Alumnus Cmdr. Victor J. Glover, Jr. (General Engineering, 99) has arrived safely back on Earth after a successful and historic mission aboard the International Space Station. The SpaceX Crew Dragon carrying NASA astronauts Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover, and Shannon Walker, and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Soichi Noguchi, splashed into the gulf off the coast of Florida at 2:58 a.m. on May 2. 

NASA's SpaceX Crew-1 mission launched on Nov. 15, 2020 from the Kennedy Space Center and docked for a six-month mission aboard the International Space Station on Nov. 16, nearly 27 hours after liftoff. 

Learn by Doing and my time at Cal Poly are definitely responsible for me being here and for so many other wonderful things in my life.

Victor Glover

General Engineering, ’99

Glover and the SpaceX Crew-1 made history as NASA's first commercial crew on a long duration mission aboard the International Station; as the team to break the American crewed spacecraft mission duration record of 84 days, 1 hour, 15 minutes, set by the final Skylab crew in February 1974; and as the first night splashdown of a U.S. crewed spacecraft since 1968. Notably, Glover also made history as the first Black astronaut to live on the International Space Station as part of a long-duration mission. 

While aboard the station, Glover contributed to scientific investigations, performed technology demonstrations and took part in public engagement events. He also completed his first four spacewalks, the last of which took almost seven hours and was described by Glover as "one of the hardest things I've ever done." 

"I'd been training for this for over seven years," he said. "But there is just no way to prepare for going outside the International Space Station into the vacuum of space for the first time other than to do it and so going on my first spacewalk was truly a Learn by Doing moment."

In addition to his duties as flight engineer aboard the Space Station, Glover also made the time to connect with Cal Poly during the six-month mission.

This past January Glover took part in a Q&A  with the Cal Poly Chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE). During the event, titled "Succeeding While Black in STEM" he answered student's questions and told them to "keep doing what you're doing because you guys are making the world a better place." Glover served as the club president of NSBE as a student at Cal Poly.

Glover also took questions from alumni during Dare to Explore: a Live Conversation with Victor Glover on April 14. Live from space, Glover talked about his favorite Learn by Doing moment aboard the space station and gave advice on how to succeed in STEM. He also announced that his daughter will soon be attending Cal Poly as a student! 

"I know that I'm only here for a short time so the opportunity to share this has been one of the single most important aspects of this mission for me," Glover said. "To share it with the people who are close to me and my Cal Poly family and community means a ton."

The greatest challenges you’re going to face are from within. Sometimes you just got to keep your feet moving.

Victor Glover

General Engineering, ’99

Now back on Earth, Glover will begin training as one of 18 members of the Artemis Team, a group of NASA astronauts chosen to help pave the way for a woman and man to walk on the lunar surface in 2024 and eventually prepare humanity for a trip to Mars. 

When asked about the Artemis Program and his professional goals during the NSBE event in January, Glover responded to the students, "My professional goals are about you. About helping you succeed."

Learn more about Victor Glover and Cal Poly alumni in space at Mission: Learn by Doing. 

Photos courtesy: NASA