This astronaut, a UNC alum, will speak to graduating Tar Heels before heading to space
Zena Cardman, an astronaut who holds two degrees from UNC-Chapel Hill, will make her first visit to space as early as this summer — and UNC graduates will get to hear from her before her launch.
Cardman will be one of four crew members embarking on NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission, which will take them to the International Space Station to “conduct a wide-ranging set of operational and research activities for the benefit of all,” NASA announced Jan. 31.
The crew is expected to launch no earlier than August.
First, she’ll deliver the keynote address at UNC’s Spring Commencement, the university announced Feb. 8. The ceremony is set for 7 p.m. on May 11 in Kenan Stadium.
Cardman holds both her bachelor’s degree in biology, earned in 2010, and master’s degree in marine sciences, earned in 2014, from UNC. She then pursued her doctoral degree in geosciences at Penn State University. She is originally from Williamsburg, Virginia.
Cardman was selected as a NASA astronaut in 2017 from a pool of more than 18,000 applicants. She graduated from NASA basic training in 2020. Since completing her training, she has “supported real-time station operations and development for lunar surface exploration,” NASA said.
Her first trip to space comes as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, “which works with the American aerospace industry to meet the goal of safe, reliable, and cost-effective transportation to and from the orbital outpost on American-made rockets and spacecraft launching from American soil.”
In a social media post Wednesday, Cardman said she was “honored” to join “an amazing crew who epitomize competence, kindness, and trust.”
Cardman returned to UNC in 2019 as part of University Research Week, sharing stories from her time at the university — including conducting undergraduate research in the Arctic and Antarctica — and with NASA.
At that event, she credited her time at UNC with helping her begin her path to becoming an astronaut, saying “it wasn’t until college that I realized I wanted to be an astronaut,” noting during her time as an undergraduate that she wanted to understand “the wildest places where life can survive and thrive.”
In addition to studying science, Cardman also studied poetry and creative writing at UNC.
UNC professor Harvey Seim said in 2017 that Cardman produced “one of the most impressive master’s theses we’ve had in the last few years,” The News & Observer reported. She also stood out for an “ability to communicate,” likely a product of her interest in both the arts and the sciences, Seim said.
Cardman joins Christina Koch as the second astronaut educated at a public university in North Carolina to be announced as a crew member on a NASA mission in the past year. Koch, who holds three degrees from NC State University, is expected to become the first woman to fly to the moon as part of the Artemis II mission next year.
Cardman was the first woman with a UNC degree to join the space program as an astronaut candidate, The N&O reported in 2017. Three male alumni preceded her.
“I’m Zena Cardman,” Cardman said at UNC in 2019. “I am a NASA astronaut. I am also a Tar Heel.”
This story was originally published February 1, 2024 at 11:01 AM with the headline "This astronaut, a UNC alum, will speak to graduating Tar Heels before heading to space."
