From Cowboy Boots to Space Boots
Astronaut Danny Olivas grew up in Texas, studied engineering, became an astronaut, and flew on two space shuttle missions. During his 27 days total in space, Olivas spent almost 35 hours on five spacewalks working outside the International Space Station. He later wrote a children’s book, Endeavour’s Long Journey, about the missions of the newest space shuttle orbiter. Olivas will talk about his journey from his hometown of El Paso, Texas to the final frontier of space and how engineering prepared him for an out-of-this-world job and the challenges of spacewalking. Texans are proud of their western heritage, and Olivas will present the Museum with his custom-designed cowboy boots that commemorate his 2009 mission on Space Shuttle Discovery.
Olivas will sign copies of his book Endeavour's Long Journey outside the Moving Beyond Earth gallery immediately following this program. Copies will be available for purchase.
This program is made possible through the generous support of Boeing.
National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC
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