Centaurus A Series
Fort Collins High School
Open to students from anywhere in grades 8-12.
Flyer graciously created & donated by: www.spinningskystudios.com/
Presenting Team
Team may be subject to change due to schedules.
Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger grew up along the Front Range of Colorado. She graduated from Fort Collins High School, where she ran on two state championship cross-country teams and placed second as a Science Olympiad team. A scholar athlete, she ran cross-country and track and earned her B.A. in Geology from Whitman College. She went on to get a teaching certification from Central Washington University, and she taught earth science and astronomy for five years at Hudson’s Bay High School in Vancouver, WA. In addition to teaching, she coached cross country and Science Olympiad. In June of 2004, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) selected her to join the Astronaut Corps. After several years of training, she flew as a mission specialist on the STS-131 crew, an International Space Station (ISS) resupply mission. Dottie served as Mission Specialist 2 (also known as the flight engineer), a robotic arm operator, the Intra-vehicular crew member (the inside coordinator of the spacewalks), and a transfer crew member (helping move six tons of hardware and equipment). The mission lasted fifteen days. During June of 2012, Dottie commanded the NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operation (NEEMO) in the Aquarius Reef Habitat off the Florida coast. The underwater mission sought to develop techniques for working at an asteroid, while operating under a 100-second time delay. In June of 2014, Dottie retired from the Astronaut Corps and returned to the Pacific Northwest with her family. She finished her M.S. in applied geology at the University of Washington, and she
Jason Hopkins earned his B.S. in Aerospace Engineering while minoring in Mathematics at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in 2003 and later earned his Master’s in Systems Engineering from George Washington University in 2006. He currently works as a Principal Systems Engineer for Ball Aerospace’s National Defense group. Before that, he worked as a Program Manager at Masten Space Systems on a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) reusable space vehicle program. Prior to that, he was a NASA Flight Test Integration Manager for the Orion Program at Kennedy Space Center (KSC). There he supported the preparations for the first Orion test launch, Exploration Flight Test-1 in December of 2014. He previously served as a NASA Fellow for U.S. Senator Bill Nelson of Florida providing the Senator with technical advice in support of developing science and space legislation. Before being selected for that assignment he was the NASA Operations Manager for the Vehicle Assembly Building and Crawler Transporters, where he was responsible for developing the integration and test plans for the Space Launch System Rocket and Orion Spacecraft. Jason is a proud member of the Space Camp Hall of Fame and volunteers around the country to promote STEAM education and advocate for space exploration.
Michelle Lucas spent 10+ years working at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. First as part of the International Space Station (ISS) Payload Safety Review Panel (PSRP) and then in the Mission Operations Directorate as a Flight Controller in ISS Mission Control and as an Astronaut Instructor in the ISS Daily Operations Group. Additionally, she worked with each of the International Partners (European Space Agency – ESA, Japanese Space Agency – JAXA, and the Russian Space Agency) in the field of Daily Operations, Flight Controller, and Instructor Training. Michelle was part of the Core NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) team for 9 missions where astronauts would carry out analog space missions underwater in the Aquarius habitat. Along the way, Michelle found she has a passion for launching the next generation’s dreams and ambitions. Her passion for inspiring students led to extensive work with other organizations in STEM outreach so she founded the non-profit Higher Orbits to use space to excite and inspire students about STEM, Leadership, Teamwork, and Communication. Michelle is proud to be a Space Camp Alum, AIAA Associate Fellow, and member of the Space Camp Hall of Fame. She believes that collaboration in space and STEM is the key to the stars! Space Inspires!
Presented in Partnership with:
Contact Details
Fort Collins High School 3400 Lambkin WayFort Collins, CO , 80525
