At the invitation of the American Embassy Lisbon, and in partnership with the American Corners Portugal network, former NASA astronaut Daniel Tani was in Portugal from July 6 to 10 for talks and meetings with students and faculty members. The lecture he gave at the American Corners of the universities of Aveiro, FCT-Nova and IST was entitled “Living in Space.” His visit is part of the American Embassy’s continued efforts to support STEM education in Portugal.
Mr. Tani shared photos, videos and stories about his experiences on the International Space Station (ISS), learning how to adapt to zero-gravity, performing spacewalks and robotic operations to construct and repair the ISS, and living day to day on the orbiting laboratory.
Mr. Tani has had a distinguished career at NASA. He was selected as a NASA astronaut candidate in 1996 and for the next 16 years gained extensive spaceflight experience. During his two flights, he logged a total of 34 hours and 59 minutes in five spacewalks.
On the last day of his visit, Daniel Tani met with a group of secondary school students and accompanying teachers and talked with them about his experience as an astronaut. He answered their questions about space and posed for many photos with the different groups of schools represented. This was a great opportunity for the students to learn more about the space exploration and focusing more and more on STEM learning experiences.
