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More than 70 astronauts from the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Skylab, and Shuttle programs are helping the United States retain its world leadership in science and technology by providing scholarships for college students who exhibit motivation, imagination, and exceptional performance in the science or engineering field of their major. To date, the foundation has awarded more than $2.5 million in scholarships to 243 deserving students.
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Scholar Spotlight: Jarret Lafleur
From researching Mars atmospheric entry trajectories, to developing new spacecraft technology, to jet-setting around the country presenting his work, 2005-2007 Astronaut Scholar Jarret Lafleur keeps his head above the clouds! As a Georgia Tech graduate student, Lafleur participated in a co-op at NASA's Johnson Space Center over the summer analyzing options for entry into Mars' atmosphere, and developing new methods for selecting trajectories for descent to the surface of the Moon or Mars. For the past year, Lafleur has been back at his alma mater contributing to an industry team led by Orbital Sciences on a project sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The project, System F6, is a cluster of wirelessly interconnected small spacecraft intended to fly by 2012. Lafleur has also been traveling to conferences in Cleveland, San Diego, Atlanta, Honolulu, and Glasgow (Scotland) to present his findings.
Lafleur is currently a National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) Fellow, sponsored by the Department of Defense, which also supports his educational goals to obtain an aerospace engineering master's degree in the Fall of 2009, and a Ph.D. in May 2011.