President of South Korea to Visit NASA Goddard

As part of her visit to the United States, President Park Geun-hye of South Korea visited NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. on Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2015. She was welcomed by Goddard Center Director Christopher Scolese and the First Lady of Maryland, Yumi Hogan. She was also greeted by astronauts Scott Altman and Cady Coleman. President Park watched a personalized, pre-recorded message from astronaut Scott Kelly aboard the International Space Station. She also was briefed by Goddard’s Chief Scientist Dr. Jim Garvin about what NASA is learning about Mars and also NASA’s upcoming mission to explore Venus. In addition President Park learned about some of the things NASA is learning about the moon from Dr. Noah Petro, the deputy project scientist for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. President Park listened to several other presentations about NASA projects including: Laser Communication; GLOBE Program and Cosmic Ray Energies and Mass Investigation (CREAM) project.

President Park Geun-hye of South Korea toured the NASA robotic servicing facility. She was greeted by Frank Cepollina, Associate Director of the Satellite Servicing Capabilities Office and Benjamin Reed, Deputy Project Manager of the Satellite Servicing Capabilities Office. President Park had the opportunity to try out the robotic arm. Satellite servicing capabilities stretch from on-orbit spacecraft refueling and repair, to the assembly of large structures in orbit, to modular designs that allow for spacecraft upgradability. These are capabilities that offer mission operators options for extended mission operations, upgradability, reconfiguration, and recovery.

Presonalized message from astronaut Scott Kelly onboard the International Space Station.