National Geographic LIVE: Cosmic Adventures

Date and Time

• Saturday, Jan 9, 2027  7:30pm

Location

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Details

This inspiring speaker event features renowned National Geographic Explorers sharing epic stories of discovery, adventure and exploration.

Discover the marvels of our cosmic backyard through the eyes of the robotic spacecraft sent out to explore it. Aerospace engineer and National Geographic Explorer Tracy Drain works at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory to develop, test and operate the complex machines that uncover some of the countless mysteries within (and way beyond!) our solar system. Among her projects: rovers on Mars, a mission to Jupiter and a hunt for exoplanets that reshaped our entire understanding of the galaxy.

Explorer Biography:
Tracy Drain is a flight systems engineer who has helped develop, test and operate a variety of robotic spacecraft for deep-space exploration in a career spanning more than two decades. After obtaining bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering from the University of Kentucky and Georgia Institute of Technology, respectively, and interning at NASA’s Langley Research Center as an undergraduate student, she landed a full-time position on the engineering staff at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in 2000. A 2024 National Geographic Society Wayfinder Award recipient, Drain currently serves as the lead flight systems engineer on the Europa Clipper mission, which should arrive at Jupiter in 2030.

Open captioning provided at this National Geographic LIVE speaker event.

This event is produced by an outside organization and is unaffiliated with the Downtown Development Authority. The DDA website serves as a marketing outlet for events and promotions occurring inside the Downtown boundary. For questions regarding the event, please contact the event producer.