Astronaut Zena Cardman to deliver Spring Commencement address

NASA astronaut and alumna Zena Cardman will deliver the keynote address at the University’s Spring Commencement May 11 in Kenan Stadium.

The double Tar Heel is preparing for her first spaceflight. She is the commander of NASA’s Crew-9 mission, a recently announced four-person crew that will launch on a SpaceX Dragon to the International Space Station later this year. The group will join an international crew onboard the ISS. They will conduct a wide range of operational and research activities during their long-duration mission. Cardman was selected as a NASA astronaut in 2017. Since completing initial training, she has supported real-time station operations and development for lunar surface exploration.

Cardman earned a bachelor’s in biology in 2010, with minors in marine sciences, creative writing and chemistry, and a master’s in marine sciences in 2014 from UNC. During her time at Carolina, Cardman was heavily involved in research of microbial systems, particularly in extreme environments like hydrothermal vents and hydrocarbon steeps. Her research took her all over the world, including the Arctic and Antarctic. The people she met and relationships she formed stick with her today, she said.

“The people of Carolina are what I took away … and what I’ve carried with me through my career,” Cardman said. “Service-oriented, creative, genuine, interdisciplinary — these are words I use to describe my former classmates and current students. These are the values and attributes I strive for as an astronaut.”

Read a longer version of this story by Kaitlyn Rieper, University Communications.