Issue date: 1/26/09 Section: News

Media Credit: Jon Eilts Josh Byerly, Class of 1999 and a spokesman for NASA, speaks to staff members of The Battalion. Byerly will be giving similar presentations about NASA Monday. [Click to enlarge]

Media Credit: Jonny Green A moon rock from the Apollo 16 mission brought by Josh Byerly, a NASA public affairs officer, for The Battalion staff on Sunday. [Click to enlarge]

Aggies will have the opportunity to hear one of the voices of NASA's mission control and fellow Aggie Josh Byerly, Class of 1999, Monday.

He will speak to the Space Engineering Institute at 6 p.m. in Zachary 342 about how NASA improved communication internally after Columbia, the shuttle that disintegrated during re-entry to the earth's atmosphere in 2003. He will be focusing on how engineers communicate with non-engineers within NASA.

He will speak to the engineering about the Constellation program, which he is assigned to.

In addition to the engineering institute, Byerly will be visiting a biomedical reporting class and a media writing class.

"We're retiring the shuttles, and constructing a new shuttle to return to the moon to live and work," he said.

As the public affairs officer for NASA, based at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, he sits in mission control and provides real-time commentary. During shuttle missions, he is one of four people who provide commentary 24 hours a day. Byerly will sit in mission control from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. for the Feb. 12 launch.

"It's my job to listen to what's going on in control and relay that to the public and the media," he said.

Byerly brought along a moon rock from the Apollo 16 mission to show to The Battalion staff when he stopped by for a visit Sunday.

He said it is always good to get back to campus. He has been speaking to A&M classes since 2000 and said he tries to visit once or twice a semester.

"This is the generation we're trying to get in touch with," he said. "It reminds you that your job is fun."

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