."

Crouch was lead scientist of the Microgravity Space and Applications Division from 1985 to 1996. He has conducted various research, ranging from electronic devices for remote sensing, to heat-shield protection for reentry space vehicles. He has earned numerous awards, including Virginia Tech’s Distinguished Alumni Achievement award, TTU’s Distinguished Alumnus award, and NASA’s Exceptional Performance Award and Special Achievement Award. Crouch had a role in a PBS video on microgravity that received a 2003 Emmy.

The College of Science at Virginia Tech gives students a comprehensive foundation in the scientific method. Outstanding faculty members teach courses and conduct research in biology, chemistry, economics, geosciences, mathematics, physics, psychology, and statistics. The college is dedicated to fostering a research intensive environment and offers programs in nano-scale and biological sciences, information theory and science, and supports research centers—in areas such as biomedical and public health sciences, and critical technology and applied science—that encompass other colleges at the university. The College of Science also houses programs in pre-medicine and scientific law.

Founded in 1872 as a land-grant college, Virginia Tech has grown to become among the largest universities in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Today, Virginia Tech’s eight colleges are dedicated to putting knowledge to work through teaching, research, and outreach activities and to fulfilling its vision to be among the top research universities in the nation. At its 2,600-acre main campus located in Blacksburg and other campus centers in Northern Virginia, Southwest Virginia, Hampton Roads, Richmond, and Roanoke, Virginia Tech enrolls more than 28,000 full- and part-time undergraduate and graduate students from all 50 states and more than 100 countries in 180 academic degree programs.

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