Space Traveler
you can see how insignificant we are in terms of an entire planet , solar system … universe . That big-picture perspective is so important for people to remember . It ’ s so easy for all of us as humans to focus on a small , trivial matter that ’ s in front of us , but it ’ s really not important . Sometimes we need to be reminded to not pay so much attention to those little things and take that step back . Space just does that for you , and I feel fortunate to have gained that kind of perspective .
In June , the Scripps Institution of Oceanography alumna returned to UC San Diego as the keynote speaker for All Campus Commencement .
Commercial Space Flight
More access to space is better for everyone , no matter what it looks like . Sub-orbital flight that ’ s offered by a commercial company or our partnership with companies like SpaceX or collaborations that we have for the International Space Station — when we work together in this way , we can leverage great things and enable space to be more open for everyone . Like at the beginning of the aviation industry when it was open to only a select few , you could say that for space travel , we ’ re there : It ’ s open to professional astronauts and now a few billionaires as well . Eventually prices will come down and there will be more competition , more options and more opportunities for more people to experience these kinds of things that we ’ ve been talking about . That ’ s the way progress happens . Absolutely , I think more ways to get to space for more humans is always a good thing . •
To hear Meir ’ s commencement address to the Class of 2022 , visit commencement . ucsd . edu
FLIGHT PROFILE
NAME : Jessica Meir TITLE : Flight Engineer MISSIONS : International Space Station Expedition 61 and 62
DATES : Sept . 25 , 2019 — April 17 , 2020
PERSONAL STATS :
205 DAYS : Aboard International Space Station
TOTAL TRIP : 86.9 million miles ( or 3,280 orbits of Earth )
REMOTE WORK : Aboard the International Space Station during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic
THREE SPACEWALKS : Totalling 21 hours and 44 minutes , including the first all-woman spacewalk with crewmate Christina Koch
NEXT GENERATION : UC San Diego alumna reaches for the stars .
In January 2022 , Deniz Burnham ' 07 reported for two years of initial astronaut training as a NASA astronaut candidate . A former intern at NASA ’ s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley , California , Burnham is a lieutenant in the U . S . Navy and serves in the Navy Reserves .
At the time of her selection as a NASA astronaut candidate , Burnham had spent more than a decade in the energy industry , where she managed drilling optimization projects and emission reduction strategies for drilling rigs . She began her career as a field engineer on a remote oil rig in
Prudhoe Bay , Alaska . As a lead field engineer , she was responsible for all aspects of the measurement and logging during drilling operations at drilling rig sites throughout the Arctic . Burnham received a degree in chemical engineering from UC San Diego ’ s Warren College before earning a master ’ s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Southern California .
Of the 16 current female NASA astronauts , Burnham joins fellow UC San Diego alumnae Jessica Meir , PhD ’ 09 ; Megan McArthur , PhD ’ 02 ; and Kate Rubins ’ 99 .
— Nilou Shahbandi ’ 23
UC SAN DIEGO MAGAZINE 41