Cal Poly alum and current NASA astronaut Victor Glover visited his alma mater on Wednesday, speaking with students about his experiences in space.
A graduate of Cal Poly in 1999, Glover is one of the most decorated alums having piloted the first operational flight of the SpaceX Crew Dragon to the International Space Station and slated to pilot the Artemis II into deep space around the moon.
“We're kind of blazing the path. We have this great team of trainers and engineers and support personnel and flight controllers that's guiding us through this process,” Glover told KSBY.
But touching back down onto campus and seeing the new crop of brilliant minds coming through the school is always rewarding.
“It’s an opportunity to just come back. Really all I've done is cheer them on and try to motivate them to keep doing what they're doing,” he said.
Glover had the chance to meet with groups of students whose senior projects are based on aerospace technology and scientific discoveries.
“We are working on a zero gravity exercise machine,” said Cal Poly senior James Monroe whose group had a chance to work one-on-one with Glover, bouncing ideas off of someone with firsthand knowledge of exercising in space.
“Our senior project is the University Rover Challenge, and we're working with Cal Poly Human Space Technology and Research,” Cal Poly senior Joelle Romero explained about her project.
For both Romero and Monroe, those 30-minute sessions gave them the chance to learn from someone who has actually lived on the International Space Station.
“I like being able to talk to Victor Glover and like hear about his experiences in person," Romero said. "It really solidifies what I want to do.”
“I felt like I was sitting down talking to a NASA team,” Glover said as he was blown away at the level of ingenuity from this year's mechanical engineers.
Glover also spoke with parents and their young children at the university's pre-school about what it’s like to be in space and experience zero gravity.
But at the end of the day, he’ll tell you his most important responsibility has been being a father with two, soon to be three, of his daughters also attending Cal Poly, following their own paths.
“They work really hard. They're all doing better than I ever did [at Cal Poly]. They are kicking butt and doing really well. It's just amazing to see the research, the projects that they're doing. I'm so, so proud of them,” Glover said.
The Artemis II mission, piloted by Glover, is scheduled to launch no earlier than September 2025.
