Megan McArthur

Class of 1993

She kept a rendezvous in outer space.

Megan McArthur was an aerospace engineering student at UCLA when she first heard of the Hubble Space Telescope. She had no way of knowing that 19 years later she would rendezvous with Hubble in outer space – wearing a UCLA sweatshirt for part of the mission. But while McArthur was studying engineering, she was also learning about her love of exploration and the power of teamwork. With her classmates, she built and raced a human-powered submarine. Aboard shuttle Atlantis, that devotion to working and problem-solving as a team stood her in good stead. As operator of the robotic arm, it was McArthur’s job to capture the telescope. Then she drove the robotic arm through a series of spacewalks, with input from spacewalkers and crew members inside. She was the last to “touch” Hubble before the crew headed back to earth. Mission accomplished: Hubble’s upgraded instruments continue to send data and dramatic photos back to earth.

Where will your explorations take you?

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Megan McArthur

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