NASA scientists won’t have to travel far from Johnson Space Center to teach an exclusive master’s program this fall.
Under the direction of the Department of Health and Human Performance, the master’s program in human space exploration will make its national debut at UH.
‘This program has been a long time in development,’ Department Chair Charles Layne said. ‘When I came to the University in 1997, I immediately thought it would be great to take advantage of the geographical location of the Johnson Space Center, and see if we could create a curriculum to benefit from all that scientific and technical talent.’
In addition to Layne’s ideas, courses will cover traditional human physiology studies, with a focus on effects of space travel on human bodies. The goal is to prepare space life science students for potential careers in the field.
Students will gain real-world experience working at Johnson Space Center when they develop their thesis.
‘Working with the NASA scientists will be advantageous to our students because they will be taught by the people who work in that environment,’ Layne said.
Human space exploration is the first program offering a master’s that centers on the human health element of space travel. The International Space University in France is the only other institution that hosts a comparable program.
Although they are not astronauts, these students seek to make an impact on the investigation of the universe.
‘It is a holistic approach to training individuals that want to work in the human side of space exploration,’ associate professor Mark Clarke said.
For more information about the Master of Science in Human Space Exploration, visit http://www.coe.uh.edu/mycoe/hhp/Currentevents/09_human-space.cfm
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