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BISMARCK – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) announced today National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Administrator Jim Bridenstine will come to Grand Forks to visit the University of North Dakota (UND) Space Program and the Grand Sky Park on Wednesday, September 4. 

“Grand Forks is the premier location for space exploration research and emerging space technology,” said Senator Cramer. “Administrator Bridenstine’s visit gives us the opportunity to introduce him to the folks developing space exploration suits at UND, highlight the achievements in aerospace and unmanned systems at Grand Sky, and put NASA’s leader face-to-face with the next generation of space explorers.”

Senator Cramer and Administrator Bridenstine will begin the day meeting with UND President Josh Wynne and aerospace stakeholders before touring UND’s Space Program and meeting with students. UND is one of the few universities in the world to offer human spaceflight training and is the first university to operate a NASA-funded laboratory dedicated to designing and constructing space-exploration and planetary surface exploration suits. Afterward, they will depart for Grand Sky, where they will tour the Northrop Grumman facility and the General Atomics facility after receiving an updates on the Unmanned Traffic Management (UTM) systems testing and Beyond Visual Line of Site (BVLOS) operations.

The schedule for open press events is as follows:

  • 9:00am – UND Mars Habitat Tour
    • Technology Circle off University Ave
  • 9:40am – Space Studies Tour
    • UND Odegard Hall
    • NOTE: This will be a walking tour.
  • 10:30am – Town Hall with Space Study, Aerospace, and Aviation Students
    • Room 210 of UND Clifford Hall
  • 11:30am – Media Availability
    • Lobby of UND Clifford Hall

Administrator Bridenstine’s Bio (via NASA):

James Frederick “Jim” Bridenstine was nominated by President Donald J. Trump and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. He was sworn in as NASA’s 13th administrator on April 23, 2018. Bridenstine was elected in 2012 to represent Oklahoma’s First Congressional District, the same year as now-Senator Kevin Cramer was first elected to represent North Dakota in the House. He served on the House Armed Services Committee and the Science, Space and Technology Committee. His career in federal service began in the U.S. Navy, flying the E-2C Hawkeye off the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier. He flew combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan and accrued most of his 1,900 flight hours and 333 carrier-arrested landings.

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