2021 Matthew Isakowitz Fellow Mary Cooper
Mary Cooper, an alum of the Matthew Isakowitz Fellowship Program, has been selected by AstroAccess as one of 12 ambassadors for an upcoming ZERO-G flight. As a 2021 Fellow, Mary completed a summer internship at Nanoracks and now serves as a Recruitment Vice-Chair for the Fellowship. She is a champion athlete and below-the-knee amputee. She is currently a senior at Stanford University pursuing a degree in Aerospace Engineering & Computer Science, and was also a 2020 Brooke Owens Fellow and 2020 Lime Connect Fellow. Read an excerpt from AstroAccess’s press release below, and check out the full news item on their website here.
AstroAccess Reveals Crew of 12 Disability Ambassadors for Historic ZERO-G Parabolic Flight
(October 5, 2021) AstroAccess, a mission dedicated to advancing disability inclusion in space exploration, today unveils a crew of 12 ambassadors selected to participate in a parabolic flight with the Zero Gravity Corporation (ZERO-G) on 17 October 2021.
The flight marks an important milestone in AstroAccess’ mission to open space to all, and will comprise of disabled scientists, veterans, engineers, and artists who will each experience weightlessness and carry out experimentation and demonstration tasks. The team seeks to assess how the physical environment onboard space vessels could be modified so that all astronauts and explorers, regardless of disability on Earth, can live, work, and thrive in space.
This inaugural flight will focus on operational tasks that will demonstrate the abilities of disabled crew members to work effectively in a microgravity environment and investigate minor changes that could be made to ensure space vessels are accessible by design. This will include examining physical environment accessibility, multi-sensory communication for safety procedures, as well as data collection of microgravity demonstrations. AstroAccess intends to continue iterating design solutions through future missions, supporting researchers with visible and non-visible disabilities aboard recurring parabolic flight demonstrations, suborbital missions, and eventually orbital spaceflight.
George Whitesides, Co-Project Lead of AstroAccess and Chair of the Space Advisory Board for Virgin Galactic, said: “We are honored to unveil the crew for our inaugural flight, which promises to represent a historic step in the mission to open space for all. Each of our ambassadors brings incredible experience and a wealth of expertise to our team.”
Read the full press release here.