ONLINE EXCLUSIVE
Two NPS students use a six-panel, 3-meter- diameter segmented mirror space telescope to conduct research into deforming the telescope’s mirrors with adaptive optics. Source: U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Shawn J. Stewart This photo was cropped to show detail. This image was edited using multiple filters and dodging and burning techniques.
The NPS Space Academic Program Emerges “NPS has this incredible space his- tory that spans decades,” said NPS Associate Research Professor Wen- schel Lan, acting chair of the Space Systems Academic Group (SSAG). “And NPS continues to be at the fore- front of space engineering and opera- tions. It’s not just science projects. It’s real-world applicability. During every step along the way, we’ve kept up with industry and kept the focus on defense.” When students come to NPS from operational duty, they bring a wealth of experience and an understanding of capability gaps in technology that can affect readiness. By joining one of the many space research teams at NPS, students use their studies to find solutions that help fill these gaps. “From a multidisciplinary stand- point, the diversity and richness of the subject matter expertise at NPS is fundamental to the successes of the students and the space program,” Lan said. The technologies that stem from these successes often tran- scend space applications and cre- ate new technological opportuni- ties across the spectrum of national security interests. At the start of the 1980s, the Space Systems Academic Committee was formed at NPS because of a strong desire from Washington for NPS to become more formally involved in defense-focused space science and graduate education for military of-
for making much more than phone calls—a far cry from Carpenter’s day, when there was no such thing as space debris. Back in 1957, Carpenter graduated from NPS’ Naval General Line School, a course of instruction in modern naval operations and science for ju- nior Navy officers. Carpenter, like the others who would be selected for Project Mer- cury, didn’t know much about becom- ing an astronaut before the launch of Sputnik, the first human-made sat- ellite to orbit Earth—because there were no such individuals as astro- nauts yet. It wasn’t until early 1959 that Carpenter and other military test pilots were summoned for a secret, but volunteer, selection process to be- come the first Americans in space— the Mercury Seven. Three years later, flying solo aboard the Mercury-Atlas 7 mission, Carpenter became the fourth U.S. astronaut to reach space, NASA’s second astronaut to achieve orbit, and the very first NPS astronaut. Ever since then, NPS has not taken its fin- ger off the launch button to space. Not only does NPS count 44 NASA astronauts among its alumni—the most of any graduate school in the U.S. —but another NPS alumnus, re- tired Navy Cmdr. Brian Binnie, was the first former service member to earn commercial astro- naut wings. These trailblazers have flown aboard spacecraft ranging from Mercury, Gem- ini, Apollo, and Soyuz to the Space Shuttle, SpaceShip- One, and SpaceX’s Crew
ficers. The National Recon- naissance Office and Of- fice of Naval Research sponsored the ef- fort, and both re- main enabling agencies to this day.
end of the line were two NPS faculty members and former Space Shuttle astronauts, Dr. James Newman and retired Navy Capt. Dan Bursch. Newman, now acting provost of NPS, and Bursch, a former NPS NASA chair, made four spaceflights each and even flew their first Shuttle mission together on STS-51. They had blasted into Earth’s ever-more-crowded orbit surrounded by hundreds of satel- lites, including those responsible
Dragon; orbited the Earth aboard Skylab and the Inter- national Space Station (ISS); and walked on the surface of the moon. And NPS’ reach into space goes well beyond the flights of astronauts.
March-April 2025 | DEFENSE ACQUISITION ONLINE | 61
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