Living in the New Renaissance - Podcast 7 - Interview with Dan Durda

Living in the New Renaissance

Interview with Dan Durda, soon-to-be astronaut, teacher, author, asteroid guy. Darren and Dan talk space and crewed missions, and geek out a bit. Information about Doctor Dan Durda from his Spacefest bio and elsewhere: "Dr. Dan Durda is a planetary scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado where his research interests focus on impact studies and the evolution and exploration of asteroids. Dan is a Fellow and former member of the Board of Trustees of the International Association of Astronomical Artists; his space art has appeared in numerous magazines, web news stories, and books and has been internationally exhibited. Another multi-talented Renaissance Man, Dan has extensive experimental experience in hypervelocity impact studies, is an experienced cave diver and holds multiple scuba and cave diving certifications, including Full Cave and Cave Recovery Specialist, and is a pilot with time logged in over a dozen types of aircraft including the F/A-18 Hornet and the F-104 Starfighter. He has spent over 110 minutes of time in zero-gravity conducting experiments on NASA’s KC-135 Reduced Gravity Research Aircraft. Dan was a finalist in the 2004 NASA astronaut selection and is one of three SwRI payload specialists who will fly on multiple suborbital spaceflights with various commercial companies. He has co-authored a book, published numerous articles popularizing planetary science and human exploration of space, and has appeared in over 70 nationally-broadcast television science documentaries. Dan is the 2015 recipient of the AAS/DPS Carl Sagan Medal “for excellence in public communication in planetary science”" Another multi-talented Renaissance Man, Dan also holds a pilot's license, and is an expert underwater cave diver. He also is a hiker, caver (spelunker) and geologist. He volunteers for grisly underwater search and rescue teams, and is constantly on call. He therefore covers most of what the surface of this planet has to offer. His particular field of study is related to asteroids and interplanetary dust. His artwork has recently been published in Sky and Telescope. and was chosen as one of the illustrators of comet Hale-Bopp co-discoverer Alan Hale's new book on comets. He is also a member of the Galileo imaging team. He has never been an astronaut, though he is an applicant, and is adept at Adobe Photoshop. SPECIAL HONORS: Asteroid 1992 YC3 numbered and named 6141 Durda (1998); Kerrick Prize, Department of Astronomy, University of Florida, "For outstanding contributions in astronomy" (1990); Class Honors, 64th Annual Honors Convocation, University of Michigan (1987); Regents Alumni Scholarship, University of Michigan (1983)." The main website for NASA New Horizons mission is: http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/ Twitter:@NASANewHorizons, Results for MU69/Ultima Thule are published with the hashtag #UltimaThule Thanks yet again to Dr. Carly Howett for their time to bring this interview together!