Retired astronaut and researcher Al Sacco Jr. keeps looking upMargaret Smith Worcester Magazine
Al Sacco Jr. shared photos from the 1995 STS-73 NASA mission aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia, including making his way up the flight deck, and playing around at lunchtime. Provided by Al Sacco Jr.(...) Born to parents in the North End who never finished their education, Sacco's mother and father nevertheless instilled the value of learning and hard work in Sacco and his siblings.
Sacco flew as a payload specialist on STS-73, a mission aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia, and which launched on Oct. 20,1995, landing Nov. 5, 1995, at Kennedy Space Center. The mission focused on materials science, biotechnology, combustion science, and fluid physics within the pressurized Spacelab module. (...)
When I told my mother, at 14 or 15, I wanted to be an astronaut, the astronauts at that time were very small. My mother said, "You're too big, you're almost too big. You wouldn't fit in the thing." (Laughs.) (...)
You mentioned about the crystals. What does that mean, for those who may not be familiar?You could think of them as salt crystals. Put in water and vapor. The crystals I started out with were inorganic crystals. That is what NASA got me involved with. They are used to produce the world's gasoline. You could think of them almost as molecular sponges, so certain molecules could fit in. If you look at the production of gasoline, it's tied to these zeolite crystals.
In the 70s, people were worried about gas prices going nuts. I did not only a lot of hands-on stuff, but three-dimensional molecular modeling. I came with a theory that if we grew zeolites in orbit, we could change production on the ground. I made a request at NASA. It basically became the foundation of a very large series of grants I got, $150,000 to $200,000 a year. We started to fly preliminary flights.
They needed people up there. I said, you could nominate me. The rest is history. I became very good at those. When I got into orbit, the biggest things they wanted me to get into was HIV (human immunodeficiency virus, which causes AIDS). That was destroying hundreds of thousands of people. You have to crystalize the proteins ... we were the first ones to crystalize the HIV proteins in orbit. (...)
https://eu.worcestermag.com/story/lifestyle/columns/2026/05/13/last-call-al-sacco-jr-retired-astronaut-wpi-academician/90028251007/Al Sacco Jr., former WPI faculty member and astronaut8 PHOTOS 7:09 p.m. cśl May 13, 2026
https://eu.worcestermag.com/picture-gallery/lifestyle/features/2026/05/13/in-space-al-sacco-jr-former-mit-faculty-member-astronaut/90063075007/2)
Dr. Albert Sacco, Jr."Living and Working in Space: A Scientist's/Teacher's Perspective"Presented Thursday, November 30, 2000 4:30 p.m. - Fiedler Hall Auditorium
https://engg.k-state.edu/about/news/alumni-lectures/sacco/
Wątek: Albert Sacco, Jr. - 03.05.1949 (Przeczytany 490 razy)