Biomedical engineering student Ashley Holt delivers remarks after receiving a $10,000 scholarship. (Mark Guerrero/Texas A&M University)
“I’m incredibly thankful for the mentors that recognized my potential as a researcher and scientist,” Holt said.
Holt also thanked the Astronaut Scholars Foundation for the scholarship that will allow her to continue to pursue her research.
“It’s an honor, an inspiration and a reminder to keep dreaming,” she said.
The event held each year at Texas A&M is a Community of Scholars event presented by Texas A&M LAUNCH.
Journey to the moon
In addition to the Apollo 16 mission, where Duke and two other astronauts collected rock and dust samples, Duke also served in mission control for the first moonwalk of Apollo 11 and the harrowing rescue of Apollo 13. Although he was proud of his contributions to the historic Apollo 11 and 13 missions, it’s his own journey into space that he remembers most fondly.
“I was having so much fun I didn’t want to come back,” Duke said of his seven days on the moon.
He narrated video footage from the moon’s surface which showed him fumbling moon rocks while posing for a camera camera, competing with his fellow astronauts in a high-jump contest and roving around in a car, which was abandoned on the moon.
“If you want an $8 million car with a dead battery, there’s one on the moon,” Duke said.
He also discussed the rough driving conditions.
“There aren’t any roads on the moon, but there isn’t any traffic, either,” he said.
Duke took questions from local media after the event and provided insights on the current state of space travel.
“The focus seems to be moving slowly to return to deep space and moon bases,” Duke said. “I think that’s where we ought to go: build a station on the moon that will allow long-term stays, to develop the systems, to develop the procedures, to develop the ability to repair these systems and be close enough to earth where you get some help from mission control. Then you take the knowledge you built (on the moon) to Mars.”
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Media contact: Sam Peshek, 979-845-4680, sam.peshek@tamu.edu