Temple College shared its space for a conversation about space on Thursday morning.
Keelan Hamilton, a Temple High School alumni and National Aeronautics and Space Administration research integration subject matter expert, spoke to about 70 people about the International Space Station and its contributions to the world at the Temple College Pavilion.
Hamilton’s previous work experience before joining NASA included working at the Baylor College of Medicine’s Human Genome Sequencing Center. His main responsibility was running the high-throughput facility to make DNA primers.
Hamilton joined NASA in 2006 and primarily worked for the Crew and Thermal Systems Divisions. He helped certify items such as lithium hydroxide to remove carbon dioxide from the station cabin, EVA space suits and other equipment.
Hamilton also assisted in developing air revitalization systems for future spacecraft.
He was also joined by International Space Station science writer Melissa Gaskill, who assisted with the question and answer portion of the event.
Gaskill and Hamilton often team up often to raise awareness about the International Space Station.
“The whole point of our communications team is to let people know what the space station is for, what’s being done up there, why we have it and to get people excited about it,” Gaskill said.
For example, Hamilton discussed what benefits humanity has as a result of the space station’s research and efforts.
“The robotics we’ve learned (about) and used in orbit have enabled us to do robotic surgery. There’s been some brain surgeries … using robotic arms so that we can go to precise parts of the brain … We can look at what natural disasters are occurring and how we can get this information to the proper authorities so they can provide rescue and resources to help out victims. We also do air and water purification and we can … provide clean water to people,” Hamilton said.
Hamilton also mentioned the future of space research once the International Space Station is eventually decommissioned in 2030.
“Our commercial partners with SpaceX, Sierra Nevada and Boeing will be supporting (research) as well and we will basically be purchasing services from them. We will do work from what they provide,” Hamilton said.