Learn the Lessons from 60 Years in Space Written 28 March 2022

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

AIAA Offering Unique Course to Everyone in the Aerospace Industry

March 28, 2022 – Reston, Va. – During the first 60 years of spaceflight, the aerospace industry has been amassing an incredible engineering knowledge base. Now it’s time to pass on this collective experience to the next generation of space explorers. In May and June, everyone in the space industry can benefit from the only course of its kind, “Human Spaceflight Operations: Lessons Learned from 60 Years in Space,” offered online by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA).

Human Spaceflight Operations: Lessons Learned from 60 Years in Space
May 10–June 30 (Tuesdays/Thursdays)
1300–1530 hrs Eastern Time
34 classroom hours total (3.4 CEU/PDH)
Online/Zoom

The course will be taught by Lead Instructor Gregory E. Chamitoff, someone who has lived and worked in space for almost 200 days. The William Keeler ‘49 Professor of Practice/Zachry Chair Professor of Practice in Aerospace Engineering, and Director of the AeroSpace Technology Research & Operations (ASTRO) Laboratory at Texas A&M University will be joined by a cadre of 15 space operations experts with vast experience as flight directors, flight controllers, astronauts, and mission engineers. They have collectively published the AIAA textbook for this course. The lessons learned are derived through experiences from space missions.

The experience and expertise of the instructors is unmatched in this field. “Our goal is to pass on our insight to the next generation of space engineers, designers, operators, and crew. Anyone who is part of a current or future national or international space program, private space enterprise, human, or robotic mission will gain valuable insights. The lessons we have learned are applicable to anyone working in the space industry,” said Chamitoff, who also is an AIAA Associate Fellow.

The course topics span the full range of operational disciplines involved in the planning and execution of human spaceflight. This includes all the typical mission control center specialties as well as others such as training, ground operations, safety, and onboard crew operations. For each topic, the fundamentals and the evolution of the systems and operational methods are explained. Case studies from spaceflight missions provide the basis for lessons learned that are integrated into operational practice.

“This is not a course on space system design, of which there are many. The aim is to shine light on the subject of space operations, as distinct from engineering design. However, the most important lesson is perhaps that operational requirements must be considered very carefully in the design process. We hope that through the process of explaining how things really work in space and in mission control centers, future missions can benefit from the experience (and mistakes) of so many pioneers that have come before,” Chamitoff concluded.

Registration is open now. Students will receive all lecture notes, as well as an eBook copy of the instructors’ new textbook, Human Spaceflight Operations: Lessons Learned from 60 Years in Space (AIAA, 2021). Students will receive an AIAA Certificate of Completion at the end of the course. All sessions will be recorded and available for replay.

Course Pricing: Human Spaceflight Operations: Lessons Learned from 60 Years in Space
AIAA Member: $1,595 USD
Non-Member: $1,795 USD
AIAA Student Member: $995 USD

For more information on the course, contact Lisa Le at LisaL@aiaa.org or AIAA Customer Service at custserv@aiaa.org.

Media contact: Rebecca B. Gray, RebeccaG@aiaa.org, 804-397-5270

About AIAA
The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is the world’s largest aerospace technical society. With nearly 30,000 individual members from 91 countries, and 100 corporate members, AIAA brings together industry, academia, and government to advance engineering and science in aviation, space, and defense. For more information, visit www.aiaa.org or follow AIAA on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, andInstagram.